The Nobel Peace Prize –the most famous and controversial prize in the world—was awarded in response to Vladimer Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
The Norwegian Nobel Committee has decided to award the Nobel Peace Prize for 2022 to one individual and two organizations. One Russian, one Belarussian, one Ukarainian, one Man and two women.
It is an excellent choice and completely in alignment with Alfred Nobel’s last will and testament.
This year’s Peace Prize is awarded to human rights advocate Ales Bialiatski from Belarus, the Russian human rights organization International Memorial and the Ukrainian human rights organization Center for Civil Liberties.
By awarding the Nobel Peace Prize for 2022 to Ales Bialiatski, International Memorial and the Center for Civil Liberties, the Norwegian Nobel Committee stated “this honors three outstanding champions of human rights, democracy and peaceful co-existence in the neighbor countries Belarus, Russia and Ukraine. Through their consistent efforts in favor of humanist values, anti-militarism and principles of law, this year’s laureates have revitalized and honored Alfred Nobel’s vision of peace and fraternity between nations – a vision most needed in the world today.”
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 organization Viasna (Spring) in 1996 in response to the controversial constitutional amendments that gave the president dictatorial powers and that triggered widespread demonstrations. Viasna evolved into a broad-based human rights organization that documented and protested against the authorities’ use of torture against political prisoners.
The Center for Civil Liberties main priority is the restoration of justice for all victims of war crimes. It claims that in addition to punishing those guilty of atrocities, the russian federation should be expelled from the UN Security Councilfor systematic violations of the charter. Russia has not been punished for previous crimes (in Chechnya, Georgia, Moldova, Syria, Libya, Mali, in other countries), and this prompts it to commit new evil with new force around the world. One of the great projects that The Center for Civil Liberties has created, is a data base called The “Tribunal for Putin” initiative which has already documented 27,137 war crimes committed by Russians since February 24, 2022. The Center for Civil Liberties is the first Ukrainian Organization to win the Nobel Peace Prize.
Oleksandra Matviichuk head of the Center for Civil Liberties made perhaps the best speech during the Oslo ceremony by condemning the Ukarainina invasion and suggesting that the global peace movement need s to connect human rights to peace.
“We are receiving the Nobel Peace Prize during the war started by Russia. This war has been going on for eight years, 9 months and 21 days. For millions of people, such words as shelling, torture, deportation, filtration camps have become commonplace,”stated Matviichuk.
“Peace, progress and human rights are inextricably linked. A state that kills journalists, imprisons activists, or disperses peaceful demonstrations poses a threat not only to its citizens. This is not a war between two states, it is a war of two systems – authoritarianism and democracy. We are fighting for the opportunity to build a state in which everyone’s rights are protected, authorities are accountable, courts are independent, and the police do not beat peaceful student demonstrations in the central square of the capital.”
Our world has become very complex and interconnected. Right now, people in Iran are fighting for their freedom. Human rights require a certain mindset, a specific perception of the world that determines our thinking and behavior. This means that we need a new humanist movement that would work with meanings, educate people, build grass-root support and engage people in the protection of rights and freedoms.