On February 10, the Hauser Global Law School Program and the International Law Society co-sponsored the event, “Crisis in Ukraine: Four Perspectives,” featuring four experts close to the conflict.
In late November of last year, thousands gathered in Ukraine’s Independence Square in Kiev to protest President Viktor Yanukovich’s rejection of political and trade agreements with the European Union. The protests continued through January, with a government crackdown resulting in at least five civilians killed, many more missing, and others reported tortured.
The government’s response and widespread corruption fueled the night’s first pair of speakers: Taras Kuzio, a political scientist and research associate on Ukraine at the Centre for Political and Regional Studies at the University of Alberta’s Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies, and Myroslava Gongadze, a journalist with Voice of America and widow of Ukrainian journalist Georgiy Gongadze. In 2000, her husband was abducted and murdered by government police. She concurred with Kuzio in describing the protests today as a “revolution of values and dignity” and suggested that the only solution in sight to Ukraine’s deep-seated problems would be the president’s resignation.
The latter two presenters provided Russian and international perspectives on the situation in Ukraine. Pavel Ivlev, an attorney and chairman of the Committee for Russian Economic Freedom, was joined by Veronika Szente Goldston, the advocacy director of Europe in the Central Asian division of Human Rights Watch.
Mary Holland, a research scholar at NYU School of Law, moderated the discussion and Q&A that followed.
Watch the video below. Please note that the footage has been edited for posting:
Posted on February 14, 2014