Taipei: Prominent human rights defender Oleksandra Matviichuk, whose organization won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2022 for efforts to document war crimes, warned of the risks to democracies should Moscow win the Russo-Ukrainian war during a talk on Wednesday. “This Russian war of oppression against Ukraine, this is not just a war between two states, this is a war between two systems — authoritarianism and democracy,” Matviichuk said at the event in Taipei organized by a German-based NGO, the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom (FNF).
According to Focus Taiwan, Matviichuk stated that Russian President Vladimir Putin, by waging war on Ukraine, is attempting to show the entire free world that “freedom, democracy, human rights [and the] rule of law” are “fake values,” “because they couldn’t protect anyone during the war.” She warned that Putin’s actions demonstrate that a country with military might and nuclear power “can do whatever they want.”
Matviichuk further emphasized that if Putin succeeds, it will encourage other authoritarian leaders globally to act similarly. As a Ukrainian human rights lawyer and advocate, Matviichuk is the chair of the Center for Civil Liberties, which received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2022 for its efforts to document war crimes, human rights abuses, and the abuse of power in Ukraine. Following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Matviichuk co-founded the “Tribunal for Putin” to document international crimes in all regions of Ukraine under attack.
In her address, Matviichuk also accused China of aiding Russia in avoiding sanctions and supplying technologies critical to warfare. She mentioned that North Korea has sent millions of artillery shells and troops to support Moscow’s war efforts in Ukraine. Matviichuk argued that these regimes “see people as objects to be controlled” and constantly “deny them their rights and freedoms.”
At the same event, Moritz Kleine-Brockhoff, head of FNF’s regional office in Southeast and East Asia, noted that Ukraine “must win this war for all of us.” Earlier on Wednesday, Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim received Matviichuk at the Presidential Office and praised the Center for Civil Liberties’ long-standing commitment to defending human rights in Ukraine. Hsiao remarked that Taiwan understands the threat and pressure brought by an aggressive neighboring country, referring to China, and has assisted in Ukraine’s ongoing efforts to rebuild.
