Ales Bialiatski from Belarus, Russian human rights organisation Memorial and Ukrainian human rights organisation Center for Civil Liberties were jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday by the Norwegian Nobel Committee.
Berit Reiss-Andersen, chair of the Norwegian Nobel Committee made the announcement saying, said each of them represented civil society in their home countries and strived to protect the fundamental rights of citizens.
"They have made an outstanding effort to document war crimes, human right abuses and the abuse of power. Together they demonstrate the significance of civil society for peace and democracy," the Nobel Prize Committee said.
Working to uphold human rights and democracy in the face of tremendous pushback from governments is common among all the three Nobel Peace Prize laureates of 2022.
Here's what you need to know about the three Nobel Peace Prize Laurates:
Who is Ales Bialiatski, the Nobel Laureate in jail?
Ales Bialiatski is an activist who has worked to uphold democracy and peace development in Belarus since the 1980s. The Nobel Prize Committee press release reads. "He has devoted his life to promoting democracy and peaceful development in his home country."
He is the founder of Viasna (Spring) which describes itself as "a non-governmental human rights organization". It was established in April 1996 during the mass protests of the democratic opposition in Belarus.
Viasna has now become a "broad-based human rights organisation" that documented and protested against the authorities' use of torture against political prisoners.
The Nobel Prize Committee said in its announcement, "Despite tremendous personal hardship, Mr Bialiatski has not yielded an inch in his fight for human rights and democracy in Belarus."
Bialiatski has faced constant government action through tax raids and charges of tax evasion. Bialiatski and his colleagues Valiantsin Stefanovic, member of Viasna's Board and Vice-President of FIDH, and Uladzimir Labkovich, lawyer and coordinator of the campaign "Human Rights Defenders for Free Elections", were detained in July 2021. According to their statement, a total of six people from Viasna had been arrested. "The absence of transparency regarding the nature of the accusations against them, the lack of communication with the detainees, and the appalling detention conditions are outrageous," Viasna had said in a statemen in August 2021.
According to DW News, Bialiatski is lodged in the Minsk pre-trial detention centre.
Bialiatski faced jail time between 2011 and 2014 for alleged tax evasion, to which he pleaded not guilty. At the time Amnesty International had called his detention "politically motivated" and had called for his release. Human Rights Watch had said, "Belyatsky's arrest is a clear case of retaliation against him and Viasna for their human rights work."
Bialiatski was born on September 25, 1962, in Vyartsilya, Karelia, Russia. He was in Belarus, under detention, at the time of receiving the award.
What is Memorial?
Memorial is a non-governmental and non-profit organisation that was founded in 1987 and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Andrei Sakharov and human rights advocate Svetlana Gannushkina were among the founders.
The Moscow-based organisation was formed during the erstwhile Soviet Union and is now one of the largest human rights organisation in Russia. Memorial, like its fellow winners, has faced pushback during its work. In December 2021, the Russian Supreme Court shut down Memorial International, saying it had flouted the country's "foreign agent" law. In April 2022, Memorial Human Rights Center, the sister organisation announced its closure after another order by the supreme court of the country.
Amnesty International's Eastern Europe and Central Asia Director, Marie Struthers had termed this an attack on the already cornered civil society in Russia. "The authorities' dismantling of this outstanding human rights organization fits a broader pattern of repression that seeks to outlaw Russia's civil society networks. The decision to close Human Rights Center Memorial must be overturned immediately," Struthers had said in a statement.
In light of the legal action on Memorial its chairman Yan Rachinsky had said "Nobody plans to give up."
Memorial has worked to document human rights abuses in the Soviet Era and even gathered information on war crimes during the Chehen war.
Memorial compiled and systematised information on political oppression and human rights violations in Russia. Memorial became the most authoritative source of information on political prisoners in Russian detention facilities. The organisation has also been standing at the forefront of efforts to combat militarism and promote human rights and government based on rule of law," the Nobel Committee press statement said.
Because of its work on the abuses of the Russian and pro-Russian forces during the Chechen wars, Natalia Estemirova, the head of Memorial's branch in Chechnya was killed in 2009.
What is the Center for Civil Liberties?
The Center of Civil Liberties is an organisation that was established to uphold democracy in Ukraine. Founded in 2007, the organisation describes its mission as, " influencing the formation of public opinion and public policy, supporting the development of civic activism, and actively participating in international networks and solidarity actions to promote human rights in the OSCE region".
Based out of Kyiv, the Center of Civil Liberties has made efforts to document war crimes as the country invaded Ukrain in 2022. "In collaboration with international partners, the center is playing a pioneering role with a view to holding the guilty parties accountable for their crimes," the Nobel press statement said.
"The center has taken a stand to strengthen 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, Center for Civil Liberties has actively advocated that Ukraine become affiliated with the International Criminal Court," it read.
This is the first ever noble prize for a Ukranian organisation or citizen.
Among the objectives of the Center of Civil Liberties are also training a new generation of human rights defenders and civil society activists and the advocacy and education on human rights and democracy.
