Among much pomp and ceremony, the Nobel Peace Prize will be jointly awarded to Ukraine’s Centre for Civil Liberties, Belarusian human rights campaigner Ales Bialiatski, and the Russian human rights organization Memorial on Saturday in Oslo, Norway.
While much criticized, it remains one of the most prestigious awards in the world, bestowing a near-legendary status among its laureates.
Deciding who deserves it is a “perennial challenge for [the] Nobel Committee,” according to Henrik Urdal, director at Peace Research Institute Oslo. “If they want the prize to be relevant it cannot only be for processes that are sealed and done but it has to be for processes that are also ongoing … to be a nudge in the right direction.”