14.10.26 | Freedom Is Not Given – Defending Human Dignity in Times of War

Date and Time:

Wednesday, October 14, 2026
6:30 – 8:00 P.M. (Admission from 6:00 P.M.)

Venue:

Lecture Hall II, Main Building, University of Cologne
Albertus-Magnus-Platz, 50923 Cologne

We are delighted by the strong interest in this event. You can still register via this link; seats that become available will be assigned in the order in which registrations are received. Your attendance is confirmed only once you receive our confirmation email. The lecture hall is wheelchair accessible. The event will not be streamed. It will be held in English.

Abstract:

Freedom is not granted, it must be defended – every day and anew by every generation. Oleksandra Matviychuk works in a place where the price of that freedom is immediately apparent. Through the Center for Civil Liberties, she has been documenting alleged war crimes in all affected regions of the country since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

In her lecture, she explains why this war pits not just two states against each other, but two conceptions of social order: one that considers rights non-negotiable, and one that declares them a fiction. She asks what remains of international law when its institutions are blocked, what role civil society assumes when states fail, and what democratic societies in Europe can learn from this as long as they still take their own freedoms for granted.

Following the lecture, Oleksandra Matviichuk will engage in a conversation with Angelika Nußberger, professor of constitutional law, international law, and comparative law at the University of Cologne and former vice president of the European Court of Human Rights. Afterward, there will be time for questions from the audience.

Speaker: Oleksandra Matviichuk

Oleksandra Matviichuk is a lawyer and human rights advocate who heads the Center for Civil Liberties in Kyiv, which was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2022 jointly with Memorial and Ales Bjaljatski. After the start of Russia’s war of aggression, she founded the “Tribunal for Putin” initiative with partner organizations, which documents international crimes under the Rome Statute in all affected regions of Ukraine. She is the author of numerous reports for UN bodies, the Council of Europe, the EU, the OSCE, and the International Criminal Court. Among other honors, she has received the OSCE Democracy Defender Award (2016), the Right Livelihood Award (2022), the Dutch Auschwitz Prize (2025), and was one of the first recipients of the European Parliament’s Order of Merit (2026).

Moderator: Angelika Nußberger

Angelika Nußberger is a professor of constitutional law, international law, and comparative law at the University of Cologne, where she heads the Academy for European Human Rights Protection and the Institute for Eastern European Law and Comparative Law. From 2011 to 2019, she served as a judge on the European Court of Human Rights, and from 2017 onward as its Vice President – the first German to hold that office. She is a member of the Venice Commission of the Council of Europe and an international judge on the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

In Cooperation with:

Academy for European Human Rights Protection
Ukrainian Students Association Cologne (USAC)

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