Nobel Peace Prize 2022 goes to Ales Bialiatski, Memorial and Center for Civil Liberties

The Norwegian Nobel Committee has decided to award the 2022 Nobel Peace Prize to human rights advocate Ales Bialiatski from Belarus, the Russian human rights organisation Memorial and the Ukrainian human rights organisation Center for Civil Liberties.

The Nobel Peace Prize laureates represent civil society in their home countries. They have for many years promoted the right to criticise power and protect the fundamental rights of citizens, the head of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, Berit Reiss-Andersen said.

The winners have made an outstanding effort to document war crimes, human rights abuses and the abuse of power. Together they demonstrate the significance of civil society for peace and democracy, Berit said.

Ales Bialiatski

Ales Bialiatski was one of the first to initiate a democracy movement that emerged in Belarus in the mid-1980s. He has dedicated his life to advancing democracy and peaceful development in his home country. "Among other things, he founded the organisation Viasna (Spring) in 1996 in response to the controversial constitutional amendments that gave the president dictatorial powers and that triggered widespread demonstrations," the official statement said.

Many attempts were made to silence him and he was imprisoned from 2011 to 2014. After large-scale protests against the government in 2020, he was again arrested. He is still detained without trial. Despite enormous personal hardship, Bialiatski has not lost an inch in his fight for human rights and democracy in Belarus, the Nobel Committee said.

Memorial

The human rights organisation Memorial was founded in 1987 by human rights activists including Nobel Peace Prize laureate Andrei Sakharov and human rights advocate Svetlana Gannushkina in the "former Soviet Union who wanted to ensure that the victims of the communist regime’s oppression would never be forgotten," the statement said. Memorial is based on the notion that confronting past crimes is essential in preventing new ones.

Center for Civil Liberties

The Center for Civil Liberties was founded in Ukraine's Kyiv in 2007 for the purpose of promoting human rights and democracy in the country. The Center for Civil Liberties has taken a stand to bolster Ukrainian civil society and pressure the authorities to make Ukraine a full-fledged democracy. "To develop Ukraine into a state governed by rule of law, the Center for Civil Liberties has actively advocated that Ukraine become affiliated with the International Criminal Court," the Nobel Committee said.