What the Nobel Peace Prize-Winning Ukrainian Human Rights Group Wants From the West
Oleksandra Matviichuk heads Ukraine’s Center for Civil Liberties, which was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday along with Memorial, the largest human rights organization in Russia, and Ales Bialiatski, a democracy and human rights advocate in Belarus.
Founded in 2007 to strengthen civil society and democracy in Ukraine, the Center for Civil Liberties has this year focused on investigating and documenting war crimes against the country’s civilian population by the Russian military following its invasion. The Nobel Committee, in handing its highest award to human rights activists in neighboring countries, cited “their consistent efforts in favour of humanist values, anti-militarism and principles of law.”
I spoke with Matviichuk on Sept. 30 as she prepared to travel to New York for the Oslo Freedom Forum, which convened leading human rights activists from around the world five days before the Nobel was announced.