A groundswell of public support is gathering around the nomination of the Syrian Civil Defense, a group of almost 3,000 volunteer rescue workers commonly referred to as the White Helmets, for the 2016 Nobel Peace Prize.
Founded in 2013 in Aleppo and trained by earthquake rescue specialists, the White Helmets operate out of 122 bases throughout Syria, working at the center of a roiling conflict. Volunteers locate and extract victims and survivors of the Syrian civil war from rubble and other perilous circumstances. The work involves hours of digging, searching for signs of life beneath collapsed buildings and infrastructure. The White Helmets are also tasked with removing bodies and giving a dignified burial to both combatant and civilian casualties.
Although nominees are not officially announced by the Nobel committee, some 130 nominating organizations have put forward the White Helmets for the prize, according to James Le Mesurier, founder of Mayday Rescue, a nonprofit based in Turkey which helped “incubate” the White Helmets through training, fundraising and capacity building. Another effort by The Syria Campaign, a human rights group, hopes to gather 50,000 public signatures supporting the nomination.