New Delhi: Denis Mukwege, a Congolese doctor, and Nadia Murad, a Yazidi campaigner, jointly won the 2018 Nobel Peace Prize for their efforts to end the use of sexual violence as a weapon of war.

The official website of the Nobel Peace Prize wrote that both the laureates made crucial contributions in bringing war crimes to the limelight so that the issue   receives the attention required. 

While Mukwege devoted his life in defending victims of war-time sexual violence, Murad was vocal about the abuses inflicted on her and others.

Here are some interesting facts about the winners:

Denis Mukwege

Mukwege and his staff treated thousands of patients who had fallen victim to war-time sexual violence.

Mukwege grew up in Bukavu in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and after studying medicine in Burundi he initially became interested in pediatric care.

However, after witnessing the poor birthing procedure the rural women had to go through, he decided to focus on obstetrics and gynaecology.

In 1989, he established an obstetrics and gynaecology service in Lemera.

The hospital in Lamera was destroyed during the civil war in 1996 and Mukwege founded another hospital called the Panzi Hospital in 1999.

This was the time when he began interacting with victims of war-time sexual violence. Sometimes very young girls, as young as three-years-old, with extreme injuries and mutilations sought his help.

Nadia Murad

Murad, who herself was a victim of war crimes, started telling about the atrocities she and other women faced in the hands of the ISIS militants.

Murad, who is a member of the Yazidi minority in northern Iraq, was abducted and held as sex slave and was repeatedly subjected to rape, other abuses and even threatened with execution.

After three months of this torture, Murad managed to flee and narrated the harrowing experiences to the world.

At the age of 23, she was named the UN’s first Goodwill Ambassador for the Dignity of Survivors of Human Trafficking.