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Ukrainian human rights activist: “Everyone is afraid”

Human rights activist Larissa Schessler in an interview with Ulrich Heyden*

(9 January 2023) In this interview, Larissa Schessler describes what has become of the opposition movements in Ukraine since 2014. Schessler is the chairperson of the “Union of Political Refugees and Political Prisoners” in Ukraine and an engineer by profession. She lived in the southern Ukrainian city of Nikolayev.

WWI Christmas Truce Inspires Call for Ukraine Ceasefire

(23 December 2022) Invoking the legacy of the 1914 Christmas Truce during WWI, nearly 1,000 leaders of faith communities are calling for peace and negotiations to bring the war to an end, “People’s Dispatch” reports.

A Mediator's Guide to Peace in Ukraine

by Jeffrey D. Sachs,* USA

(23 December 2022) The Ukraine War is an extremely dangerous war between nuclear superpowers in a world desperately in need of peace and cooperation.

There is a new glimmer of hope for a quick negotiated end to the war in Ukraine.

Address of his Holiness Pope Francis to the delegation of “Leaders pour la paix”

The 2nd December, the Holy Father Francis received in audience the members of the non-governmental organization “Leaders pour la Paix”, to whom he addressed the following words of greeting:

What does it mean to be on the right side of history?

Anyone who corners a nuclear power is acting irresponsibly. US President John F. Kennedy already knew that

by Oskar Lafontaine,* Germany

(23 December 2022) In his government statement to the German Bundestag on 27 February 2022, Chancellor Olaf Scholz said: “In Kiev, Kharkiv, Odessa and Mariupol, people are not only defending their homeland. They are fighting for freedom and their democracy, for values that we share with them. As democrats, as Europeans, we stand by their side, on the right side of history.”

Conference in Solothurn, 15 and 16 October 2022 – Part 5

One-sided reporting and war propaganda

Review and outlook

by Gilles-Emmanuel Jacquet,* GIPRI Geneva

(16 December 2022) It is widely acknowledged that the media, media freedom and free access to information play a crucial role in the democratisation of societies (through the formation of public opinion) and the consolidation of peace.1 However, there have also been numerous instances in recent history where the media played a role worthy of criticism in the coverage of armed conflicts or international crises by adopting the war propaganda of certain warring parties or providing partial or even one-sided coverage of certain events, which could and can amount to disinformation.