The duo received the award for their "effort to end the use of sexual violence as a weapon of war and armed conflict".
Denis Mukwege, a gynecologist treating victims of sexual violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Yazadi human rights activist Nadia Murad have been awarded the 2018 Nobel Peace Prize.
The duo received the award for their "effort to end the use of sexual violence as a weapon of war and armed conflict", Berit Reiss-Andersen, chair of the Nobel Committee, announced at a press conference in the Norweigan capital, Oslo, on Friday.
Denis Mukwege has spent large parts of his adult life helping the victims of sexual violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Nadia Murad is a Yazidi Kurdish human rights activist from Iraq, and since September 2016 the first Goodwill Ambassador for the Dignity of Survivors of Human Trafficking of the United Nations (UNODC). She was captured by the ISIS and repeatedly raped and subjected to other abuses. The committee says she showed “uncommon courage in recounted her own suffering”.
"Nadia Murad is the witness who tells of the abuses perpetrated against herself and others. Each of them, in their own way, has helped to give greater visibility to wartime sexual violence", said the Nobel Committee.
Murad, 25, is the second youngest Nobel peace prize laureate after Malala Yousafzai, who was 17 when she won in 2014.
The committee received nominations for 216 individuals and 115 organizations. Among those put forward this year were the Syrian civilian aid group White Helmets, Russia’s Novaya Gazeta newspaper, Edward Snowden and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.
The nominees for the coveted honour included North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, US President Donald Trump, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Syrian civilian aid group, White Helmets, Russia’s Novaya Gazeta newspaper, Edward Snowden and the UN High Commissioner for Refugee
Last year’s winner was the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons.
The 2018 prize is worth 9 million Swedish kronor ($1.01 million).
The International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) won the prize last year for its work creating the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.
