On Monday, April 7, the Weiser Center for Europe and Eurasia (WCEE) at the University of Michigan was honored to host human rights lawyer and head of the 2022 Nobel Peace Prize-awarded Center for Civil Liberties (Ukraine) Oleksandra Matviichuk for the WCEE Annual Distinguished Lecture on Europe entitled “Civil Society in an Era of Global Change” (WATCH RECORDING).
Speaking to over 150 U-M students, faculty, and community members in the Rackham Amphitheatre, Matviichuk explained that her childhood engagement with Soviet dissidents inspired her to study law and continue the struggle for freedom and human dignity. She was a driving force in supporting Ukraine’s Revolution of Dignity in 2014 by launching the Euromaidan SOS initiative and providing legal aid daily to hundreds of fellow citizens protesting the pro-Russian government. Matviichuk described how the tireless efforts by the organization’s lawyers and volunteers signaled to the protestors that they would not be forgotten or abandoned.
Civic action, according to Matviichuk, is now often missing not only in authoritarian societies but also in developed democracies where citizens have started to take their rights and freedoms for granted. She asserted that the rise of authoritarianism globally parallels the collapse of the established international order of peace and security.
“Even the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine is not just a war between two states,” Matviichuk commented. “This is the war between two systems — authoritarianism and democracy. Russia wants to convince the entire world that freedom, democracy, human rights, and the rule of law are fake values, ones that will not protect you.”
Matviichuk explained that extraordinary actions by ordinary people in Ukraine have been integral to the country’s resistance, whether it be delivering humanitarian aid in combat zones or pulling their neighbors from the rubble of destroyed homes.
“These dramatic times provide us an opportunity to reveal the best in us — to be courageous, to fight for freedom, to take the burden of responsibility, to make difficult but right choices, to help each other. Now more than ever, we keenly feel what it means to be human.”
Together with a national network of investigators, Matviichuk’s organization has recorded more than 84,000 cases of war crimes since the full-scale invasion in February 2022. But as she emphasized throughout her presentation and the audience Q&A moderated by WCEE Director and Weiser Family Professor in European and Eurasian Studies Geneviève Zubrzycki, “While this war turns people into numbers, we are returning people their names,” Matviichuk noted. “Because people are not numbers. Every life matters.” To Matviichuk, these are not only violations of international law, but actually represent human suffering.
The Annual Distinguished Lecture on Europe brings together leading European figures, scholars of Europe, students, and the public to discuss European affairs. From 2004-2024, the series was hosted by the Center for European Studies (CES) at the University of Michigan. Moving forward, it will be hosted by WCEE.
