The Center for Civil Liberties ( uk, Центр Громадянських Свобод, Tsentr Hromadyansʹkykh Svobod) is a

Ukrainia Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian invas ...

n human rights organization led by the Ukrainian lawyer

Oleksandra Matviichuk Oleksandra Vyacheslavivna Matviichuk ( uk, Олександра В’ячеславівна Матвійчук; born 8 October 1983) is a Ukrainian human rights lawyer and civil society leader based in Kyiv. She heads the non-profit organization ...

. It was founded in 2007, with the purpose of pressuring Ukraine's government to make the country more democratic. The organization was awarded the 2022 Nobel Peace Prize, jointly with Ales Bialiatski and Russian organization

Memorial A memorial is an object or place which serves as a focus for the memory or the commemoration of something, usually an influential, deceased person or a historical, tragic event. Popular forms of memorials include landmark objects or works of a ...

History

Center for Civil Liberties was founded in Kyiv, Ukraine on 30 May 2007. The organization is engaged in introducing legislative amendments in an attempt to make Ukraine more democratic and to improve the public control of law enforcement agencies and

the judiciary ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

. One of the organisation's focuses is the updating of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. At the time of the 2013—2014 Euromaidan protests the group started the Euromaidan SOS project to provide legal support to protesters who took part in the Euromaidan protests and to monitor abuses done by then-president Viktor Yanukovych's security forces. After the

2014 Russian annexation of Crimea In February and March 2014, Russia invaded and subsequently annexed the Crimean Peninsula from Ukraine. This event took place in the aftermath of the Revolution of Dignity and is part of the wider Russo-Ukrainian War. The events in Kyiv th ...

and the start of the War in Donbas (also in 2014) the organization started documenting political persecution in Crimea and crimes in the territory controlled by the Russian-backed separatist Luhansk People's Republic and

Donetsk People's Republic The Donetsk People's Republic ( rus, Донецкая Народная Республика, Donetskaya Narodnaya Respublika, dɐˈnʲetskəjə nɐˈrodnəjə rʲɪˈspublʲɪkə; abbreviated as DPR or DNR, rus, ДНР) is a Territorial ...

. The organization also started international campaigns for the release of illegally imprisoned people in Russia, Russian-annexed Crimea and

Donbas The Donbas or Donbass (, ; uk, Донба́с ; russian: Донба́сс ) is a historical, cultural, and economic region in eastern Ukraine. Parts of the Donbas are controlled by Russian separatist groups as a result of the Russo-Ukrai ...

. Following the

2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, which began in 2014. The invasion has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths on both sides. It has caused Europe's largest refugee crisis since World War II. An ...

Center for Civil Liberties also started to document Russian war crimes committed during the war. The

Norwegian Nobel Committee The Norwegian Nobel Committee ( no, Den norske Nobelkomité) selects the recipients of the Nobel Peace Prize each year on behalf of Swedish industrialist Alfred Nobel's estate, based on instructions of Nobel's will. Five members are appointed by ...

said in 2022 that the organization was "playing a pioneering role in holding guilty parties accountable for their crimes". On 7 October 2022 Center for Civil Liberties was awarded the

2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; 2022 Sri Lankan protests, Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretari ...

Nobel Peace Prize, jointly with Ales Bialiatski and Russian organization

. This was the first ever Nobel Prize awarded to a Ukrainian citizen or organization. At the time of a 8 October 2022 press conference Center for Civil Liberties head

admitted that neither Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy nor any other (Ukrainian) government official had congratulated Center for Civil Liberties on winning the Nobel Prize. Matviichuk said that they might have tried but could have been unsuccessful because she and her colleague "were just returning from a business trip." In November 2022 Oleksandra Matviichuk called for countries to provide Ukraine with weapons to liberate the occupied territories in Ukraine as the best way to stop the long-lasting crimes being committed by the Russian Federation.

Name

According to the organization's statute, the organization's full name is Centre for Civil Liberties Civil Society Organisation and the abbreviated denomination is Centre for Civil Liberties. On its web site, the organization mostly calls itself Center for Civil Liberties.

Notes

References

External links

* * {{2022 Nobel Prize winners 2007 establishments in Ukraine Political organizations based in Ukraine Human rights organizations based in Ukraine Organizations awarded Nobel Peace Prizes Ukrainian Nobel laureates