Ukrainian, Russian and Belarusian civil rights campaigners have been named joint winners of this year's Nobel Peace Prize
Jailed rights activist Ales Bialiatski was honoured for his work in Belarus; his wife said she was "overwhelmed with emotion"
Human rights organisations Memorial - in Russia - as well as Ukraine's Center for Civil Liberties were also winners and have welcomed the news
They were praised by the Nobel Committee for their "outstanding effort to document war crimes, human right abuses and the abuse of power"
The choices have been greeted by Western leaders - but Belarus has hit out at the decisions, as has a Russian presidential adviser
The award is given annually to a person - or people - who have worked to benefit humankind
Separately, the UN Human Rights Council has voted to appoint a special expert to monitor human rights in Russia
Image source, EPAThe wife of Belarusian Nobel Peace Prize winner Ales Bialiatski says she's "overwhelmed with emotion".
Natallia Pinchuk told the AFP news agency: "I express my deep gratitude to the Nobel Committee and the international community for recognising the work of Ales, his colleagues and his organisation."
Image source, Getty ImagesBelarusian dissident Svetlana Tikhanovskaya has congratulated her compatriot, the human rights activist Ales Bialiatski, for being jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
"The prize is an important recognition for all Belarusians fighting for freedom & democracy," she wrote in a tweet.
"All political prisoners must be released without delay," she said. Bialitski is currently in prison in Belarus, and Tikhanovskaya herself lives in exile.
Meanwhile, one of the country's opposition politicians, Pavel Latushko, was quoted by Reuters saying Bialiatski's win was an award "for all political prisoners" in Belarus.
This morning we learnt the three winners of the 2022 Nobel Peace Prize - one activist and two organisations in Eastern Europe.
We'll continue bringing you reaction to the announcements in Oslo. In the meantime, here's everything you need to know:
Image source, Getty ImagesThe Russian leader turns 70 today
The chairwoman of the Nobel committee was quizzed by reporters after her announcement whether this year's peace prize recipients were intended to send a message to Russian President Vladimir Putin, whose 70th birthday is today.
Berit Reiss-Andersen said the prize was given to those helping peace.
She denied the committee was "addressing President Putin, not for his birthday nor anything else", saying the prize was "not against anyone" but given for positive actions.
Reiss-Andersen added: "The attention that President Putin has drawn on himself, that's relevant in this context, is on civil society and human rights advocates being suppressed.
"That's what we want to address for this prize."
WATCH: Nobel committee chairwoman Berit Reiss-Anderson announces the winner
Here's the moment Berit Reiss-Andersen, head of the Norwegian Nobel committee, announced the joint winners of 2022's Nobel Peace Prize.
Image source, ReutersThe campaigner - pictured here in 2020 - is the founder of Belarus's Viasna Human Rights Centre
One of the winners of this year's Nobel Peace Prize is Belarusian human rights advocate Ales Bialiatski.
He is currently being held in pre-trial detention.
Bialitski, 60, is the founder of the country’s Viasna (Spring) Human Rights Centre, which was set up in 1996 in response to a brutal crackdown on street protests by Belarus’s authoritarian leader Alexander Lukashenko.
"[Bialitski] has devoted his life to promoting democracy and peaceful development in his home country," the Nobel Peace Prize committee said.
Bialitski was first arrested and jailed in 2011-14 on tax evasion charges he has always denied.
He was detained again in 2020 following massive protests over what the Belarusian opposition and independent monitors say were rigged elections in Belarus that kept Lukashenko in power.
Norwegian Nobel Committee Chair Berit Reiss-Andersen said he "had not yielded one inch for his fight for human rights" in Belarus.
Image source, Dmytro Smolienko/ Ukrinform/NurPhoto/REX/ShutterstockAftermath of a Russian missile strike on a humanitarian convoy in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine.
As we've just heard, the Ukrainian Center for Civil Liberties (CGS) is one of the joint winners of this year's Nobel Peace Prize.
CGS is one of Ukraine’s leading human rights organizations. It was founded in 2007, when leaders of human rights organizations from nine post-Soviet countries decided to create a cross-border resource support centre in Kyiv.
Since its founding, the CGS has monitored political persecutions in occupied Crimea, documented war crimes and crimes against humanity during the war in Donbas, and organised international campaigns to release the Kremlin’s political prisoners.
After Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Center for Civil Liberties has engaged in efforts to identify and document Russian war crimes against the Ukrainian civilian population.
Image source, ReutersIn her announcement, Berit Reiss-Andersen adds that the winning parties are "outstanding champions of human rights, democracy and peaceful coexistence" in Belarus, Russia and Ukraine.
The award recipients are considered to have honoured a vision of "peace and fraternity" between nations from award founder Alfred Nobel.
"A vision most needed in the world today," Reiss-Andersen adds, before closing her speech.
Laura Gozzi
BBC News Live Reporter
One of the winners of this year's Nobel Peace Prize is Russian human rights organisation Memorial - which was shut down earlier this year.
For over 30 years, Memorial worked to recover the memory of the millions of innocent people executed, imprisoned or persecuted in the Soviet era.
Its work never sat comfortably with the Russian authorities, and it was initially cautioned in 2006, and in 2014 it was added to a list of "foreign agents" - a roster of organisations and individuals the government claims receive funding from abroad.
A pretext for closing the group was its failure to mark some of its social media posts with a "foreign agent" disclaimer, which it is legally required to do.
In December 2021, the Supreme Court of Russia ordered Memorial and its regional branches to close because it had violated the 2012 foreign agent law. There were shouts of "shame!" from those in court as the decision was read out.
Image source, ReutersSupporters of Memorial held signs reading "we will live forever" when the group was ordered to close
The winners "demonstrate the significance of civil society for peace and democracy", the chair of the Nobel Committee says.
They showed the importance of the the "right to criticise power and protect the fundamental rights of citizens".
The recipients are also praised for their efforts to document "war crimes, human rights abuses and the abuse of power".
The Nobel Peace Prize has been given to one individual and two organisations.
Ales Bialiatski - a human rights advocate from Belarus - takes the award along with Russian human rights organisation Memorial and the Ukrainian human rights organisation the Center for Civil Liberties.
Image source, ReutersAles Bialiatski, who is detained in Belarus, is one of three Nobel Peace Prize winners this year
The winner, or winners, of the Nobel Peace Prize will be announced in the next few minutes.
The announcement will be made by Norwegian Nobel Committee Chair Berit Reiss-Andersen from the Norwegian Nobel Institute in Oslo.
You can watch the announcement being broadcast via the link at the top of this page.
The winner of the Nobel Peace Prize is anybody's guess - even the nominations are kept secret for 50 years after the event.
But that doesn't stop some people trying to bet on the outcome.
Here are the bookies' favourites, according to Oddschecker:
We'll find out who the 2022 winner is in a few moments.
Stay with us.
Image source, Getty ImagesAs we’ve said, we don’t have a list of nominees for the Nobel Peace Prize.
But sometimes the award is given to bodies rather than individuals.
Believed to be nominated for the prize is the World Health Organization (WHO) for its work during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The organisation has helped provide funding, vaccines and equipment to help contain the virus around the world.
Image source, Tuvalu's Ministry of Justice, Communication and Foreign AffairsTuvalu's foreign minister is one name being talked about
Although the list of nominees is unknown, there is speculation that a climate campaigner could take the award.
These are some of the names being mooted.
Although no list of nominees has been published, there is speculation that critics of the governments of Russia and its allies could win the Nobel Peace Prize when it's announced in a few minutes' time.
Belarusian opposition politician Svetlana Tikhanovskaya is one name being talked about.
Image source, AFP via Getty ImagesShe has been living in exile since running against Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko in the country’s 2020 presidential election in place of her now-jailed husband.
Since leaving she has made several appeals to the international community for support to force Lukashenko to quit and to help establish democracy in Belarus. She has also spoken out against the war in Ukraine, stating that the fates of Ukraine and Belarus are “deeply connected”.
Another candidate thought be on the list is Russia’s jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny.
Image source, ReutersRussian President Vladimir Putin's most vocal critic in Russia, Navalny was jailed last year for breaking bail conditions while being treated in hospital in Germany. He was in hospital after being poisoned with a nerve agent - an attack he accused Putin of ordering (the Russian leader denies this).
But in March Navalny was given an extra nine years for fraud - a charge rejected by supporters as fabricated - and contempt of court.
He has been a vocal critic of Putin’s war in Ukraine, which he said was “like your courts, built entirely on lies”.
With a war being waged in Ukraine since February, many are wondering if the winner could relate to the war. But there has also been some speculation there could be no winner at all - as was seen during both world wars.
Image source, ReutersFrench writer Annie Ernaux
French writer Annie Ernaux was named winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature yesterday, for what the panel said was an "uncompromising" 50-year body of work exploring "a life marked by great disparities regarding gender, language and class".
Her books, including A Man's Place and A Woman's Story, are considered contemporary classics in France.
Anders Olsson, chair of the literature committee, said the 82-year-old's work was "admirable and enduring".
The prestigious accolade is worth 10 million Swedish kronor (£803,000; $897,000). Ernaux said it was "a great honour".
She was the first Frenchwoman to win the literature prize, and told reporters the award created a responsibility to "continue the fight against injustice".
Image source, EPA/ReutersAspect, Clauser and Zeilinger demonstrated the potential to control entangled particles
Earlier this week, The Nobel Prize in Physics went to three men working independently on quantum information science: the science that describes nature at the smallest scales.
The work by Frenchman Alain Aspect, American John Clauser and Austrian Anton Seilinger could pave the way to a new generation of powerful computers and telecommunications systems that are impossible to break into.
Image source, Penas/C/BertozziCarolyn Bertozzi was able to map the biomolecule glycan, glowing green here
The Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded on Wednesday to three scientists: Carolyn Bertozzi - who was the eighth woman to win the prize - alongside Morten Meldal, and Barry Sharpless.
They were honoured for their work on linking molecules together like Lego pieces - known as “click” chemistry - which has simplified the development of cancer treatments directly targeting tumour cells.
Image source, EPASvante Paabo was praised for his research into Neanderthals
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was given to Sweden’s Svante Paabo.
The committee said his work on human evolution achieved the seemingly impossible task of cracking the genetic code of one of our extinct relatives, the Neanderthals.
Journalists Maria Ressa from the Philippines and Dmitry Muratov from Russia won the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize for their "efforts to safeguard freedom of expression".
They have both faced barriers, and this has only increased since this time last year.
Ressa co-founded the online news site Rappler in 2012 - a publication praised for its intelligent analysis and hard-hitting investigations.
Image source, ReutersRappler was one of the few Philippine media organisations to be openly critical of then-President Rodrigo Duterte and his policies.
Ressa was convicted of libel in 2020 in a case seen as a test of Philippine press freedom - describing the charges against her as politically motivated.
Though she lost an appeal case against the conviction in July this year, Rappler said, external she is on bail and remains free "while she pursues all legal remedies".
Muratov is the Russian editor-in-chief of the independent newspaper Novaya Gazeta.
He and other journalists founded the paper in 1993 after the fall of the Soviet Union.
Image source, ReutersSince 2000, six journalists from the newspaper and collaborators have been killed in connection with their work, including investigative reporter Anna Politkovskaya.
Novaya Gazeta suspended its operations in March, shortly after Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
In June, Muratov auctioned off his Nobel Peace Prize medal for $103.5m (£84m)- to raise money for Ukrainian refugees.
Choosing a Nobel Peace Prize winner was "maybe even harder" this year, a member of the committee is quoted as saying.
Berit Reiss-Andersen, chair of the Norwegian Nobel Committee told NRK "we're living in a difficult security situation and a tense world".
It's been speculated that there could be no prize at all this year due to the ongoing war in Ukraine, but the head of the committee hinted that they had indeed chosen a winner (or winners).