2016 Nobel Peace Prize

The 2016 Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to the President of Colombia Juan Manuel Santos (b. 1951) "for his resolute efforts to bring the country’s more than 50-year-long civil war to an end, a war that has cost the lives of at least 220,000 Colombians and displaced close to six million people." The conflict is the longest running war, and last remaining guerrilla struggle, in the Americas. The Nobel Peace Prize is awarded annually to those who have "done the most or the best work for fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses". The announcement was made on 7 October at a press conference at the Nobel Peace Center, and the formal award ceremony took place on 10 December at the Oslo City Hall.

The award was conferred only five days after the government's narrow defeat in the Colombian peace agreement referendum to ratify the final agreement on the peace process. The committee Chair Kaci Kullmann Five emphasized the effort and good intentions of Santos at the announcement press conference and also in the award citation: The Norwegian Nobel Committee emphasizes the importance of the fact that President Santos is now inviting all parties to participate in a broad-based national dialogue aimed at advancing the peace process. Even those who opposed the peace accord have welcomed such a dialogue. The Nobel Committee hopes that all parties will take their share of responsibility and participate constructively in the upcoming peace talks.Santos was first informed of the prize by his son in the pre-dawn of the day of the announcement. In his first public statement he declared, "This honourable distinction is not for me, it is for all the victims of the conflict. Together we will win the most important prize of all: PEACE." In the days following he also announced that the 8 million SEK prize (approximately 2.7 billion Colombian pesos) would be donated to support victims of the conflict.