The Norwegian Committee awarded the 2022 Nobel Peace Prize to imprisoned Belarus activist Ales Bialiatski, the Russian group Memorial, and the Ukrainian organisation Centre for Civil Liberties as a stern rebuke to Russian President Vladimir Putin, whose invasion of Ukraine has outraged the international community, and to the Belarusian president, his authoritarian ally.
The Norwegian Nobel Committee’s chair, Berit Reiss-Andersen, stated that the committee wished to recognise “three exceptional supporters of human rights, democracy, and peaceful coexistence.”
With the exception of the fact that his government, like the government in Belarus, represents an authoritarian regime that is repressing human rights advocates, she stated, “This prize is not targeting President Putin.”
