This year's Nobel Peace Prize will be shared by pro-democracy activists from Belarus, Russia and Ukraine in one of the worst moments for peace in Europe since World War II. The winners are Ales Bialiatski, imprisoned in Belarus, who heads the human rights organization Viasná; the historic Russian NGO Memorial and the Center for Civil Liberties of Ukraine.
For the second consecutive year this distinction falls in this part of the world. In 2021, the Nobel Committee awarded the Peace Prize to the Russian journalist Dimitri Murátov, director of the opposition newspaper Nóvaya Gazeta, who shared the prize with the Philippine journalist Maria Ressa.
The committee justified its decision this year because "the laureates represent civil society in their respective countries. For many years they have promoted the right to criticize power and protect the fundamental rights of citizens." In addition, adds the committee's statement, "they have made an extraordinary effort to document war crimes, human rights abuses and abuse of power. Together they demonstrate the importance of civil society for peace and democracy."
The decision can be interpreted as a message to the Belarusian president, Alexander Lukashenko, who in 2020 harshly repressed in Belarus the largest demonstrations against his regime since he came to power in 1994; and to the president of Russia, Vladimir Putin, who more than seven months ago sent his army to Ukraine and has returned to the world the fear of a nuclear catastrophe.
According to the committee's chair, Berit Reiss-Andersen, Bialiatski, Memorial and the Center for Civil Liberties are "champions of human rights, democracy and peaceful coexistence in three neighboring countries."
Ales Bialiatski, 60, is a veteran Belarusian political activist, initiator of the democratic movement in his country even in the days of the Soviet Union. He is known in recent years for his work in the human rights organization Viasná (spring, in Belarusian), which he currently leads.
Since July 2021 he has been in prison for tax evasion. Human rights advocates consider the charges to be politically motivated and consider Bialiatski a prisoner of conscience. During the 2020 protests against the Alexander Lukashenko regime, he was part of the Coordination Committee of exiled opposition leader Svetlana Tijanóvskaya.
The human rights organization Memorial was founded in the late USSR by Soviet dissidents, including Nobel Peace Prize winner Andrei Sakharov. Since then he has dedicated himself to investigating and documenting the human rights crimes committed during the, especially in the time of Stalin and his years of terror, and has preserved the memory of the victims of the Gulag. That is why she is considered the conscience of Russian society against Stalinist crimes.
He has also denounced, documented and criticized human rights violations in Russia. The Nobel Committee recalls that "In 2009, the head of the Memorial branch in Chechnya, Natalia Estemírova, was assassinated because of this work." Victim of the repression of recent years against opponents and critical voices against the Kremlin, in 2021 the Russian Justice liquidated the organization.
Founded in 2007 to promote human rights, democracy and solidarity in Ukraine, the Ukraine Center for Civil Liberties stood out in 2013 for documenting human rights violations and providing legal support during the violent crackdown on pro-Western Maidan protests.
The NGO has also carried out initiatives to investigate various government agencies for civil rights violations. Currently, he travels around the country to reconstruct the war crimes committed by the Russian army during the invasion of Ukraine.
According to the Nobel Committee, "it has become an important source for documenting war crimes by Russia and plays a 'pioneering role' in holding the guilty to account." The organization said it was "proud" to have received the award.
