They “demonstrate the importance of civil society for peace and democracy”. The Nobel Peace Prize was awarded on Friday 7 October to Belarusian lawyer and human rights defender Ales Bialiatski, the Russian human rights organization Memorial and the Center for Civil Liberties in Ukraine, to have “for many years promoted the right to criticize power and protected the fundamental rights of citizens”. A highly symbolic prize, in the midst of the war in Ukraine.
“The Norwegian Nobel Committee wishes to honor three outstanding champions of human rights, democracy and peaceful coexistence in the three neighboring countries Belarus, Russia and Ukraine”, said its president Berit Reiss-Andersen. These winners “have made a remarkable effort to document war crimes, human rights violations and abuse of power”, she continued (link in English).
The Nobel committee has called on Belarus to release co-winner Ales Bialiatski, who was arrested again in 2020 after widespread protest against the regime. “Our message is to urge the authorities in Belarus to release Mr. Beliatski and we hope that happens and that he comes to Oslo to receive the award,” said Berit Reiss-Andersen. A figure in the pro-democracy movement from the 1980s in Belarus, Ales Bialiatski has “dedicated his life to the promotion of democracy and peaceful development in his country”, points out the Nobel committee.
The Russian organization Memorial, co-winner, was born in 1987 and has since become the largest human rights organization in Russia, the Nobel committee said. “In addition to establishing a documentation center for Stalin-era victims, Memorial has compiled and systematized information on political oppression and human rights abuses in Russia,” says the press release from the committee. The third winner, the Center for Civil Liberties, was born in 2007 with the objective “to advance human rights and democracy in Ukraine”. While working for “strengthen Ukrainian civil society and put pressure on the authorities to make Ukraine a full democracy”, the center documents, from the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, “Russian war crimes against the Ukrainian civilian population”, adds the Nobel committee. The organization “plays a pioneering role in holding the guilty accountable for their crimes”.
Last year, theFilipino journalists Maria Ressa and Russian Dmitry Muratov were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for “their courageous fight for freedom of expression”. Previous winners were the United Nations World Food Program (WFP) in 2020, “for his efforts to fight hunger in the world”, and Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed in 2019, awarded “for his efforts in favor of peace” and in particular his “determined initiative to settle the border conflict with Eritrea”.