“The spirit of the Helsinki Accords is more
relevant today than ever in the time of turbulence”.
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By: Youcef MAALLEMI / Ahmed ABRI.
Le Courrier d’Afrique 54: Hello, Ms. Oleksandra Matviichuk, can you
tell us about your professional background?
Oleksandra Matviichuk I am a human rights lawyer. I have been applying the
law to defend people and human dignity for many years. When I was a child and
in school, I met Soviet dissidents. And suddenly I found myself among very
noble people. People who said what they thought and did what they said. People
who had the courage to speak out against the entire Soviet totalitarian
machine. Dissidents were brutally repressed by Soviet power. Some were killed,
some were imprisoned in Soviet prisons, and some were sent for forced psychological
treatment. But they did not give up. And as a child, I was so impressed by this
example that I decided to study law myself and continue this struggle for
freedom and human dignity.
Le Courrier d’Afrique 54: It's been eighteen years since you founded
your Circle of Living Freedoms. What has happened during these eighteen years?
Oleksandra Matviichuk We have gone from a pro-Russian authoritarian regime
that robbed its citizens to a transitional democracy. It means that we have set
new tasks for ourselves. Now we must build stable democratic state institutions
to create the society in which the rights of each person are protected,
government is accountable, courts are independent, and police do not beat
peaceful student demonstrators. This is difficult even in peacetime, but we
must do it during wartime.
Le Courrier d’Afrique 54: You recently participated in the Helsinki +
50 conference, held in Helsinki, the Finnish capital, on July 31st. What key
messages did you take away from this conference, and what are the challenges
ahead in terms of peace and democracy in the world, particularly in Ukraine?
Oleksandra Matviichuk The coming generations in Europe replaced those who
survived the Second World War. They inherited democracy from their grandparents
and began to take it for granted. They understand freedom as a choice between
different cheeses in the supermarket. They became consumers of democracy.
Therefore, they are ready to exchange freedom for populist promises, economic
benefits, the illusion of security, and, above all, for their comfort. The spirit of the Helsinki Accords is more relevant today
than ever in the time of turbulence. Its foundation was based on the unbreakable connection between security,
economic development, and human rights. I believe that the OSCE must be reborn
to respond to the threat for which this organisation was created.
Le Courrier d’Afrique 54: What solutions do you propose to promote
democracy and freedom worldwide?
Oleksandra Matviichuk Many people, even in developed democracies, are
disappointed with it because a large number of problems, including social
inequality, remain unresolved. After the fall of the Berlin Wall, we were so
confident that democracy
was the final answer, so we stopped promoting it. No one explains to
people that we have to perform two tasks in parallel - to protect our democracy and to perfect
our democracy. Because the alternative to our imperfect democracy is an
authoritarian regime where the space of freedom is limited to the size of the
prison cell.
Le Courrier d’Afrique 54: Do you have any projects or issues related
to peace and democracy with other associations, foundations, or organizations?
Oleksandra Matviichuk We closely cooperate with human rights organizations
from different countries of the OSCE region. The values of freedom have no
national borders. And only the spread of freedom makes our world safe.
Therefore, helping and supporting each other is not just morally right, it is
the most successful life strategy.
Le Courrier d’Afrique 54: How do you think Europe can mobilize for
peace in Ukraine?
Oleksandra Matviichuk Russia is an empire. An empire has a center but no
borders. An empire always seeks to expand. If we cannot stop Putin in Ukraine,
he will go further. That’s why people in other European countries are safe only
because Ukrainians are still holding back the Russian offensive. Therefore, it
would be logical to expect Europe to take decisive steps to stop Putin, such as
confiscating frozen Russian assets. We are talking about approximately 300
billion euros that the Central Bank of Russia kept in accounts in the G7
countries and the EU. This money can be used for defense, reconstruction,
recovery, and compensation for victims of war crimes. However, the longer
Europe delays, the higher the risk that these assets will never benefit either
Ukraine or European security. Hungary or another country could simply block the
continuation of the freeze of Russian money at the EU level. It means that all
this money will immediately be returned to the aggressor. It will be the most
significant investment by the G7 in the Russian war machine.
Le Courrier d’Afrique 54: The Center for Civil
Liberties has been campaigning since May 2025 for the creation of a special
tribunal to try Vladimir Putin (Putin Tribunal) for the crime of aggression
against Ukraine. What is your progress with this project? And which
stakeholders are involved in this initiative?
Oleksandra Matviichuk If we want to prevent wars in the future, we have to punish states and their leaders who start such wars in the present. This is common sense. But in the whole history of humankind, we have only one precedent for punishing the crime of aggression. It was the Nuremberg Trials. We still look at the world through the lens of the Nuremberg Trials, where Nazi war criminals were tried only after the Nazi regime had collapsed. But we are living in a new century. Justice should not depend on how and when the war ends. Justice is not a privilege for winners, but a basic human right. The global approach to crimes against peace needs to be changed. We must create a special tribunal to try the top political leadership and high military command of the Russian state for the crime of aggression. The historical agreement about a special tribunal was signed in May in the framework of the Council of Europe. Now we need to make this agreement a reality.