Nobel Peace Prize for 2022 announced: see winners and why they won it?

Published: Friday, October 7, 2022, 19:14 [IST]

The 2022 Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded to Belarusian human rights activist Ales Bialiatski together with two organisations namely 'Memorial' and the 'Center for Civil Liberties.' The honour has been bestowed for trying to prevent conflict and protecting human rights.

With Russia-Ukraine ongoing conflict, it was expected that the peace award might go to some anti-war and pro-rights entity related to that region.

Who are the awardees?

Ales Bialiatski is a prominent Belarusian human rights activist currently in prison without trial.
Center for Civil Liberties (CCL) is a Ukrainian group. It is currently working on identifying and documenting Russian war crimes against the Ukrainian civilian population.
Memorial is a Russian human rights group currently banned by the Russian government. It raises the voice against Russian authoritarianism and tyranny by highlighting millions of innocent people who have been executed, imprisoned or persecuted by the authority.

Journalists Dmitry Muratov of Russia and Maria Ressa of the Philippines won the award in 2021 for "their efforts to safeguard freedom of expression, which is a precondition for democracy and lasting peace."

Previous Winners:

2020: UN's World Food Program
2019: Abiy Ahmed (Ethiopia) for his efforts to resolve the border conflict with neighbouring Eritrea
2018: Denis Mukwege (Congo) and Nadia Murad (Iraq) for their efforts to end the use of sexual violence as a tool of war and hostility.

List of 2022 Nobel Prize Winners

2022 Nobel Prize in Physics: Goes to the trio of Alain Aspect (France), John Clauser (US), and Anton Zeilinger (Austria) for their work in quantum physics.
2022 Nobel Prize in Chemistry: This goes to three scientists namely Barry Sharpless, Morten Meldal & Carolyn Bertozzi. They have been honoured "for the development of click chemistry and bioorthogonal chemistry."
2022 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine: It has been awarded to Swedish scientist Svante Paabo for his discoveries concerning the genomes of extinct hominins and human evolution.
2022 Nobel Prize for Peace: Ales Bialiatski, Memorial (Russian human rights organization), and Center for Civil Liberties (Ukrainian)
2022 Nobel Prize in Literature: Goes to French novelist Annie Ernaux for her body of literary work
2022 Nobel Prize Economics: Yet to be announced

Unique Facts about the Nobel Prize

Peace Nobel is the only original Nobel Prize to be awarded by the Norwegian Nobel Committee whereas the rest 4 Nobel awards are given by Swedish Committee.
Nobel Prize for Economics is not among the original Nobels named after Alfred Nobel.
It was later established in 1968 by Sweden's central bank - Sveriges Riksbank - to commemorate its 300th anniversary. Like the other Nobels, this too is given by the Nobel Foundation.