The Nobel Peace Prize 2022 was announced to human rights advocate Ales Bialiatski from Belarus, the Russian human rights organisation Memorial, and the Ukrainian human rights organisation Center for Civil Liberties in October 2022. The three laureates have been chosen to honour the champions of human rights, democracy, and peaceful coexistence in Belarus, Russia, and Ukraine. The laurates represent the civil society in their home countries. They have strived hard for many years to promote the right to criticise power and protect the fundamental rights of the citizens. They have also made an outstanding effort to document war crimes, human rights abuses, and the abuse of power. These laureates have demonstrated the significance of civil society for peace and democracy.
Contribution by Laureates
Ales Bialiatski emerged as human rights activist in Belarus in the mid-1980s who has been leading an almost 30-year campaign for democracy and freedom in Belarus. In 1996, he founded the Minsk-based Human Rights Centre ‘Viasna’ to provide support for political prisoners which has since become the country’s leading NGO. The organisation has contributed to the development of the civil society in Belarus through documenting human rights abuses and monitoring elections.
He has led a non-violent and non-partisan campaign to ensure that democratic freedoms and a vibrant civil society are established in Belarus. As an active member of the National Human Rights movement, Bialiatski was arrested, tried, and prisoned for several years as Belarusian authorities always tried to impede him. Still detained without trial, Mr Bialiatski has not yielded an inch in his fight for human rights and democracy in Belarus despite tremendous personal hardships. Viasna has been playing a leading role in advocating for the freedom of assembly, defending the rights of people arrested for protesting and documenting human rights abuses.
Thus, he has become the fourth person to receive the Nobel peace prize while in prison, the other three being—Carl von Ossietzky of Germany in 1935, Aung San Suu Kyi of Myanmar in 1991, and Liu Xiaobo of China, in 2010.
The Human Rights Organisation, Memorial, established in 1987 by human rights activists in the former Soviet Union, has been compiling systematised information on political oppression and human rights violations in Russia, after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Memorial is based on the notion that confronting past crimes is essential in preventing new ones.
Memorial has been at the forefront to combat militarism and promote human rights and government based on rule of law. During the Chechen Wars from the 1990s to the 2000s, Memorial gathered and verified information on abuses and war crimes perpetrated on the civilian population by Russian and pro-Russian forces.
The Center for Civil Liberties, founded in 2007, has taken a stand to strengthen Ukrainian civil society and pressure the authorities to make Ukraine a full-fledged democracy. Center for Civil Liberties has actively advocated that Ukraine should become affiliated with the International Criminal Court. After Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the Center has since been making efforts to identify and document Russian war crimes against the Ukrainian civilian population with a view to holding the guilty parties accountable for their crimes.
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