Mar 23, 2019
Thousands sign petitions backing Jacinda Ardern for Nobel Peace Prize
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Almost 25,000 people had by Sunday morning signed two petitions calling for New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern to get the Nobel Peace Prize.
The big picture: Ardern has been widely praised for her leadership in response to last week’s terrorist attack on two Christchurch mosques. The New York Times published an editorial Thursday, titled "America Deserves a Leader as Good as Jacinda Ardern."
- A French petition for Ardern to the Norwegian Nobel Committe, which selects recipients of the Nobel Peace Prize each year, had garnered almost 3000 signatures by 11 p.m. Saturday.
- The change.org petition to the United Nations had almost 15,000 signatures. It praised Ardern for her gun control action, getting the government to pay for the funerals of all 50 mosque shooting victims, for dressing in black and wearing a hijab when meeting victims' families and for hugging them. The petition states:
"If a Nobel Prize for Peace could be given to a spontaneous statement for wisdom and courage, rather to a person, New Zealand’s Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern deserves it.
"... Her strong leadership after the shootings in Christchurch, the first attack of its kind in New Zealand's modern history, could teach a thing or two to other world leaders who at times have come short when tragedy strikes."
What she's saying: After receiving a standing ovation at a tent vigil in Auckland Saturday, Ardern told a crowd: "I believe what I have done has not been about leadership. All I have done is simply echoed the humanity of New Zealanders."
