Nobel Peace Prize: Human rights champions in Belarus, Russia and Ukraine honoured
The Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded to Ales Bialiatski, a human rights activist in prison in Belarus, the Russian campaign group Memorial and Ukraine’s Centre for Civil Liberties.
The honour will be widely seen as a rebuke to Russian leader Vladimir Putin, who is celebrating his 70th birthday, and his ally Alexander Lukashenko, the President of Belarus, making it one of the most politically contentious in decades.
The award, the first since Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, has overtones of the Cold War era, when prominent Soviet dissidents such as Andrei Sakharov and Alexander Solzhenitsyn won Nobel prizes.
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Berit Reiss-Andersen said that the award was not an anti-Putin prize. Pic: AP
The winners were announced in Oslo by Berit Reiss-Andersen, chairwoman of the Norwegian Nobel Committee.
She said the judges wanted to honour “three outstanding champions of human rights, democracy and peaceful coexistence in the neighbour countries Belarus, Russia and Ukraine”.
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She added: “Through their consistent efforts in favour of human values and anti-militarism and principles of law, this year’s laureates have revitalised and honoured Alfred Nobel’s vision of peace and fraternity between nations, a vision most needed in the world today.”
Ms Reiss-Andersen also called on Belarus to release Mr Bialiatski, 60, who is in prison without trial.
However, she insisted the award was not against Mr Putin.
“We always give the prize for something and to something and not against someone,” she said. “This prize is not addressing President Putin, not for his birthday or in any other sense, except that his government, as the government in Belarus, is representing an authoritarian government that is suppressing human rights activists.
“The attention that Mr Putin has drawn on himself that is relevant in this context is the way a civil society and human rights advocates are being suppressed and that is what we would like to address with this prize.”
Belarusian security police raided offices and homes of lawyers and human rights activists in July last year, detaining Mr Bialiatski and others in a crackdown on opponents of the regime.
The human rights group, Memorial, has been closed in Russia by the Kremlin Pic: AP
The authorities had moved to shut down independent media outlets and human right groups after mass protests the previous August against a presidential election marred by claims it was rigged.
Mr Bialiatski was one of the leaders of the pro-democracy movement in Belarus in the mid 1980s and had continued to campaign for civil liberties.
Ms Reiss-Andersen said the committee was aware in awarding the prize to Mr Bialiatski he may face additional scrutiny from authorities in Belarus.
She added: “But we also have the point of view that the individuals behind these organisations, they have chosen to take a risk and pay a high price and show courage to fight for what they believe in.
“We do pray that this price will not affect him negatively, but we hope it might boost his morale.”
Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, the exiled opposition leader of Belarus, said the award would further increase the spotlight on political prisoners and hailed Mr Bialiatski a “famous human rights defender in Belarus and in the world” and a “wonderful person.”
“For sure, it will attract more attention to the humanitarian situation in our country,” she said.
Memorial was founded in the Soviet Union in 1987 to ensure the victims of communist repression would be remembered and has continued to collate details on human rights abuse in Russia, where it has been closed by the Kremlin.
The group said winning the prize was recognition of its work and of colleagues who continue to suffer “unspeakable attacks and reprisals” at home.
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Ukraine’s Centre for Civil Liberties was founded in 2007 to promote human rights and democracy.
Since Russia’s invasion in February, the group has worked to document war crimes against Ukrainian civilians.
“The centr is playing a pioneering role with a view to holding the guilty parties accountable for their crimes,” said Ms Reiss-Andersen.
A representative of the organisation, Volodymyr Yavorskyi, said the award was important because “for many years we worked in a country that was invisible”.
“This is a surprise for us, but human rights activity is the main weapon against the war,” he added.
Last year’s peace prize winners have faced a difficult time since receiving the award.
Journalists Dmitry Muratov of Russia and Maria Ressa of the Philippines have been fighting for the survival of their news organisations and defying government efforts to silence them.
They won the prize last year for “their efforts to safeguard freedom of expression, which is a precondition for democracy and lasting peace.”
The prizes carry a cash award of around £800,000 and will be presented on 10 December, the anniversary of the death of Alfred Nobel, who invented dynamite.
A new aid system has opened its first distribution centres in Gaza, according to a US-backed organisation dealing with supplies.
The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) began its operations in the territory on Monday, following the resignation of its director, Jake Wood, over its independence.
Gaza’s 2.3m population has been pushed towards famine by Israel’s almost three-month blockade.
Boxes of aid to be distributed across Rafah. Pic: Reuters.
The GHF said lorryloads of food – it did not say how many – had been delivered to its hubs, and distribution to Palestinians had begun.
“More trucks with aid will be delivered tomorrow, with the flow of aid increasing each day,” it said in a statement.
The controversial group, backed by Israel and the United States, has been rejected by the United Nations and other aid groups.
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People line up for food in Gaza
UN agencies and major aid groups have refused to cooperate with the GHF.
They claim Israel is weaponising food, and the new distribution system will be ineffective and lead to further displacement of Palestinians.
They also argue the GHF will fail to meet local needs, and violates humanitarian principles that prohibit a warring party from controlling humanitarian assistance.
In the meantime, scores of Palestinians in Gaza, like Islam Abu Taima, have resorted to searching through rubbish to find food.
Palestinians are having to search through rubbish to find food
She found a small pile of cooked rice, scraps of bread, and a box with a few pieces of cheese inside it – which she said she will serve to her five children.
“We’re dying of hunger,” she told the Associated Press news agency.
“If we don’t eat, we’ll die.”
Islam Abu Taeima finds a piece of bread in a pile of rubbish in Gaza City. Pic: AP.
It is unclear how many of the GHF’s aid trucks will enter Gaza.
It claims it will reach one million Palestinians by the end of the week.
There are questions, however, over who is funding it and how it will work.
Trucks transporting aid for Palestinians in Rafah. Pic: Reuters.
It has been set up as part of an Israeli plan – rather than a UN distribution effort.
Israel, which suggested a similar plan earlier this year, has said it will not be involved in distributing the aid but supported the plan and would provide security.
It says aid deliveries into Gaza are taken by Hamas instead of going to civilians.
Aid groups, however, say there is no evidence of this happening on a systemic basis.
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Israel began to allow a limited amount of food into Gaza last week – after a blockade that prevented food, medicine, fuel and other goods from entering the Palestinian enclave.
A letter has been signed by hundreds of judges and lawyers calling on the UK government to impose trade sanctions on Israel.
It also calls for Israeli ministers to be sanctioned and the suspension of Israel from the UN over “serious breaches of international law”.
“Genocide is being perpetrated in Gaza or that, at a minimum, there is a serious risk of genocide,” the letter says.
The Israeli government has repeatedly dismissed allegations of genocide in Gaza.
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At least 31 dead after school attack
More than 52,000 Palestinians have been killed since Israel launched its ground invasion of Gaza, according to the Hamas-run health ministry, following the deadly attacks by the militant group on Israel, which killed 1,200 people and saw around 250 people taken hostage.
The health ministry’s figures do not differentiate between civilians and fighters in Gaza.
King Charles and Queen Camilla are being urged to use their visit to Canada to seek an apology for the abuse of British children.
Campaigners have called on them to pursue an apology for the “dire circumstances” suffered by so-called “Home Children” over decades.
More than 100,000 were shipped from orphan homes in the UK to Canada between 1869 and 1948 with many used as cheap labour, typically as farm workers and domestic servants. Many were subject to mistreatment and abuse.
Canada has resisted calls to follow the UK and Australia in apologising for its involvement in child migrant schemes.
King Charles and Mark Carney on Monday. Pic: PA
Campaigners for the Home Children say the royal visit presents a “great opportunity” for a change of heart.
“I would ask that King Charles uses his trip to request an apology,” John Jefkins told Sky News.
John’s father Bert was one of 115,000 British Home Children transported to Canada, arriving in 1914 with his brother Reggie.
“It’s really important for the Home Children themselves and for their descendants,” John said.
“It’s something we deserve and it’s really important for the healing process, as well as building awareness of the experience of the Home Children.
“They were treated very, very badly by the Canadian government at the time. A lot of them were abused, they were treated horribly. They were second-class citizens, lepers in a way.”
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John Jefkins
John added: “I think the King’s visit provides a great opportunity to reinforce our campaign and to pursue an apology because we’re part of the Commonwealth and King Charles is a new Head of the Commonwealth meeting a new Canadian prime minister. It’s a chance, for both, to look at the situation with a fresh eye.
“There’s much about this visit that looks on our sovereignty and who we are as Canadians, rightly so.
“I think it’s also right that in contemplating the country we built, we focus on the people who built it, many in the most trying of circumstances.”
The issue was addressed by the then Prince of Wales during a tour of Canada in May 2022. He said at the time: “We must find new ways to come to terms with the darker and more difficult aspects of the past.”
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King Charles and Queen Camilla are on a two-day visit to Canada.
On Tuesday, the King will deliver the Speech from the Throne to open the 45th session of Canada’s parliament.
Camilla was made Patron of Barnardo’s in 2016. The organisation sent tens of thousands of Home Children to Canada. She took on the role, having served as president since 2007.
Buckingham Palace has been contacted for comment.
A spokesperson for the Canadian government said: “The government of Canada is committed to keeping the memory of the British Home Children alive.
“Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada deeply regrets this unjust and discriminatory policy, which was in place from 1869 to 1948. Such an approach would have no place in modern Canada, and we must learn from past mistakes.”
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