New Delhi: Jailed human rights advocate Ales Bialiatski from Belarus, the Russian human rights organisation Memorial and the Ukrainian human rights organisation Center for Civil Liberties have been named winners of the Nobel Prize for Peace for 2022.

The three are "outstanding champions of human rights, democracy and peaceful co-existence in the neighbour countries Belarus, Russia and Ukraine," the Norwegian Nobel Committee said.

Committee Chair Berit Reiss-Andersen made the announcement at 2.30 pm IST on October 7.

Ales Bialiatski was one of the initiators of the democracy movement that emerged in Belarus in the mid-1980s. The founder of the Minsk-based human rights organisation Viasna (literally, spring) has devoted his life to promoting democracy and peaceful development in his home country, the citation reads.

Government authorities have repeatedly sought to silence Ales Bialiatski, the Nobel Committee noted.

Since 2021, he has been detained without trial.

In a year that has seen politics of Russia-Ukraine-Belarus take centre stage globally, the Committee noted that the three entities "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 human rights organisation Memorial was established in 1987 to confront 'past crimes' by human rights activists including Nobel Peace Prize laureate Andrei Sakharov and human rights advocate Svetlana Gannushkina.

The Nobel Committee noted that Memorial grew to become the largest human rights organisation in Russia after the collapse of the Soviet Union. "In addition to establishing a centre of documentation on victims of the Stalinist era, 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," it noted in the award's citation.

Memorial made similar efforts to collect and make available information on war crimes by Russian forces and sympathisers during the Chechen wars.

In 2009, the head of Memorial’s branch in Chechnya, Natalia Estemirova, was killed because of this work.

In December 2021, as Russian authorities forcibly liquidated and its documentation centre was closed permanently, the organisation refused to shut down.

The Center for Civil Liberties was founded in Kyiv in 2007 and works to ensure that Ukraine develops into a state governed by rule of law. It has actively advocated that Ukraine become affiliated with the International Criminal Court, the Nobel Committee says.

After Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Center for Civil Liberties has engaged in efforts to identify and document Russian war crimes against the Ukrainian civilian population, it notes.

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