Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky, the Ukrainian people and civil organizations are nominated for the 2022 edition of the European Parliament’s Sakharov Prize for their outstanding contribution to protecting freedom of conscience, it was announced yesterday.
This is the highest honor paid by the European Union to work in the field of human rights.
Also nominated for the award, whose winner will be announced in the third week of October, are, according to the European Parliament, 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 Brazilian indigenous leader and activist Sonia Guajajara.
With four of the seven political groups showing support for Ukraine, the prize is likely to go to Zelensky or the Ukrainian people or civil organizations.
While these four groups agree that Ukrainian citizenship will be recognized by the award, there is division over who should be the face that represents them.
The group of the European People’s Party and the Conservatives and Reformists are in favor of the award being given to the head of state of Ukraine, in recognition of his courage in staying in the country and for being “an inspiration to all Ukrainians who resist and also for all Europeans”.
In contrast, the Social Democrats and Liberals of Renew Europe are committed to the Ukrainian people, being represented by “civil society initiatives” and “state and public institutions that provide emergency aid” and defend and protect human rights, freedoms and democracy.
The Greens, in turn, presented the candidacy of Brazilian leader Sonia Guajajara, whose work focuses on protecting the rights of indigenous peoples, becoming the target of persecution – and criminalized – by State agents.
The European left also indicated the Colombian Truth Commission, one of the three institutions that make up Colombia’s Integral System of Truth, Justice, Reparation and Non-Repetition, created in the 2016 peace agreement to defend the rights of millions of victims of the civil war. Colombian.
Also named was Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, murdered in May while covering an Israeli military operation in a refugee camp in Jenin, after 25 years working for the Al Jazeera television network, having become a leading figure in the world. journalism and defender of freedom of expression.
Another group of MEPs chose to present the candidacy of one of the founders of WikiLeaks, Julian Assange, accused by the United States of 20 crimes for information and documents exposed online.
Since 1988, the European Parliament has awarded the Sakharov Prize, an award in honor of the Soviet physicist and political dissident Andrei Sakharov and worth €50,000.
