Viasna wins UN human rights prize

July 21, BPN. The Viasna Human Rights Center has won a prestigious UN human rights prize, as the award committee expressed its admiration for civil society groups that contribute to the “promotion, protection, and advancement of human rights,” UN News reported yesterday.

The Viasna center emerged during Alaksandar Łukašenka’s first term in office and has documented his government’s human rights abuses for decades. It has also provided legal advice to citizens and promoted democracy.

The center’s founder, Aleś Bialacki, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2022, is serving a 10-year sentence at Penal Colony No 9 in Horki, and many of his associates have also been jailed.

This year’s recipients of the Prize in the Field of Human Rights also include Julienne Lusenge from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Amman Center for Human Rights Studies from Jordan, Julio Pereyra from Uruguay and the Global Coalition of Civil Society Organizations, Indigenous Peoples, Social Movements and Local Communities.

The award ceremony will take place at the UN Headquarters in December.