Nobel Peace Prize: A look at the peacemakers from Belarus, Russia & Ukraine

For many years, these laureates promoted the right to criticise power and protect the fundamental rights of citizens

This year, Belarusian rights activist Ales Bialiatski, the Russian group Memorial and the Ukrainian organisation Center for Civil Liberties have been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

All these three laureates represent civil society in their home countries. For many years, they have 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," the Norwegian Nobel Committee said in its citation.

The winner was announced on Friday in Oslo by Berit Reiss-Andersen, chair of the Norwegian Nobel Committee.

Let's look at who they are and how their work impacts society.

Ales Bialiatski

The 60-year-old, imprisoned in jail for alleged tax evasion, is known for working with the Human Rights Centre "Viasna".  

Bialiatski's activism began in the early 1980s when he got involved in several pro-democracy initiatives, including a group called Belarusian Clandestine Party "Independence", aiming to foster Belarus's leaving the Soviet Union and forming a sovereign and democratic country.

He founded the human rights Centre "Viasna" in 1996. The Minsk-based organisation, then called "Viasna-96", was transformed into a nationwide NGO in June 1999. On October 28, 2003, the Supreme Court of Belarus cancelled the state registration of the Human Rights Centre "Viasna" for its role in observing the 2001 presidential election. Since then, the leading Belarusian human rights organisation has been working without registration.

On August 4, 2011, Ales Bialiatski was arrested under tax evasion charges. Many Belarusian human rights activists, European Union leaders, EU governments, and the US  called his sentencing politically motivated.

On August 11, Amnesty International declared Bialiatski, a prisoner of conscience. On June 21, 2014, he was released from prison 20 months ahead of schedule.

On July 14, 2021, the Belarusian police raided Viasna's central office, following which Bialiatski was arrested and, on October 6, was charged with tax evasion with a maximum penalty of 7 years in prison.

Memorial- Russia

Founded during the fall of the Soviet Union to examine crimes committed under Joseph Stalin's rule, Memorial is an international human rights organisation. Before its dissolution six months ago, it consisted of two separate legal entities, Memorial International, which recorded the crimes against humanity committed in the Soviet Union, and the Memorial Human Rights Centre, which focused on protecting human rights.

The Memorial as a legal entity in Russia was closed and liquidated on April 5, 2022. In December 2021, a joint statement was released by the European Union, the US, Australia, Canada, and the UK, criticising the Russian court's decisions to shut Memorial and calling on Russia "to uphold its international human rights obligations and commitments".

According to its post-Soviet 1992 charter, Memorial pursued the following aims:

a) To promote mature civil society and democracy based on the rule of law and thus prevent a return to totalitarianism;

b) To assist the formation of public awareness based on the values of democracy and law, to extirpate totalitarian patterns [of thought and behaviour], and to firmly establish human rights in everyday politics and public life;

c) To promote the truth about the historical past and perpetuate the memory of the victims of political repression carried out by totalitarian regimes.

Center for Civil Liberties- Ukraine

The Center for Civil Liberties is a Ukrainian human rights organisation led by lawyer Oleksandra Matviichuk. In 2007, leaders of human rights organisations from nine post-Soviet countries decided to create a cross-border resource support centre in Kyiv.

Since then, the group has organised several information campaigns and international conferences. It carries out public control over human rights compliance in the activities of state and local government bodies; works with young people to form a new generation of young human rights activists and social activists; educates in the sphere of human rights and democracy, as well as implements a programme of international solidarity.

Its mission is to establish human rights, democracy, and solidarity in Ukraine and the OSCE region to affirm human dignity.