The Ukrainian people, their civil organizations and the country’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, star in this year’s nominations for the Sakharov Prize granted by the European Parliament to an extraordinary contribution to protect freedom of conscience, the highest tribute paid by the European Union to the work on human rights.
Also nominated for the prize, whose winner will be announced the third week of October, are the founder of WikiLeaks, Julian Assange; the journalist killed during an Israeli operation in the occupied West Bank, Shireen Abu Akleh; the Colombian Truth Commission and the Brazilian indigenous leader and activist Sonia Guajajara, the European Parliament announced on Monday.
However, with four of the seven political groups in the European Parliament after the nominations of Zelenski, the Ukrainian people or the civil organizations of this country, and the award will predictably go to one of these figures and their work since Russia began the invasion on February 24. Although these four groups agree that Ukrainian citizenship should be recognized by the award, there is a division on who should be the face that the represent.
Zelensky, favorite
The group of the European People’s Party and the Conservatives and Reformists are in favor of the award being given to President Zelensky on behalf of the Ukrainians who elected at the pollsin recognition of his courage by staying in the country and being “an inspiration to all Ukrainians who resist and also for all Europeans”.
In contrast, the social democrats and the liberals of Renew Europe are committed to the Ukrainian people being represented by “civil society initiatives” and “state and public institutions providing emergency aid” and defending and protecting human rights, fundamental freedoms and democracy.
For this reason, their joint nomination goes to the people of Ukraine, represented, among others, by the State Emergency Services of Ukraine and the Yellow Ribbon Civil Resistance Movement, besides the mayor of Melitopol Ivan Fedorov; the lawyer specializing in human rights and president of the NGO Center for Civil Liberties, Oleksandra Matviychuk and the volunteer and paramedic Yulia Pajevska.
Other nominees
The Greens, for their part, presented the candidacy of the Brazilian indigenous leader Sonia Guajajara, whose work focuses on protecting the right of indigenous peoples to dispose of their lands and has made it the target of harassment and criminalization operations by state agents.
From the Left, his nomination seeks to recognize the legacy of the Colombian Truth Commission, one of the three institutions that make up the Comprehensive System of Truth, Justice, Reparation and Non-Repetition of Colombia created under the 2016 peace agreement to defend the rights of millions of victims of the Colombian civil war.
Also nominated is Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, who was assassinated in May while covering an Israeli military incursion into a refugee camp in Jenin after 25 years working for the network Al-Jazeera and become a leading figure in the world of Arab journalism, a staunch defender of freedom of expression.
Related news
Another group of MEPs chose to present the candidacy of one of the founders of WikiLeaksJulian Assange accused by the United States of some twenty crimes for the information and documents that he leaked on his WikiLeaks portal, in which he exposed the abuses committed by US troops in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Since 1988, the European Parliament has awarded the Sakharov Prize, an award named in honor of the Soviet physicist and political dissident Andrei Sakharov and endowed with €50,000. Since then, it has been received by personalities such as the South African leader Nelson Mandela, the young Pakistani activist Malala Yousafzai, the Spanish platform ¡Basta Ya! and opponents of the Cuban regime such as the Ladies in White or Guillermo Fariñas.
www.elperiodico.com
Eddie is an Australian news reporter with over 9 years in the industry and has published on Forbes and tech crunch.