Human rights champions in Belarus, Russia, and Ukraine win Nobel Peace Prize

Context

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

About

Belarus’s Ales Bialiatski

Ales Bialiatski is a Belarusian human rights activist, who is currently being held in prison without trial.
He was one of the initiators of the democratic movement in Belarus in the mid-1980s.
He has devoted his life to promoting democracy and peaceful development in his home country.
He is credited with founding the organisation Viasna (Spring) in 1996.
Viasna is a broad-based human rights organization that documented and protested against the authorities’ use of torture against political prisoners.

Russian human rights organisation, Memorial

Russian human rights organisation was established in 1987, by human rights activists in the former Soviet Union.
Nobel Peace Prize laureate Andrei Sakharov and human rights advocate Svetlana Gannushkina were among the organization’s founders.
Memorial is based on the notion that confronting past crimes is essential in preventing new ones.
It wanted to ensure that the victims of the communist regime’s oppression would never be forgotten.

Ukrainian human rights organisation, Center for Civil Liberties:

The Center for Civil Liberties was founded in Kyiv in 2007.
It was aimed at advancing human rights and democracy in Ukraine.
The committee has described them as one of the leading actors in Ukraine.
They have been successful in influencing the formation of public opinion and public policy.
They have been actively participating in international networks and solidarity actions to promote human rights.

About Nobel Peace Prize:

The Nobel Peace Prize is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Swedish industrialist, inventor, and armaments manufacturer Alfred Nobel.
The peace prize is along with the prizes in Chemistry, Physics, Physiology or Medicine, and Literature.
The first Nobel Peace Prize was awarded in 1901.
Selection of Nobel Prize laureates
The Norwegian Nobel Committee is responsible for the selection of eligible candidates and the choice of the Nobel Peace Prize laureates.
The Committee is composed of five members appointed by the Storting (Norwegian parliament).
The Nobel Peace Prize is awarded in Oslo, Norway, not in Stockholm, Sweden, where the rest of the other Nobel Prizes are awarded.