Nobel Peace Prize 2022 winners: Who are the human rights activists in Belarus, Russia and Ukraine?

On Friday, Berit Reiss-Andersen, Chair of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, announced the winners of the Nobel Peace Prize 2022, which was awarded to one individual and two organisations that “represent civil society in their home countries.” This honour was bestowed upon Ales Bialiatski from Belarus, the Russian human rights organisation Memorial and the Ukrainian human rights organisation Center for Civil Liberties.

“They have for many years promoted the right to criticise power and protect the fundamental rights of citizens. They 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,” said the Norwegian Academy.

Belarusian human rights activist: Ales Bialiatski

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Reiss-Andersen then went on to address the press about the jailed Belarusian human rights activist Ales Bialiatski. He was one of the initiators of the democracy movement that emerged in Belarus in the mid-1980s and devoted his life to promoting democracy and peaceful development in Belarus, she said.

In 1996, Bialiatski founded the organisation Viasna which means Spring, with time they had evolved into a broad-based human rights organisation. According to the academy, the group has “documented and protested against authorities’ use of torture against political prisoners”.

Notably, his win comes at a time when the country has been facing historic crackdowns, this led to Reiss-Andersen also calling for his release from prison so that he can visit Oslo for the award ceremony that will take place on December 10, later this year.

She added, “Government authorities have repeatedly sought to silence Ales Bialiatski. Since 2020, he is detained without trial.”

However, despite these hardships, Bialiatski has not “yielded an inch in his fight for human rights and democracy” in the ex-Soviet nation, said the academy. This is also not the first time Ales Bialiatski has been arrested, he was once detained for three years between 2011 and 2014 and again in 2020.

Subsequently, in 2021 he was jailed yet again and was charged with tax evasion. According to several critics of the Belarusian government, these charges are a veiled tactic used by the government to silence dissent in the country. Bialiatski has also helped many jailed demonstrators and their families.

The sweeping crackdown has been by the country’s longtime authoritarian leader, Alexander Lukashenko, after huge anti-government demonstrations, last year. This makes Bialiatski the fourth person to receive a Nobel peace prize while in jail or detention, including Liu Xiaobo of China (2010), Aung San Suu Kyi of Myanmar (1991) and Carl von Ossietzky of Germany (1935).

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Russian human rights group: Memorial

One of the two organisations that were given this honour was the Russian human rights group, Memorial. The organisation was founded in 1987 by activists in the former Soviet Union, “who wanted to ensure that the victims of the communist regime’s oppression would never be forgotten,” said Reiss-Andersen. She added that the organisation was based on the notion that, “confronting past crimes is essential in preventing new ones”.

The Russian human rights organisation was dissolved by the Kremlin last year in December, prior to the ongoing invasion of Ukraine. According to reports, they allegedly broke a law which requires certain civil society groups to register as foreign agents. Notably, the founders of the organisation also included a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, a dissent, and physicist, Andrei Sakharov who died in 1989.

Since then the organisation has been at the forefront of “efforts to combat militarism and promote human rights and government based on rule of law,” said the academy. In the early 1990s after the fall of the Soviet Union, an International Memorial was created in the former soviet countries, they reportedly documented political repressions and rehabilitated those repressed under communism. Subsequently, they built a database of victims of Joseph Stalin's (1937-38) Great Terror and Gulag camps.

The academy also cited the Chechen wars when the Memorial “gathered and verified information on abuses and war crimes perpetrated on the population by Russian and pro-Russian forces.” Reiss-Andersen also spoke about Natalia Estemirova, the head of Memorial’s branch in Chechnya, who was killed in 2009 because of this work.

However, they refused to be suppressed and went on to work, till last year’s shutdown reacting to the announcement, the group’s board member Anke Giesen said, “It encourages us in our resolve to support our Russian colleagues to continue their work at a new location, despite the forced dissolution of Memorial International in Moscow.”

‘Advancing human rights and democracy in Ukraine’: The Center for Civil Liberties

Founded in 2007, The Center for Civil Liberties in Ukraine was established for the “purpose of advancing human rights and democracy…It has taken a stand to strengthen Ukrainian civil society and pressure the authorities to make Ukraine a full-fledged democracy,” said the academy.

The centre’s role has been pivotal in holding those accountable for their crimes since the Russian invasion began earlier this year as they are working to “identify and document Russian war crimes against the Ukrainian population.”

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What the head of the Nobel committee had to say about the announcement coinciding with Russian President Vladimir Putin’s birthday?

Berit Reiss-Andersen, the head of the Nobel committee went on to say that this prize is “not addressing President Putin not for his birthday, or in any other sense.” Except that his government and the government in Belarus are “representing an authoritarian government that is suppressing human rights activists,” she added.This comes amid the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine and the alleged human rights violations that Moscow has been accused of in relation to this conflict and otherwise.

“The attention that Mr Putin has drawn on himself that is relevant in this context is the way civil society and human rights advocates are being suppressed. And that is what we would like to address with this prize,” said the head of the Nobel committee. Reiss-Andersen also concluded by saying that they give prizes for “something and to somebody and not against anyone.”

Notable reactions

After the announcement, the official page of the Nobel Committee on Twitter posted what they described as the “emotional reaction” when the Center for Civil Liberties in Ukraine were informed about their win prior to the announcement:

Former executive director of Human Rights Watch, Kenneth Roth, took to Twitter to say the following after the announcement of the winners:

(With inputs from agencies)