The Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to the Tunisian National Dialogue Quartet on Friday.
The group, which consists of the Tunisian General Labour Union, the Tunisian Confederation of Industry, the Tunisian Human Rights League, Tunisian Order of Lawyers and handicrafts groups won the prestigious honor as a result of its role in bringing Democracy to the North African country.
It “exercised its role as a mediator and driving force to advance peaceful democratic development in Tunisia with great moral authority,” the Norwegian Nobel Committee said.
Created in 2013 after the widespread momentum of the Arab Spring had waned and the notion of democracy in Tunisia was in jeopardy, the group was instrumental in helping create a constitutional system of government that guarantees “fundamental rights for the entire population, irrespective of gender, political conviction or religious belief.”
As a mediator, the Quartet served as a broker between the country’s conflicting Islamist and secular parties.