The European Union welcomes the decision to award the Nobel Peace Prize to human rights advocate Ales Bialiatski from Belarus, the Russian human rights organisation Memorial and the Ukrainian human rights organisation Center for Civil Liberties and warmly congratulates the laureates for this prestigious recognition of their tireless and invaluable work.

Ales Bialiatski is a human rights defender and a founder of the Human Rights Center Viasna, which has been standing up for human rights in Belarus, and in particular defending political prisoners, for the last 30 years. Ales Bialiatski, who is seriously ill, has been imprisoned since 14 July 2021 and is facing 12 years in prison. He is one of more than 1,300 political prisoners in Belarus incarcerated by the Lukashenko regime.

Memorial is among the most important independent voices in Russian civil society, and its work remains central to the defence of human rights and against attempts to manipulate the historical memory of political repression in the country. In spite of politically motivated attempts by Russian authorities to silence Memorial by prosecuting and shutting it down, its work continues to play a unique role for the Russian people and the whole of Europe.

The Center for Civic Liberties is an important member of the strong and vibrant Ukrainian civil society, advancing and promoting human rights, rule of law and democracy in Ukraine. Since the start of Russia’s war of aggression, the Center engaged strongly in activities to ensure accountability for Russian war crimes in Ukraine, notably on identification and documentation in close cooperation with international partners. This work will be key in ensuring that Russia, its political leadership, and all those involved in the ongoing violations of international law will be held accountable.

The decision to award this year’s Nobel Peace Prize to these champions of democracy and human right is a sign of hope and light amidst the darkness of internal repression in Russia and Belarus and Russia’s illegal war of aggression against Ukraine.