ZMINA was awarded a special mention of the Alexander Langer International Prize

The Human Rights Center ZMINA was assigned a special mention within the framework of the Alexander Langer Prize 2023.

Part of the ZMINA’s team

The International Alexander Langer Prize seeks to recognize groups and individuals who contribute to keeping alive the legacy of Alexander Langer, carrying on his civil, cultural and political commitments.

The Alexander Langer Foundation, located in Bolzano (Italy), looks to award the Alexander Langer International Prize to people and associations who, “with courage and independent thinking, shed light on emblematic situations and on innovative ways of dealing with the current crises the world is facing”.

In particular, the prize aims to honour committed persons and groups, who work to promote human rights, peace, democracy, who fight against discrimination and ethnic exclusivism, who defend the environment. Alexander Langer devoted his life and work to these issues, “underlining the interconnections between them, proposing concrete solutions with particular attention on establishing fruitful relations between people”.

Since 1997, 22 awards have been given spanning 19 countries on 4 continents.

This year, except for a special mention of ZMINA, the Scientific Committee of the Foundation assigned the prize to Olga Karatch, human right activist and political analyst from Belarus.

Olga Karatch is the director of the organization Nash Dom (Our Home), which she founded in 2005. Our House was originally founded in 2002 as a self-produced magazine in the town of Vitebsk. Because of her political activism, in 2011, Olga was arrested and tortured by the Lukashenko regime and since 2014, she lives in exile in Vilnius. In Lithuania, Our House is registered with the name of “International Centre for Civic Initiatives”. The organization coordinates more than 23 groups of volunteers in Belarusian cities and abroad with the aim of  changing Belarusian society through non-violent action and to strengthen citizens’ power to influence state decisions. For these reasons, Olga Karatch is seen as a threat by Lukashenko’s regime.

Alexander Langer

On the 3rd of March, 2024, the Alexander Langer Prize official ceremony will take place in Bolzano at the Euromediterranean festival.

The Scientific Committee of the Alexander Langer Foundation is composed by: Elisabeth Alber, Grazia Barbiero, Anna Brambilla, Azra Fetahovic, Bettina Foa, David Hofmann, Giulia Levi, Fabiana Martini, Salvatore Saltarelli, Giovanni Scotto, Gianni Tamino, Franz Tutzer, Mao Valpiana, Nazario Zambaldi, Simone Zoppellaro.

Reference: ZMINA promotes freedom of expression and fights against discrimination and torture. It supports the work of human rights and civil rights activists in Ukraine, including the Russian occupied territory of Crimea, as well as the people suffering from the Russian invasion. ZMINA is part of a wider coalition of civil society organizations that work for ethnic minorities’ rights and for the rights of the LGBTQ+ population.