Russian human rights and environmental activist Daria Egereva has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. She is in pretrial detention.

Indigenous rights advocate and environmental activist Daria Egereva nominated for the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize. Her candidacy was nominated by former UN Special Rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples James Anaya and Professor Eivind Ravna of the Arctic University of Norway.

Professor Eivind Ravna commented on the decision to nominate the candidate:

We hope this will draw attention to the plight of indigenous peoples in Russia and other parts of the world – those fighting climate change – and the suppression of opposition in Russian civil society.

Human rights activities and criminal prosecution

Darya Egereva is a representative of the Selkup people. She has worked for many years at the international level in the areas of indigenous rights and climate policy. Egereva is the co-chair of the International Indigenous Forum on Climate Change, which represents the interests of indigenous peoples at the UN.

December 17, 2025, she was held in pretrial detention on charges of participating in the activities of a "terrorist organization"—the Aborigen Forum, an association of experts representing indigenous peoples of the North, Siberia, and the Far East. Another defendant in a similar case, activist Natalia Leonhardt, was arrested at the same time.

International community reaction

In April, ten UN experts issued an appeal, in which they pointed out that persecution for cooperation with UN human rights mechanisms could constitute intimidation of activists or retaliation for their international human rights work. Furthermore, over 100 human rights and environmental organizations worldwide signed a joint statement demanding the immediate and unconditional release of Daria and Natalia.

The Nobel Peace Prize laureates will be announced on October 9.

Source: NeMoskva