Alice Bialiatsky, Memorial and Center for Civil Liberties win Nobel Peace Prize

CNN
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Human rights groups from Russia and Ukraine – Memorial The Center for Civil Liberties – VAZA B Nobel Peace Prize For 2022, together with imprisoned Belarusian lawyer Ales Bialiatsky.

The new winners were honored “for their outstanding efforts to document war crimes, human rights abuses and abuse of power” in their countries. “They have for many years promoted the right to criticize authority and protect the fundamental rights of citizens,” the Norwegian Nobel Committee said.

Their victory comes seven months after Russia launched a full-scale war against Ukraine, with the help of Belarus. This ongoing struggle loomed large over this year’s award, and it had been speculated that the committee would seek to honor activists in the affected nations.

The commission said the Ukrainian group, the Center for Civil Liberties, “has been involved in efforts to identify and document Russian war crimes against the Ukrainian civilian population” since the invasion began in February.

“In cooperation with international partners, the center plays a leading role with the aim of holding the guilty responsible for their crimes.”

Memorial was founded in 1987, and after the fall of the Soviet Union, it became one of the most prominent human rights monitors in Russia. She worked to expose the abuses and atrocities of the Stalinist era.

group was Closed by Russian courts last yearin a major blow to the country’s hollow civil rights scene.

Meanwhile, Bialiatsky has documented human rights abuses in Belarus since the 1980s. He founded the organization Viasna, or Spring, in 1996 after a referendum that cemented the authoritarian powers of President and close Russia ally Alexander Lukashenko.

The activist was arrested in 2020 amid widespread protests against Lukashenko’s regime. He is still being held without trial. Despite enormous personal hardships, Bialiatsky did not give up an inch in his fight for human rights and democracy in Belarus,” the commission said.

And congratulated the Belarusian opposition politician Svyatlana Tsykhanoskaya Bialiatsky. “The award is an important recognition for all Belarusians who are fighting for freedom and democracy,” she wrote on Twitter. “All political prisoners must be released without delay.”

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen praised the “outstanding courage of the women and men standing up against tyranny”.

French President Emmanuel Macron tweeted that the Nobel Committee had honored “steadfast defenders of human rights in Europe”. “The artisans of peace know that they can count on the support of France,” Macron added.

It was widely expected that Nobel Prize decision makers would focus their attention on the Russian invasion of Ukraine, given its implications for security and stability around the world.

But those involved in high-profile military campaigns, such as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, have been seen as long-term targets given that government-led peace negotiations appear to offer little hope of a solution to the conflict in the near future.

“The commission gives a message about the importance of political freedoms, civil liberties, and an active civil society as part of what makes a society peaceful,” Dan Smith, director of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, told CNN. “I think this is a very important message.”

“This award has so many layers; it covers so much ground and gives more than one message.” “(It’s) a prize for citizenship, and what better kind of citizenship if we want to be citizens of peaceful nations in a peaceful world.”

“This year we have been in a situation with a war in Europe, which is very unusual, but we are also facing a war that has a global impact on people all over the world,” committee chair Berit Reiss-Andersen told reporters. .

Reiss Andersen said the purpose of the award was not to send a message to Russian President Vladimir Putin or any other individual, but added that it represented “an authoritarian government that suppresses human rights activists.”

The three winners will share the prize money of 10,000,000 Swedish kronor (900,000 US dollars). The Nobel Prizes will be officially awarded to the laureates at a ceremony on December 10, the anniversary of Alfred Nobel’s death.