Olha Reshetylova is a co-founder and coordinator of the Media Initiative for Human Rights, which was established in 2016. Previously, she was a journalist, project manager at the Ukrainian Helsinki Human Rights Union, and worked at the Come Back Alive Foundation. The human rights activist knows about the problems of the army and war crimes from direct witnesses, as she is in constant contact with the military, their families, and victims. Given her knowledge, Reshetylova urges us not to create idols among the victorious military leaders.
We talk to Olha about the Nobel Peace Prize incident for the "three fraternal peoples" during the war, the disaster caused by the "good" Russians, unknown war crimes, the little discussed problem of prisoners of war, the heroic units of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, their failed communication, and how to fix it.
After the announcement of the Nobel Peace Prize winners, I wrote to my colleagues to check my watches to see if I was getting it right in this life
- Olga, let's get off the ground. Your organisation, as we all know, does a lot of human rights work and is very useful for Ukraine. In light of recent trends, could the Media Initiative for Human Rights theoretically win the Nobel Prize this year?
- In the same context as the Centre for Civil Liberties? (Smiles).
- Let's just say that you also deal with the topic of documenting war crimes and prisoners of war. This work is important and relevant. Could there come a time when you - perhaps in a different "package", not with the Russians or Belarusians - would be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize as a CSO?
- To be honest, we could. We have received many awards as part of the Ukraine. 5 am" coalition .
If the current Nobel Peace Prize were awarded in a different context, it would be perceived by us, all human rights activists, as an award to the entire Ukrainian human rights movement.
The Centre for Civil Liberties is one of the most prominent human rights organisations in Ukraine. But theoretically, yes, it could have been us (as part of the coalition) or someone else instead. Because now Ukraine is in a trend. Ukrainian human rights defenders are doing an extraordinary job, sometimes at the risk of their lives. This work is aimed at achieving peace, at punishing criminals and achieving justice, which is a condition for further peace.
So, otherwise - and not as it happened, of course - we would have seen this as a reward for all of us, for our entire human rights movement.
- And here we come to a difficult question. If you were suddenly given the Nobel Peace Prize 2022, along with "good" human rights organisations from Russia and Belarus, would you refuse it or would you find an explanation for how to use it in the interests of Ukraine?
- For me, this is both a difficult and a simple question. Because I and our organisation would have refused.
When I learned about this news (awarding the Nobel Peace Prize to human rights organisations from Russia, Ukraine and Belarus jointly - "H"), I immediately wrote to my colleagues, the coordinators, to check my watches to see if I understood everything in this life. And we definitely said that we would refuse.
We have not voiced this position publicly, and this is the first time I'm talking about it here. Because even in my environment there are many different opinions. That the prize opens up some opportunities. That the Russian Memorial Society and Belarusian Oles Bialiatski are outstanding human rights activists. In principle, I do not argue with this. The other issue is the timing. Why was the decision [to award one prize to each victim and aggressor country] made right now?
I personally believe that in this context, receiving the Nobel Prize does much more harm to Ukraine than good.
And we already have all the opportunities that the prize can open up. Now we have a green light in many ways: we are listened to, we are heard; we can organise meetings at the highest level, and some advocacy campaigns. We do not need any additional recognition for this.
Actually, I think the world is doing this more for itself - all these awards and recognition of Ukrainians. Well, we have to support Ukrainians somehow. At least in this way.
24.10.2022
