Human rights advocate Ales Bialiatski from Belarus, the Russian human rights organisation Memorial and the Ukrainian human rights organisation Center for Civil Liberties have been awarded the 2022 Nobel Peace Prize.
“The Nobel Peace Prize laureates represent civil society in their home countries. They have for many years promoted the right to criticise power and protect the fundamental rights of citizens,” the committee wrote on Twitter after the announcement.
“They have made an outstanding effort to document war crimes, human right abuses and the abuse of power. Together they demonstrate the significance of civil society for peace and democracy.”
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The decision was made by The Norwegian Nobel Committee.
Bialiatski has been described as one of the initiators of the democracy movement that emerged in Belarus in the mid-1980s.
The 60-year-old devoted his life to promoting democracy and peaceful development in his home country. He founded the organisation Viasna (Spring) in 1996. Bialiatski was imprisoned from 2011 to 2014. He was arrested again in 2020 following large-scale demonstrations against the regime.
The human rights organisation Memorial was established in 1987 by human rights activists in the former Soviet Union. Nobel Peace Prize laureate Andrei Sakharov and human rights advocate Svetlana Gannushkina were among the founders.
Memorial became the largest human rights organisation in Russia following the collapse of the Soviet Union.
The Center for Civil Liberties was founded in Kyiv in 2007 for advancing human rights and democracy in Ukraine. After Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the organisation engaged in efforts to identify and document Russian war crimes against the Ukrainian civilian population.
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There have been 102 Nobel Peace Prizes awarded from 1901–2021. Twenty-five organizations have received the award. Of the recipients, 18 were women.
