LONDON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 04th February, 2021) The director of the Cuba Solidarity Campaign (CSC) in the United Kingdom, Rob Miller, told Sputnik on Thursday that the small island nation "deserves nothing less" after an international campaign to award the 2021 Nobel Peace prize to Cuban doctors fighting COVID-19 around the world wrapped up on February 1 with 42 formal nominations from the UK.
"Cuba deserves nothing less. It sets a wonderful example of internationalism and humanity during this worldwide pandemic," Miller told Sputnik.
Since its formation in 2005 at the initiative of the late leader of the Cuban revolution Fidel Castro, the Henry Reeve International Medical Brigade has saved tens of thousands of lives in several countries in the aftermath of earthquakes, hurricanes and epidemic outbreaks around the world.
During the current COVID-19 pandemic, over 4,000 Cuban health workers helped to contain the disease in 39 countries, including Italy, Andorra and the British Overseas Territories.
With the support of the CSC, 28 parliamentarians both from the Labour Party and the Scottish National Party, and 14 academics from the UK formally nominated the Cuban medics for the Nobel Peace Prize before the February 1 deadline date.
Among the proponents was former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, who in his nomination letter to the Norwegian Nobel Prize Committee said the Cuban health workers "have shown themselves unsurpassable in their sheer determination to volunteer anywhere at any time to save lives, be that into a widespread natural disaster or epidemic."
Helen Yaffe, a lecturer in Economic and Social History at the University of Glasgow who also made a formal proposal to the Norwegian committee on behalf of the Cuban medical brigade, told Sputnik that the Cuban doctors meet the foundational aspirations of the Nobel Prize that says it should be awarded to "those who have done the most, or the best work for fraternity between nations."
"The Covid-19 pandemic has seen the international community fracture; Cuba's Henry Reeve International Medical Contingent has offered a counterexample, exemplifying the benefits of global healthcare cooperation," the author of "We are Cuba! How a Revolutionary People Have Survived in a Post-Soviet World" and other books on the Caribbean island said.
The rules of the Norwegian Nobel committee state that nominations can only be made by parliamentarians, academics, magistrates of international courts, previous recipients of the award, as well as active or retired members of the committee. The deadline for this year's nominations was February 1 and the winner or winners will be announced in October.
