Human rights defender urges Ukraine support

The head of a Nobel Peace Prize winning Ukrainian organization says she is thankful Canada is helping her country fight.

Oleksandra Matviichuk, head of the Center for Civil Liberties, which won the prestigious international award in 2022, for what the Nobel committee called its “outstanding effort to document war crimes, human right abuses and the abuse of power,” said the ongoing war isn’t just between Ukraine and Russia.

“This is not just a war between states,” Matviichuk said Sunday before a tour of the Canadian Museum for Human Rights in Winnipeg.

“This is a war between two systems: authoritarianism and democracy. With this war, (Russian President Vladimir) Putin attempts to convince the entire world that democracy, rule of law and human rights are fake values … If Putin succeeds, it will encourage other authoritarian leaders, in different parts of the world, to do the same.

“We can find ourselves in a world which will be dangerous for everyone, without any exception.”

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