Minister of Human Resources Miklós Kásler announced on his Facebook page that he has nominated Brother Csaba Böjte for the Nobel Peace Prize. Böjte’s foundation is known for rescuing homeless orphans in Transylvania.
Miklós Kásler wrote in his post that “with more than 3 decades of humanitarian work, he [Böjte] has broken down the walls between the nationalities of East-Central Europe, serving as both an example and a good practice for all humanity.”
As a measurable result of the lives he has saved, I think he deserves this year’s Nobel Peace Prize for his decades of work!”,
Kásler wrote at the end of his post.
Miklós Kásler also emphasized in his post that today, the Foundation “cares for more than 2500 children in 26 residential institutions.
Not everything is clear, however, about the nomination. Telex reports that nominations for the Nobel Peace Prize can be made by a select group of people. These include thousands of former laureates, members of national assemblies and congresses, university professors, international judges, and special advisers. Based on this, it is possible that Kásler could also nominate. More information about the nomination process can be found here.
More importantly, the Norwegian Nobel Committee, which decides who gets the prize, keeps the names of nominees and unsuccessful candidates secret for 50 years and asks nominees to do the same. “The statutes of the Nobel Foundation restrict the disclosure of information about the nominations, whether publicly or privately, for 50 years. The restriction concerns the nominees and nominators, as well as investigations and opinions related to the award of a prize,” the Nobel Prize’s website states. If this is the case, however, it is questionable why Kásler posted the information on his social media page. The original post in which the Minister announced the news, disappeared from his page but was posted again since. It is not known, however, whether or not there is a correlation between the Nobel Foundation’s rule to keep the nominations a secret and the disappearance of the Facebook post.
Romkat.ro reports that they called Böjte on Thursday morning but he did not know about the nomination at the time, he had only seen the post earlier and was also confused as to where Kásler’s post had gone. They also contacted the Press Office of the Ministry of Human Resources but they could not tell either where the post had gone. The new Facebook entry mentions that the previously “published post disappeared from the site’s timeline […] without notice or trace.”
Kásler’s nomination had to be made before the January 31st deadline. According to information by romkat.ro, the nomination was submitted in January within the deadline, and the Ministry received confirmation of its receipt.
There are 343 candidates for the Nobel Peace Prize for 2022, out of which 251 are individuals and 92 are organizations. There are 343 candidates more than last year (329) and the second-highest number of candidates ever. The current record of 376 candidates was reached in 2016. In March, the selection process will be completed, the committee, which does not comment on nominations, will evaluate the candidates’ work and shortlist them.
Featured image: Csaba Böjte receives the Pro Cultura Hungarica award from Miklós Kásler at a ceremony held on the occasion of Hungarian Culture Day at the House of Traditions in Budapest on January 22, 2019. Photo by Noémi Bruzák/MTI
