Tipp Peace Award for Sviatlana
The Belarusian politician, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, has been announced as the recipient of the 2022 Tipperary (Ireland) International Peace Award.
The Hon Secretary of Tipperary Peace Convention, Martin Quinn, said that the awarding of the Peace Prize to Mrs Tsikhanouskaya is a statement of support for the rights to freedom of expression, freedom of association and freedom of assembly in Belarus. “The torture and ill treatment of men, women and children in Belarus, along with the system of unfair and closed trials and the imprisonment of those that speak out against the regime, as brought to prominence by Mrs Tsikhanouskaya, has highlighted the brutality of the Lukashenka regime and its crackdown on protestors and those who speak out against them,” said Mr Quinn.
Mrs Tsikhanouskaya ran in the 2020 Belarusian presidential election as the main opposition candidate after her husband Sergei Tsikhanousky was arrested two days after announcing his intention to contest the election. She has campaigned tirelessly for her husband's freedom and was forced to flee with her children to Lithuania following the election.
Mrs Tsikhanouskaya emerged from obscurity in 2020 to become the leader of Belarus' biggest revolt in decades, but is painfully aware that her husband, the original presidential rival to Lukashenka, sits in a solitary cell in a Belarus jail alongside others like Viktar Babarika and Maria Kalesnikava, who like Mr Tsikhanousky also ran for president.
“As a leader in exile, Tsikhanouskaya has grown in stature and has not shown any weakness in pointing out the brutalities of the regime in Belarus and in calling for tougher western sanctions against Lukashenka,” said Mr Quinn. “They have sacrificed their freedom while others have sacrificed their lives to fight for the rights of the people of Belarus, and for the 1,300 political prisoners in jail currently. The campaign by Mrs Tsikhanouskaya to highlight these and the many other issues concerning freedom and democracy in Belarus is being recognised by Tipperary Peace Convention with the presentation of the 2022 Tipperary International Peace Award,” explained Mr Quinn.
PAST RECIPIENTS
Past recipients of the award include former South African President the late Nelson Mandela, former President of Ireland, Professor Mary McAleese and her husband Senator Martin McAleese, the late Senator Edward Kennedy and his sister the late Ambassador Jean Kennedy Smith, Pakistani school girl Malala Yousafzai, former UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, former US Secretary of State, John Kerry, the Syrian Civil Defence White Helmets, former Colombian President, Juan Manuel Santos, and former Irish President and Chair of The Elders, Mary Robinson.
The 2022 award will be presented to Mrs Tsikhanouskaya at a ceremony in Tipperary in May. The Belarusian leader is very familiar with County Tipperary having spent many summers in Roscrea, since she was 12-years-old, as part of a programme for children affected by the Chernobyl disaster.
Responding to the news of her selection, Mrs Tsikhanouskaya said that it is a great honour to become the recipient of the Tipperary International Peace Award for 2022 and to be amongst the great people who received the award before her. “This award is not only given to me, it is given to millions of free people of Belarus, who have been fearlessly and selflessly resisting tyranny for the past three years. I'm proud of them and I thank the Tipperary Peace Committee and Ireland for this recognition. Ireland has always been a friend to Belarus and to me personally. As a child, I came to Ireland under the Chernobyl children's programme and I lived with the warmest family in this very region of County Tipperary. This family showed me what a big heart Irish people have and I'm happy that I still keep in touch with them. Despite the distance the people of Ireland and Belarus remain close friends as we have so much in common and we understand each other. Belarus is also a country of warm and modest people and like Irish people, Belarusians know how to fight for their land, their culture and their traditions and to defend is what makes us a nation.
“I'm sure that the friendship between Belarus and Ireland will remain forever and this award is what confirms these ties be-tween us. It is an incredible support for the democratic movement of Belarus and for the hundreds of thousands of activists who resist tyranny on the ground. This provides hope for the thousands of political pris-oners who suffer in Belarusian prisons for their truth and for their thirst for freedom and commitment to democratic values. Your attention to Belarus makes tyrants more vulnerable and your solidarity makes us stronger,” concluded Mrs Tsikhanouskaya.
DEFENCE FORCES PRESENTATION
Tipperary Peace Convention has also announced that it is to recognise the Irish Defence Forces for 65 years’ service on peacekeeping missions in different parts of the world since 1958. A special presentation to honour their service and contribution to peacekeeping will be made on the occasion of the presentation of the Tipperary International Peace Award in May.