Some Facts About The Nobel Peace Prize

Geir Lundestad, secretary of the secretive committee that awards the prize, outlines for The Associated Press the procedures of the Nobel Peace Prize procedures:

_ The committee does not release the names of any candidates and keeps records sealed for 50 years.

_ Campaigns in favor of a particular candidate could be counterproductive, as the fiercely independent committee does not want to appear influenced by public pressure.

_ The nomination deadline is eight months before the announcement, with a strictly enforced deadline of Feb. 1.

_ Those who can nominate candidates for a Nobel Peace Prize include former laureates; current and former members of the committee and their staff; members of national governments and legislatures; university professors of law, theology, social sciences, history and philosophy; leaders of peace research and foreign affairs institutes; and members of international courts of law.

_ There are no provisions for revoking the prize, regardless of whether the laureate lives up to its standards.

_ The prize was award posthumously only once _ in 1961, to former U.N. Secretary-General Dag Hammerskjold, after he was killed in a plane crash in Africa. The rules were amended in 1974 to prohibit posthumous prizes.

_ The prize is awarded to encourage those who receive it to see the effort through, sometimes at critical moments, not only to recognize efforts for peace, human rights and democracy after they have proven successful.

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On the Net:

http://www.nobelpeaceprize.org