Nobel Peace Prize winners happy to share joint award
Published: 04:10 PM,Oct 08,2022 | EDITED : 08:10 PM,Oct 08,2022
A team of the Ukraine's Center for Civil Liberties poses for media during their press-conference in Kyiv. - AFP
KIEV: The Ukrainian winners of this year's Nobel Peace Prize said they are happy to be sharing the award with human rights activists from Russia and Belarus, despite criticism from Kiev amid the war.
'We are truly honoured to receive this prize together with them,' the executive director of the Ukrainian civil rights organisation Centre for Civil Liberties, Oleksandra Romansova, said during a Nobel Committee ceremony on Saturday that she attended by video link.
Belarusian activist Ales Bialiatski, Russian human rights group Memorial and the Ukrainian organisation Centre for Civil Liberties jointly won the prize, the Norwegian Nobel Committee announced on Friday.
Bialiatski helped found the human rights group Viasna and is currently in detention. Memorial was established after the collapse of the Soviet Union to study that era's human rights abuses. It was ordered to dissolve late last year for violating Russian law.
Ukraine's Center for Civil Liberties, founded in 2007, has documented human rights abuses since Russia initiated hostilities against Ukraine in 2014.
Referring to Memorial and Bialiatski, Romansova said: 'These are exactly the people who do everything to prevent wars - like the one now against Ukraine and every Russian war before.'
There was criticism of the selection of the three in Ukraine, given the fact that Russia has attacked Ukraine and seeks to lay claim to large chunks of the country's east. Belarus has provided assistance to Russia in its war effort.
The Ukrainian presidential office slammed the decision to include Russian and Belarusian recipients.
The 'Nobel Committee has an interesting understanding of (the) word 'peace' if representatives of two countries that attacked a third one receive (a) Nobel Prize together,' tweeted presidential advisor Mykhailo Podolyak. 'Neither Russian nor Belarusian organisations were able to organise resistance to the war,' he said.
However, the chair of Norway's Nobel Committee, Berit Reiss-Andersen, defended the decision on Saturday. 'We want to show unity between civil societies separated by the political regimes under which they operate,' she said. None of the laureates represent the Russian or Belarusian state.
Meanwhile the Russian representative of Memorial, lawyer Tatiana Glushkova, who also joined the event, said she was still overwhelmed by the prize.
'We didn't expect this at all, we were all shocked,' she said.
Bialiatski was unable to attend the event as he is being detained under very harsh conditions in Belarus. The Nobel Committee did not know whether he has been informed of the prize, Reiss-Andersen said. - dpa
'We are truly honoured to receive this prize together with them,' the executive director of the Ukrainian civil rights organisation Centre for Civil Liberties, Oleksandra Romansova, said during a Nobel Committee ceremony on Saturday that she attended by video link.
Belarusian activist Ales Bialiatski, Russian human rights group Memorial and the Ukrainian organisation Centre for Civil Liberties jointly won the prize, the Norwegian Nobel Committee announced on Friday.
Bialiatski helped found the human rights group Viasna and is currently in detention. Memorial was established after the collapse of the Soviet Union to study that era's human rights abuses. It was ordered to dissolve late last year for violating Russian law.
Ukraine's Center for Civil Liberties, founded in 2007, has documented human rights abuses since Russia initiated hostilities against Ukraine in 2014.
Referring to Memorial and Bialiatski, Romansova said: 'These are exactly the people who do everything to prevent wars - like the one now against Ukraine and every Russian war before.'
There was criticism of the selection of the three in Ukraine, given the fact that Russia has attacked Ukraine and seeks to lay claim to large chunks of the country's east. Belarus has provided assistance to Russia in its war effort.
The Ukrainian presidential office slammed the decision to include Russian and Belarusian recipients.
The 'Nobel Committee has an interesting understanding of (the) word 'peace' if representatives of two countries that attacked a third one receive (a) Nobel Prize together,' tweeted presidential advisor Mykhailo Podolyak. 'Neither Russian nor Belarusian organisations were able to organise resistance to the war,' he said.
However, the chair of Norway's Nobel Committee, Berit Reiss-Andersen, defended the decision on Saturday. 'We want to show unity between civil societies separated by the political regimes under which they operate,' she said. None of the laureates represent the Russian or Belarusian state.
Meanwhile the Russian representative of Memorial, lawyer Tatiana Glushkova, who also joined the event, said she was still overwhelmed by the prize.
'We didn't expect this at all, we were all shocked,' she said.
Bialiatski was unable to attend the event as he is being detained under very harsh conditions in Belarus. The Nobel Committee did not know whether he has been informed of the prize, Reiss-Andersen said. - dpa