Explained | All about the winners of the 2022 Nobel Peace Prize
The Hindu
Together, the winners demonstrate the significance of civil society for peace and democracy, the Nobel Prize Committee said.
The story so far: The 2022 Nobel Peace Prize has been jointly awarded to Belarusian human rights advocate Ales Bialiatski, the Russian human rights organisation Memorial, and the Ukrainian human rights organisation Centre for Civil Liberties. The award was announced by the Norwegian Nobel Committee in Oslo on Friday.
“The Peace Prize laureates 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 right abuses and the abuse of power. Together they demonstrate the significance of civil society for peace and democracy,” the Norwegian Nobel Committee said in a press release.
Belarusian activist Ales Bialiatski is the founder of Viasna, a human rights centre in the country, named for the Belarusian word for ‘spring.’ . Mr. Bialiatski created Viasna in 1996 when a wave of democratic opposition tookover Belarus.
President Alexander Lukashenko, who took over the country in 1994, gradually becameincreasingly autocratic. His rule has been described as “Europe’s last dictatorship”. In 1996, locals protested against Mr. Lukashenko’s rule in large numbers, and the uprising was popularly called the Minsk Spring.
Viasna’s registration was cancelled by the Supreme Court of Belarus in 2003. In 2004, it became a member of the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH).
Mr. Bialiatski is a champion of human rights in Belarus and has dedicated his life to the cause of democracy in his country. The dissent has, however, come at the cost of personal liberty. The activist was arrested in July 2021, following the large-scale anti-government protests in the country that started in 2020. He has, since, been detained without trial. Human Rights Watch reported that he has been charged with tax evasion and faces up to seven years in prison.
This is not Mr. Bialiatski’s first stint in prison. He also spent around three years in jail between 2011 and 2014.