countries. they have for many years promoted the right to criticise power and protect the fundamental rights of citizens. they have made an outstanding effort to document war crimes, an outstanding effort to document warcrimes, human an outstanding effort to document war crimes, human rights abuses and the abuse of power. together, they demonstrate the significance of civil society for peace and democracy. this year s peace prize is awarded to human rights advocate from belarus. the russian human rights organisation and the ukrainian human rights organisation centre for civil liberties. ales bialiatski was one of the initiators of the democracy movement which emerged in belarus in the 19805. which emerged in belarus in the 1980s. he has devoted his life to promoting democracy and peace will development in his home country. he founded the organisation meaning spring in 1996 in response to the controversial constitutional amendments that gave the president dictatorial, there s
has not won one inch in his fight for human rights and democracy in belarus. the human rights organisation memorial was established in 1987. by human rights activists in the former soviet union who wanted to ensure that the victims of the oppression from the commonest regime would never be forgotten. nobel peace prize laureate andrej sekera of and human rights activist svetlana kanoute s, were among the founders. memorial is based on the notion that confronting past crimes is essential in preventing new ones. after the
collapse of the soviet union, memorial grew to become the largest human rights organisation in russia. in addition to establishing a centre of documentation on the victims of the stalinist era, memorial compiled and systematised information on political oppression and human rights violations in russia. memorial became the most authoritative source of information on political prisoners in russian detention facilities. the organisation has also been standing at the forefront of efforts to combat militarism and promote human rights and government based on the rule of law. when civil society must
harassment of memorial, the organisation was stamped early on as a foreign agent. in december 2021, the authorities decided that memorial was to be forcibly liquidated and the documentation centre was to be closed permanently. the closure became effective in the following months, but the people behind memorial refused to shut down. in a comment mr chairman of the board stated, nobody plans to give up. the centre for civil liberties was founded in kyiv in 2007 for the
give way to autocracy and dictatorship, peace is often victim. during the chechen wars, memorial gathered and verified information on abuse and war crimes perpetrated perpetrated on the civilian population by russian and pro russian forces. in 2009, the head of memorial s branch in chechnya natalia stepanova, was killed because of this work. civil society actors in russia have been subjected to threats, imprisonment disappearances and murder for many years. as part of the government s