Victor Ochen, The Youngest African, Nobel Peace Prize Nominee
The Youngest African Nominated For a Nobel Peace Prize has confirmed he will attend the 5th annual Ugandan Diaspora Gala were he will also be a featured guest speaker and an award recipient. As a Diaspora community we celebrate and honor – Victor Ochen as a Ugandan success story.
Victor Ochen, founder and director of the African Youth Initiative Network (AYINET) was nominated for the 2015 Nobel Peace Prize. The 33-year-old has dedicated his life to rehabilitating victims of war by providing psycho-social support and life-saving healthcare.
He is a 2011 graduate of the Archbishop Desmond Tutu Leadership Fellowship Programme.
“My heart swells with pride to hear of one of my ‘children’ leading change in Africa,” commented Nobel Laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu.
“Victor is part of a special group of African leaders who have graduated from the program that bears my name and I wish him well as a potential recipient of this auspicious honour.”
The nomination has been put forward by the American Friends Services Committee, the same organisation that nominated previous Nobel Peace Prize winners Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Martin Luther King and Jimmy Carter, among others.
“My work supporting victims and survivors of war, advocating for human rights, engaging in peace and reconciliation is out of inspiration I gained from Tutu himself and the skills and knowledge I gained during the fellowship. I hope that this nomination will contribute to a change of perception of Africa’s youth as agents of prosperity and peace,” said Victor.
Since 2005, AYINET has provided reconstructive surgical repair to at least 5,000 victims of torture and sexual violence, as well as treating war wounds and those requiring mental health support.
Born in one of northern Uganda’s camps for displaced people, Victor spent most of his youth amid war, witnessing an array of human rights abuses. In 2003, the Lord’s Resistance Army abducted his elder brother and cousin. To this day, their whereabouts are unknown.
Source — Homecoming Revolution.
