In late June, at the height of the war, Ukraine ratified the Istanbul Convention – the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence. On the one hand, this makes complete sense: Ukraine hopes to…
When the famous Soviet figure-skaters Belousova and Protopopov fled the USSR in 1979, asking for political asylum in Switzerland, they were called traitors and renegades. There was even a verse: “So you are just deserters, just vlasovtsy [supporters of Soviet…
Much of the world’s attention is currently fixed on Ukraine. People in various countries are following the news closely, learning the names of Ukrainian cities, taking in refugees, and sending humanitarian packages. Many are shocked by evidence of the aggressors’…
I remember August 2011 as the month my friend and colleague Ales Bialiatski, a human rights defender and director of the Belarussian Viasna Human Rights Centre, was arrested. Bialiatski was immediately recognized as a political prisoner being prosecuted for this human…
Lots of people are suddenly talking about “discrimination,” even though this word is not used readily in Russia, just like the closely-related concept of “minority rights.” Many still find it somehow unpatriotic to protect and defend minority rights and combat…
Is it possible to speak of one people’s guilt before another? Is it necessary? Is it correct? The 20th century saw the emergence of the concept of collective national guilt and the need for “atonement.” This concept was extremely important…
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