Belarus rights activist Ales Bialiatski, the Russian group Memorial and the Ukrainian organisation Center for Civil Liberties have been awarded this year’s Nobel Peace Prize. The chair of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, Berit Reiss-Andersen announced the winner on Friday in Oslo.
Who are the winners?
Alessandro Bialiatsk: Bialiatski, who was a citizen of Belarus at the time of the award, was born on September 25, 1962, in Vyartsilya, Karelia, Russia. The democratic movement that began to take root in Belarus in the middle of the 1980s had Bialiatski as one of its founders. He has dedicated his life to advancing democracy and nonviolent growth in his native nation. In 1996, he started the group Viasna (Spring). Viasna developed into a multifaceted human rights organisation that exposed and denounced the use of torture by the government against political detainees. Ales Bialiatski has been the target of numerous attempts by the government to silence him. Since 2020, he has been held without being tried. Despite facing extreme personal adversity, Mr. Bialiatski has persisted in his fight for democracy and human rights in Belarus.
Memorial: In order to ensure that the victims of the brutality of the communist dictatorship would never be forgotten, human rights advocates in the former Soviet Union founded the human rights organisation Memorial in 1987. The foundation of Memorial is the idea that recognising past crimes is crucial to preventing new ones. The organisation has also been leading initiatives to counter militarism, advance human rights, and support governments that uphold the rule of law. Memorial acquired and verified evidence about abuses and war crimes committed against the populace by Russian and pro-Russian forces throughout the Chechen Wars. Natalia Estemirova, the branch manager for Memorial in Chechnya, passed away in 2009 as a result of her job.
Center for Civil Liberties: The Center for Civil Liberties was founded for the purpose of advancing human rights and democracy in Ukraine. It has taken a stand to strengthen Ukrainian civil society and pressure the authorities to make Ukraine a full-fledged democracy. After Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the centre has engaged in efforts to identify and document Russian war crimes against the Ukrainian population. The centre is playing a pioneering role in holding guilty
