By: Dr. Ratan Bhattacharjee
The 2022 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. The Peace Prize laureates represent civil society in their home countries. Berit Reiss-Andersen, head of the Nobel Committee, announces on Oct 7th the winner of this year’s Peace Prize in Oslo. 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 Take the first step in faith as a vision most needed in the world today. They sense the ever-present corruption, the centralized power, and the empty slogans. But very few are fearless enough to stand up and fight. The individual winner, Ales Bialiatski, has been detained without trial in Belarus since last year. He founded the human rights organization Viasna in 1996 after Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko rammed through constitutional changes that gave him broad authority and dissolved parliament, leading to mass protests. Until the mind is free body is enslaved. Martin Luther King Jr. said, “Martin Luther King Jr. once said, “You don’t have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step.”
Reports have emerged that three Indians, Alt News co-founders Pratik Sinha, Mohammad Zubair and Harsh Mander, have been nominated. According to Time, the co-founders of fact-check site Alt News, Sinha and Zubair, are among those who could be considered to win the prize based on nominations that were made public via Norwegian lawmakers, predictions from bookmakers, and picks from the Peace Research Institute Oslo Viasna, or “Spring,” supported the jailed demonstrators and their families. A quarter-century later, the organization continues to defend free speech and liberty. It has kept a spotlight on thousands of protesters and dissidents in Belarus, who have been jailed and beaten since Lukashenko stole the 2020 presidential election and forced the true winner, Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, into exile.
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Also honored was Memorial, the human rights organization synonymous with the democratic hopes of the late 1980s and 1990s in the Soviet Union and Russia, and which the Russian authorities have forced to close. In addition to tracking human rights abuses, Memorial created a vast and treasured archive on the victims of Joseph Stalin’s repression, out of the conviction, as the Nobel Prize announcement put it, that “confronting past crimes is essential in preventing new ones.” In the same spirit, the award also went to Ukraine’s Center for Civil Liberties, which has attempted to “identify and document Russian war crimes against the Ukrainian civilian population.”
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. 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. Civil society actors in Russia have been subjected to threats, imprisonment, disappearance and murder for many years. 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.
But finally 2022 Nobel 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. The Peace Prize laureates represent civil society in their home countries (PRIO). The two “have relentlessly been battling misinformation in India” amid accusations of discrimination against Muslims “and have methodologically debunked rumours and fake news circulating on social media and called out hate speech”, the publication said. “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”, said the committee.
There were about 343 candidates – 251 are individuals and 92 are organizations – in the running for the Nobel Peace Prize for 2022. Although the Nobel Committee did not announce the names of nominees, neither to the media nor to the candidates, a Reuters survey found Belarusian opposition politician Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, broadcaster David Attenborough, climate activist Greta Thunberg, Pope Francis, Tuvalu’s foreign minister Simon Kofe, and Myanmar’s National Unity government are among those nominated by Norwegian lawmakers. Nobel Prize winners made lonely choice to speak out against dictatorship. Bialiatski, Peradnia, Zalatar, Kara-Murza made a selfless choice to speak out and it was finally crowned with success and the struggle to defend and protect human dignity will go on ceaselessly. With the awardees being from Belarus, Ukraine, and Russia, an implicit message has been sent about the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine. Ales Bialiatski was one of the initiators of the democracy movement that emerged in Belarus in the mid-1980s. Russian 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, who won the prize in 1954, and human rights advocate Svetlana Gannushkina were among the organisation’s founders. “Memorial is based on the notion that confronting past crimes is essential in preventing new ones”, said the committee. Ukrainian human rights organisation, Center for Civil Liberties was founded in Kyiv in 2007 “for the purpose of advancing human rights and democracy in Ukraine” One of the leading actors in Ukraine, influencing the formation of public opinion and public policy, supporting the development of civic activism, and actively participating in international networks and solidarity actions to promote human rights”. After Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the Center for Civil Liberties has engaged in efforts to identify and document Russian “war crimes” against the Ukrainian civilian population, according to the committee. Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere and this is what the Nobel Committee recognized this year. (The author is an Associate Professor & Chair Post Graduate Dept of English & Columnist cum Poet)
