The Peace Prize
laureates represent civil society in
their home countries. They 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.
Prize motivation:
“The Peace Prize laureates
represent civil society in their
home countries. They 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”
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From the
announcement of the Nobel
Peace Prize, Oslo, 7 October
2022, Photo: Geir Anders R.
Ørslien / NPO
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This year’s Peace Prize is awarded
to human rights advocate Ales
Bialiatski from Belarus, the
Russian human rights organisation
Memorial and the Ukrainian human
rights organisation Center for
Civil Liberties.
Ales Bialiatski was one of the
initiators of the democracy movement
that emerged in Belarus in the
mid-1980s. He has devoted his life
to promoting democracy and peaceful
development in his home country.
Among other things, he founded the
organisation Viasna (Spring) in 1996
in response to the controversial
constitutional amendments that gave
the president dictatorial powers and
that triggered widespread
demonstrations. Viasna provided
support for the jailed demonstrators
and their families. In the years
that followed, Viasna evolved into a
broad-based human rights
organisation that documented and
protested against the authorities’
use of torture against political
prisoners.
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Ales
Bialiastski, Ill. © Niklas
Elmehed, Nobel Prize
Outreach
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Government authorities have
repeatedly sought to silence Ales
Bialiatski. He was imprisoned from
2011 to 2014. Following large-scale
demonstrations against the regime in
2020, he was again arrested. He is
still detained without trial.
Despite tremendous personal hardship,
Mr Bialiatski has not yielded an
inch in his fight for human rights
and democracy in Belarus.
The human rights organisation
Memorial was established in 1987 by
human rights activists in the former
Soviet Union who wanted to ensure
that the victims of the communist
regime’s oppression would never be
forgotten. Nobel Peace Prize
laureate Andrei Sakharov and human
rights advocate Svetlana Gannushkina
were among the founders. Memorial is
based on the notion that confronting
past crimes is essential in
preventing new ones.
After the collapse of the Soviet
Union, Memorial grew to become the
largest human rights organisation in
Russia. 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. 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.
When civil society must give way to
autocracy and dictatorship, peace is
often the next victim. During the
Chechen wars, Memorial gathered and
verified information on abuses and
war crimes perpetrated on the
civilian population by Russian and
pro-Russian forces. In 2009, the
head of Memorial’s branch in
Chechnya, Natalia Estemirova, was
killed because of this work.
Civil society actors in Russia have
been subjected to threats,
imprisonment, disappearance and
murder for many years. As part of
the government’s harassment of
Memorial, the organisation was
stamped early on as a “foreign agent”.
In December 2021, the authorities
decided that Memorial was to be
forcibly liquidated and the
documentation centre was to be
closed permanently. The closures
became effective in the following
months, but the people behind
Memorial refuse to be shut down. In
a comment on the forced dissolution,
chairman Yan Rachinsky stated,
“Nobody plans to give up.”
The Center for Civil Liberties was
founded in Kyiv in 2007 for the
purpose of advancing human rights
and democracy in Ukraine. 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.
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. In
collaboration with international
partners, the center is playing a
pioneering role with a view to
holding the guilty parties
accountable for their crimes.
By awarding the Nobel Peace Prize
for 2022 to Ales Bialiatski,
Memorial and the Center for Civil
Liberties, the Norwegian Nobel
Committee wishes to honour three
outstanding champions of human
rights, democracy and peaceful
co-existence in the neighbour
countries Belarus, Russia and
Ukraine. Through their consistent
efforts in favour of humanist values,
anti-militarism and principles of
law, this year’s laureates have
revitalised and honoured Alfred
Nobel’s vision of peace and
fraternity between nations – a
vision most needed in the world
today.
Release:
The Norwegian Nobel Institute,
Oslo