The 2022 Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to Belarusian Ales Bialiatskyi, a human rights activist and two non-governmental organizations “Memorial” (from Russia) and Center for Civil Liberties (Ukraine)announced the Norwegian Nobel Committee in Oslo.

The Norwegian Nobel Committee has decided to award the 2022 Nobel Peace Prize to one person and two organizations. Laureates of the Peace Prize represent civil society in their countries of origin.

They have been promoting the right to criticize the government and protect the basic rights of citizens for many years. They have gone to extraordinary lengths to document war crimes, human rights abuses and abuses of power. Together, they demonstrate the importance of civil society for peace and democracy.

What the Nobel Committee says about this year’s laureates:

Ales Bialiatskyi from Belarus

Ales Bialiatskyi was one of the initiators of the democratic movement that emerged in Belarus in the mid-1980s, and devoted his life to the promotion of democracy and peaceful development in his native country. Among other things, he founded Vesna in 1996 in response to controversial constitutional amendments that gave the president dictatorial powers and sparked large-scale demonstrations. “Vyasna” supported the imprisoned demonstrators and their families. In the following years, “Vyasna” turned into a large-scale human rights organization that documented and protested against the authorities’ use of torture against political prisoners.

Authorities repeatedly tried to silence Ales Bialiatskyi. He was in prison from 2011 to 2014. After large demonstrations against the regime in 2020, he was arrested again. He is still being held without trial. Despite enormous personal difficulties, Bialatsky did not give up an inch in his fight for human rights and democracy in Belarus.

Russian organization “Memorial”.

The human rights organization Memorial was founded in 1987 by human rights defenders from the former Soviet Union who sought to ensure that the victims of the oppression of the communist regime were never forgotten. Nobel Peace Prize laureate Andriy Sakharov and human rights activist Svitlana Hannushkina are among the founders. The memorial is based on the idea that confronting past crimes is essential to preventing new ones.

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, “Memorial” became the largest human rights organization in Russia. In addition to creating a documentary center about the victims of the Stalin era, “Memorial” collected and systematized information about political oppression and human rights violations in Russia. “Memorial” has become the most authoritative source of information about political prisoners in Russian pre-trial detention centers. The organization has also been at the forefront of efforts to combat militarism and promote human rights and rule of law.

When civil society must succumb to autocracy and dictatorship, peace is often the next casualty. During the war in Chechnya, Memorial collected and verified information about abuses and war crimes committed against civilians by Russian and pro-Russian forces. In 2009, Natalia Estemirova, the head of the branch of “Memorial” in Chechnya, was killed because of this activity.

Civil society activists in Russia have been subjected to threats, imprisonment, disappearances and murders for many years. As part of the government’s persecution of the Memorial organization, the organization was called a “foreign agent” from the very beginning. In December 2021, the authorities decided to forcefully liquidate the Memorial and close the documentation center forever. The closure went into effect in the following months, but the people behind the Memorial refuse to be locked out. Commenting on the forced dissolution, the chairman of the board, Jan Rachynskyi, said: “No one is planning to leave.”

Center for Civil Liberties of Ukraine

The Center for Civil Liberties was established in Kyiv in 2007 to promote human rights and democracy in Ukraine. The Center advocated the strengthening of Ukrainian civil society and put pressure on the authorities to make Ukraine a full-fledged democratic state. In order to transform Ukraine into a state governed by the rule of law, the Center for Civil Liberties actively supported Ukraine’s accession to the International Criminal Court.

Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the Center for Civil Liberties became involved in identifying and documenting war crimes committed by Russia against the civilian population of Ukraine. In cooperation with international partners, the center plays a pioneering role in bringing perpetrators to justice.

In awarding the 2022 Nobel Peace Prize to the Ales Bialiatsky Memorial and Center for Civil Liberties, the Norwegian Nobel Committee wishes to recognize three outstanding fighters for human rights, democracy and peaceful coexistence in the neighboring countries of Belarus, Russia and Ukraine. Through their consistent efforts to promote humanist values, anti-militarism and the principles of law, this year’s laureates have revived and honored Alfred Nobel’s vision of peace and brotherhood among peoples – a vision the world needs most today.

The Nobel Peace Prize was not awarded for 19 years

According to Alfred Nobel’s will, the Peace Prize should be awarded “to the person who has done the most extensive or best work for the benefit of brotherhood between nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies, and for the organization and promotion of peace congresses.” “, nobelprize.org notes.

Since 1901, 102 Nobel Peace Prizes have been awarded. It was not awarded for 19 years: in 1914, 1915, 1916, 1918, 1923, 1924, 1928, 1932, 1939, 1940, 1941, 1942, 1943, 1948, 1955, 1956, 1966, 1967 and 1972.

Why wasn’t the peace prize awarded in those years? The statutes of the Nobel Foundation state: “If none of the activities in question is as important as stated in the first paragraph, the prize money will be reserved until the following year. If even then the prize cannot be awarded, the amount will be added to the reserved funds of the fund.” Fewer Nobel Prizes were awarded during the First and Second World Wars.

• One laureate was awarded 69 peace prizes.
• 31 peace prizes were shared by two laureates.
• 2 Peace prizes were divided between three people. The 1994 Nobel Peace Prize went to Yasser Arafat, Shimon Peres, and Yitzhak Rabin, and the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize went to Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Leima Gbowee, and Tawakkol Karman.

Only one person refused the award

In total, the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to 137 laureates – 109 individuals and 28 organizations. 109 people and 25 organizations received the Nobel Peace Prize.

To date, the youngest winner of the Nobel Peace Prize is Malala Yousafzai, who was 17 years old when she received the Peace Prize in 2014.

The oldest Nobel Peace Prize laureate to date is Joseph Rothblatt, who was 87 years old when he received the award in 1995.

Vietnamese politician Le Duc Tho, winner of the 1973 Nobel Peace Prize along with US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, is the only one to decline the Nobel Peace Prize. Both won the prize for negotiating a peace agreement in Vietnam. Le Duc Tho said he could not accept the Nobel Prize, citing the situation in Vietnam as the reason.

Nobel Peace Prize laureates in custody at the time of the award ceremony:

• German pacifist and journalist Carl von Osetsky
• Burmese politician Aung San Suu Kyi
• Chinese human rights defender Liu Xiaobo

Posthumous Nobel Peace Prize

There is only one posthumous Nobel Peace Prize, awarded to Dag Hammarskjöld in 1961. Since 1974, the Statute of the Nobel Foundation states that the prize cannot be awarded posthumously, unless the death occurred after the Nobel Prize was announced. Until 1974, the Nobel Prize was also awarded posthumously to Eric Axel Karlfeldt (1931 Nobel Prize for Literature).

(article photo: © Rrodrickbeiler | Dreamstime.com)