When Natalia Estemirova, the head of Memorial in Chechnya, was killed in 2009, Memorial realized that neither investigators nor documents were safe in Russia. Today, the work continues in Norway, and the 2022 Nobel peace prize winners are long-time partners of the Norwegian Helsinki Committee.
The 2022 Nobel peace prize is a prize for civil society, democracy and human rights. As far back as 2010, the Norwegian parliamentarian Erna Solberg, the Conservative party leader, nominated the Russian NGO ‘Memorial’ and Svetlana Gannushkina to the Nobel Peace Prize that year.
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The 2022 Peace Prize is awarded to human rights advocate Ales Bialiatski from Belarus, the Russian human rights organization Memorial and the Ukrainian human rights organization Center for Civil Liberties.
An incredible gratifying peace prize
Last Saturday, the Norwegian Nobel Committee once again faced an empty chair at the ceremony in the Oslo City Hall since one of the three co-winners, human rights advocate Ales Bialiatski, currently is being held as a political prisoner without trial in Belarus, while others actively promote civil rights and oppose neighboring Russia’s war on Ukraine.
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Memorial did not believe in Putin’s anti-terror operation, but was among the few who engaged against the atrocities committed by Russian soldiers.
“This is an incredibly gratifying peace prize that we for many years have been hoping for. This is an important recognition of the importance of civil society, democracy, and human rights in creating peace,” said Berit Lindeman, secretary general of the Norwegian Helsinki Committee.
Fighting for human rights and civil liberties
Memorial is one of the most efficient activists in Russian civil society today, who works with the most sensitive issues often at great danger to themselves, engaged in the victims of the conflict in Chechnya back in February 2000, a year which some called “Sundown for Russian Freedom”.
“We are urging the authorities (in Belarus) to release Mr Bialiatski,” Nobel Committee leader Berit Reiss-Andersen told Norwegian Broadcasting (NRK). Only then could he also be free to travel to Oslo to receive his Nobel Peace Prize along with the Russian human rights organization Memorial and the Ukrainian human rights organization Center for Civil Liberties.
Memorial has worked to establish a tribunal for Chechnya. The aim is to bring out the truth about the war and convict those responsible for serious crimes such as disappearances, mass killings of civilians, torture and killing of prisoners of war. The work continues in Norway.
“The Helsinki Committee warmly congratulates Bialiatski, Memorial and Center for Civil Liberties with the Nobel Peace Prize,” said Lindeman.
Memorial is a grassroot organization that helps people take care of their human rights. Their work has been so controversial that some of its activists have been abducted and killed.
Risks involved
There are also risks involved in awarding the Peace Prize to advocates of freedom and liberty in authoritarian countries. It took 12 years before Nobel Laureate Aung Sang Suu Kyi, who was under house arrest in Burma/Myanmar at the time, to travel to Oslo to collect her prize, and now she’s back in prison again. Chinese human rights activist Liu Xiaobo was also jailed and Chinese authorities refused to release him, too. He later died while still in custody.
The demand for justice unfortunately received little support from Western countries. Chechnya had no legal, political or economic consequences for Putin. “The awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to Memorial, Center for Civil Liberties and Ales Bialiatski is an important mark in these times. We must end the war started by Putin’s regime and build democracies where civil society can be active in improving society,” said Lindeman.
2022 Nobel Peace Prize Winners are Long-Tome Partners of the Norwegian Helsinki Committee, written by Tor Kjolberg