Through multiple events in four Canadian cities, Ms. Matviichuk will be raising awareness to the plight of the thousands of Ukrainian children stolen by Russia, the impact of the war on women and children, and her ongoing work in cataloguing human rights abuses and war crimes.
Nobel Peace Prize winner Oleksandra Matviichuk has been documenting Russian war crimes in Ukraine for 10 years, since the occupation of Crimea, Donetsk and Luhansk. Her centre has documented thousands of war crimes in the last two years alone, since the full-scale invasion in February 2022. She has become the face and voice of resistance and human dignity, leading the international effort to try the perpetrators of crimes against humanity – from the Crime of Aggression to the systematic murder of civilians, to the state abduction of thousands of Ukrainian children in an effort to erase their Ukrainian identity or train them into “cannon fodder” for the Russian war machine.
She attended Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, graduating in 2007 when she was conferred a LL.M. specializing in human rights law. She started working for the non-profit Centre for Civil Liberties upon its founding in 2007, when it was established. In 2012, she became a member of the Advisory Council under the Commissioner for Human Rights of Ukraine’s parliament. In 2017, she became the first woman to participate in the Ukrainian Emerging Leaders Program of Stanford University. Since October 2022, she has been Vice-President of the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH). Her honours include, inter alia:
· 2022 – Nobel Peace Prize on behalf of the Center for Civil Liberties
· 2022 – Right Livelihood Award
· 2017 – “Ukrainian Women of Courage” Award from the U.S. Embassy
· 2016 – Democracy Defender Award, OSCE Parliamentary Assembly
· 2015 – “Sjur Lindebrække Prize for Democracy and Human Rights”, Aawarded by the Norwegian political party Høyre
· 2007 – The Vasyl Stus Prize, Ukrainian Center of PEN International
We are honoured to partner with Oleksandra Matviichuk and the Ukrainian Centre for Civil Liberties. Their work in cataloguing war crimes is essential and will constitute a critical part of the Nuremburg Trials against Kremlin officials once this war is over.
-Victor Hetmanczuk, Chair of the Canada-Ukraine Foundation
Tax receipts will be issued for a portion of the ticket price.
details of each event will be posted as definitively finalized
Lunch with Canadian women leaders
Laying of Fowers photo-op at Taras Shevchenko monument
Meetings with government officials
Evening reception with dignitaries
Meetings with parliamentarians
Presentations before Parliament of Canada
Attend House of Commons Question Period from the Gallery
National Media interviews
Evening wine and cheese fundraising reception
Meetings with government officials
NGO round table
Luncheon keynote with business and stakeholders
Ceremonial tree planting in memory of the children victims of war
Guest speech to university students
Montreal Media
First inaugural John Lemieux Human Rights Leadership Lecture, in partnership with the Montreal Institute for Genocide and Human Rights Studies (MIGS)
Montreal Media
Toronto keynote fundraising gala – The Old Mill
Flower laying photo-op at Holodomor memorial + scrum
National Media editorial boards
Toronto Media interviews
Dinner meeting with government officials
Guest speech to university students
Meeting/rally & Q&A with Ukrainian-Canadian children from GTHA
Winnipeg Media
Winnipeg keynote fundraising gala – The Millennium Centre
Tour of Oseredok Ukrainian community hub and diaspora archive centre
Laying of Flowers photo-op at Holodomor monument
Lunch meeting with government officials; tour of legislature
Tour of Canadian Human Rights Museum (open to media)
Red – media events
Purple – government outreach & relationship strengthening events
Green – public messaging events
Blue – fundraising events
The war isn’t over. With each day it continues, more children are being abducted by Russia and sent to filtration camps or re-education centres. This horrendous crime must be better understood.
– Olesia Luciw-Andryjowycz, Chair of the Canada-Ukraine Foundation Civil Society Committee