Nobel peace prize 2001-2002

What is a nobel peace prize? 

According to Nobel's will, the Peace Prize shall be awarded to the person who:

...shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses.

Each year, the Norwegian Nobel Committee invites qualified people to write down nominations for the Nobel Peace Prize, and then it is awarded by a committee of five persons who are chosen by the Norwegian Storting.
Now let's talk about the nobel peace prizes given in 2001 and 2002:

2001

In 2001 this award was given jointly to the United nations (U.N)  and Kofi Annan:

"for their work for a better organized and more peaceful world."

They gave this award to U.N because the only way to have a peaceful world is the global cooperation of the United Nations. Other, it was the centenary of the United Nations so it was an award to celebrate the importance of U.N and to celebrate all the important work made by U.N. 
Kofi Annan is the secretary of the UN, and he received this award because he fight for human rights, especially against Aids and also international terrorism. He dedicated his life to the United Nations, and as a secretary he is important because he gave a new life to the organization. So he received Nobel Prize both for his engagement with United Nations and for his engagement to preserve human rights. 

2002
In 2002, this prize was awarded to Jimmy Carter (former president of the United States), for his:

"decades of untiring effort to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts, to advance democracy and human rights, and to promote economic and social development".

After leaving his politic life, Carter in 1982, he founded the "Carter center" at Atlanta to highlight the importance of human rights and peace. Thanks to this activity, this brought some ideas to stop conflicts between different continents.