Nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize for 2017

The undersigned hereby nominate THE INTERNATIONAL SOBRIETY AND TEMPERANCE MOVEMENT represented by the movement’s largest international organizations:

• IOGT International www.iogt.org
• International Blue Cross (IBC) www.ifbc.info
• The World Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WWCTU) www.wwctu.org
for the Nobel Peace Prize for 2017.

In November 2015, 193 member states adopted the UN's new sustainability goals. These are benchmarks for success in global development towards 2030. In achieving sustainability we believe the world community will also find easier solutions towards world peace. Damage caused by alcohol or drug use adversely affect many of the sustainability goals. Putting in place preventive measures and effective drug policies globally will be important steps towards reaching these important goals.

The international sobriety and temperance movement has since the mid-1800s been one of the largest popular movements in a host of countries. IOGT and WWCTU began in the US in 1851 and 1874 respectively, and the Blue Cross was founded in Switzerland in 1877. These organizations grew quickly and became international bodies in a relatively short period of time.

The movement points towards personal responsibility and towards the importance of a popular mobilization, while at the same time working politically for adoption of policies that will help to keep the consumption of alcohol and drugs at a low level. Research has shown what policies would effectively reduce consumption and thus damage. Such measures meet resistance, both because they allegedly restrict individual freedom and because there is a strong counterforce in the alcohol industry, an industry that has taken lessons from the mistakes of the tobacco industry and their lobbying against smoking regulations.

Without the political struggle of the temperance movement as advocates for children, women and the alcohol and drug addicted the use of regulatory tools would have been extremely difficult. We see this in the developing countries of our time where the alcohol industry is heavily into “fresh” markets, markets where a large portion of the population does not currently use much alcohol. WHO has on several occasions pointed to the importance of retaining the restrictive attitudes towards alcohol and drugs that we find in these countries if we are to ensure a continued positive global development.

Alcohol and drug use is a major risk factor for individual health and at the same time slows down sustainable development. WHO has estimated that nearly 3.3 million deaths occur globally each year due to harmful use of alcohol. Alcohol is along with physical inactivity, tobacco and malnutrition one of the four main risk factors when it comes to non-communicable diseases.

We are in this case concerned with “market created epidemics” that does severe damage to many developing countries, especially to the male populations in these countries. However, it is often women and children who are most affected. Problems caused by alcohol and drug use can keep generations of vulnerable individuals in a negative spiral of poverty, and they threaten human development. Globally alcohol is the greatest risk factor towards ill health and premature death in the age group 25-59 years, the age group that is most active in the workplace. Productivity loss due to alcohol consumption is great. Harmful alcohol and drug use effects sustainable development on many levels.

Alcohol is not the only cause of violence, but is often the factor that ignites the violence. There is a clear link between alcohol and violence in the home and in public places. We can see this link in research done in several countries and continents.

In Europe 66 percent of victims of domestic violence are attacked by a person who has used alcohol. In Argentina the figure is 68 percent. Around 65 percent of women who are victims of partner violence in countries such as South Africa, India, Uganda, Vietnam and Zimbabwe report  that the abuser has used alcohol.

Alcohol is a factor in violence against children. In Europe at least 9 million children are growing up in families with an alcohol abuse problem. Around 16 per cent of cases dealing with abuse or neglect of children involve alcohol. In the United States there are about 26 million children with parents who are alcohol and drug addicts. In addition to these figures, we should mention that it takes more than 25 liters of water to produce one liter of beer. Without a doubt the global alcohol industry with their manufacturing, distribution and sales is having a negative impact on the world’s water and food situation.

As we have seen, use of alcohol and other drugs is a major threat to the world community’s sustainability goals and world peace. The work IOGT, IBC and WWCTU is doing is probably the most important effort in combating this threat today. A vibrant and popular temperance movement has proved to be vital in the implementation of measures to protect populations from damage caused by alcohol and drug use. They are also in the forefront to minimize damage already caused, and to help in reaching sustainability goals. Strongly opposing them we find big global corporations with their economic interests.                                                

The organizations here nominated are represented in most countries and all three have built up solid international networks. They also participate in other networks and global processes together with organizations with similar goals. A Peace Prize for this work will focus world attention on the immense problems caused by alcohol and drugs and be an invaluable support for the idealistic opposition forces and the sobriety and temperance movement.

As mentioned above, I hereby sign to nominate IOGT, IBC, and WWCTU to receive the Nobel Prize for 2017.

                                                                         Dr. Jung Joo Kim (Th.D. New Testament, '89 Harvard)

                                                                         Professor, Retired, Yonsei University, South Korea