'Ignore human rights and you will pay more in the long run'
Ukrainian human rights lawyer Oleksandra Matviichuk, in an interview with I by IMD at the St Gallen Symposium, implored business leaders to stop taking their democratic freedoms for granted and to look beyond the blind pursuit of profit. Matviichuk is head of the Center for Civil Liberties (CCL) in Kyiv - an organization set up just over 15 years ago to work for the protection of human rights in Ukraine - and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) region. The CCL, which won the Nobel Prize for Peace in 2022, strives to achieve "the restoration of justice for all victims of war crimes" and has documented alleged war crimes since Russia annexed the Crimean Peninsula in 2014, including Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February of last year. Donors include the US Department of State, the European Commission, UNDP, the Open Society Foundation, and the Sigrid Rausing Trust, In April, Time magazine featured Matviichuk among its 100 Most Influential People of 2023, with former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton commenting: "By documenting Russia's atrocities so perpetrators can face prosecution, she is proof that women are not just victims of war; they can be agents of peace and justice."
IBY IMD: The world's attention has been on Ukraine since President Vladimir Putin ordered the Russian invasion over a year ago. But you and the CCL have been active in human rights work for much longer.
OLEKSANDRA MATVIICHUK: Yes, we started in 2007. It was the period after the Orange Revolution [in 2004, when Ukrainians protested against a rigged election won by the pro-Moscow candidate Viktor Yanukovych], It was decided that it would be good to have an organization to promote human rights and dignity, not only on a national level butto be able to work on an international level as well. And Kyiv was seen as a good place for it. Yanukovych used power for his own benefit, and that's why he served Russian interests. It was then that…
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I by IMD (Digital) - 1 Issue, 10. June 2023
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