In an unusual move for a Nobel Peace laureate, the head of one of this year’s prizewinning organizations on Monday called for weapons to help Ukraine defend itself and stop the atrocities.
“When somebody asks me how to stop these long-lasting crimes in occupied territories, I can only answer: ‘Provide Ukraine with weapons to liberate these territories’,” Ukrainian Oleksandra Matviichuk, a human rights lawyer who heads the Kyiv-based Center for Civil Liberties, told AFP in Stockholm.
“It’s a weird situation for me, and a clear sign (that) something (is) wrong with the whole international system when a human rights lawyer asks (for) air defence systems.”
But, she said, “we need to prevent new damage to critical civil infrastructure”.
“We need air defence systems. We need other kinds of military facilities which would help us to protect our sky.”
Matviichuk said international law – her usual weapon for defending human rights – was no longer effective.
“Now I have no legal instrument which can stop Russian atrocities because Russia publicly ignores international law and all decisions of international organizations,” the 39-year-old said.
Ukraine also needs urgent humanitarian assistance to “endure this very hard winter”, she said, noting that she had just experienced more than three days without power or heat in her Kyiv home.
The Center for Civil Liberties was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize along with Belarusian human rights advocate Ales Bialiatski and the Russian human rights organization Memorial for their “outstanding effort to document war crimes, human right abuses and the abuse of power”.
