On April 29, the high-level international symposium “Saving Ukraine: Stockholm Symposium on Accountability and Disinformation in a Turbulent World” took place in Stockholm.
The Director of the Sahaidachnyi Security Center, Lesia Ogryzko, joined the panel devoted to Human Rights and Security in a Turbulent World, sharing insights on the intersection of human rights and security in the context of ongoing war.
In the panel, Lesia emphasized that human rights do not exist in a vacuum and that the work of human rights organizations must take into account the security and political context of each country. “When certain international organizations criticized restrictions on the activities of the Russian Orthodox Church or the banning of platforms like VKontakte and Odnoklassniki in Ukraine, it revealed a lack of understanding of the fact that these institutions and platforms function as extensions of the Russian KGB and tools of hybrid warfare”.
Addressing the intersection of human rights and security, Lesia also highlighted the plight of dozens of peoples and nations colonized by Russia who are denied the ability to exercise both their individual and collective rights. She referenced scenarios from the study “Russia 2032 Scenarios: A Decade Post Full–Scale Invasion of Ukraine”, one of which envisions these nations finally gaining their rights and freedoms.
“In such a scenario, human rights and security would reinforce each other: these nations would enjoy liberty and justice, and international security would improve – because only a de-imperialized Russia will cease to pose a persistent threat across multiple continents”.
The panel featured leading voices in global policy and justice:
– Jan Eliasson, former Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations,
– Pablo de Greiff, Commissioner of the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine.
The discussion was moderated by Janine di Giovanni, CEO of The Reckoning Project.
The symposium was organized by The Reckoning Project in cooperation with the Stockholm Centre for Eastern European Studies, supported by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Sweden.
