Nobel winners say Syria is 'stain' on world conscience

OSLO - Agence France-Presse

AFP PHOTO / JOHN MACDOUGALL

The European Union, winners of this year's Nobel Peace Prize, said at the Oslo award ceremony Monday that Syria was "a stain" on the world's conscience.

"Let me say it from here today," said European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso. "The current situation in Syria is a stain on the world's conscience and the international community has a moral duty to address it.".

The European Union, facing its worst crisis in six decades, was officially awarded the 2012 Nobel Peace Prize on Monday for turning Europe "from a continent of war to a continent of peace." With a score of EU heads of state and government looking on, Norwegian Nobel Committee chairman Thorbjoern Jagland handed the prize to a threesome of EU leaders -- EU president Herman Van Rompuy, European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso and European parliament president Martin Schulz.