UN system no longer works, needs 'cardinal reform': Ukrainian Nobel laureate

By Burak Bir

LONDON (AA) — With war and conflict raging in different parts of the world, the international system's failure to protect people is a glaring sign that it demands major reform, according to the director of the Center for Civil Liberties, a Ukrainian NGO.

In an interview with Anadolu after an event in London, 2022 Nobel Peace Prize winner Oleksandra Matviychuk, pointed to the existence of crises around the world and stressed that the international system does not "work anymore."

"We have to unite our efforts and to demand to start a cardinal reform of this UN system of peace and security, because it's not working anymore," said Matviychuk, who heads to the Center for Civil Liberties, a Ukrainian group that shared the Nobel Peace Prize for its work documenting alleged Russian war crimes.

Asked whether the UN needs to work harder towards protecting refugees around the world, she said this was a "crucial problem."

"Definitely, Ukrainians are not in the worst position, because Ukrainians face warm welcome in a lot of countries," noted Matviychuk, comparing the situation of refugees from her country to those from others, naming Syrians who are "much more vulnerable."

Asked about her thoughts on Israel's ongoing attacks on the Gaza Strip, she said, "we all have a huge problem" with the international system.

"This Russian war against Ukraine, this bloody war in the Middle East, this invisible war against women in Iran, everything which is going on in Myanmar, Afghanistan, Nicaragua, or Sudan, it's a bright reflection that our international system of peace and security cannot protect people against authoritarianism and cannot protect people against war," said Matviychuk.

If demands for reform fail, she fears, conflict will become much more frequent across the globe.

In Ukraine, where Russia "uses war crimes" to break popular resistance and inflicts "enormous pain" on civilians, in a war that has dragged on for over two years, Matviychuk said people are fighting for their dignity.

"The only message which I have to women, who are also fighting for freedom and human dignity in different parts of the world, is that we very often are faced with enormous challenges, and very often other people tell us that our efforts have no sense because you cannot be against enormous opposing power, but this is not true," she said.

"The future is unclear, but not prewritten and we still have a chance to fight for the future which we want for us and for our children and this is not so little."