Ukrainian media company Starlight Media and Civil Network OPORA are launching a joint informational and educational campaign aimed at motivating Ukrainians to testify about ear crimes committed by Russians. This informational cooperation started in the fall of last year and continues due to the support of the UK government. In February 2024, as part of this joint work, a thematic social ad was released on the media company’s TV channels.
Almost 16% of surveyed Ukrainians around the country stated that they witnessed war crimes committed by Russians. Moreover, the Office of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine reports on recorded 125,389 war crimes as of February 15, 2024.
“The evil must be punished both on the battlefield and in the sphere of rule of law. No court in the world can return the lost lives of Ukrainians or remove the pain we experienced. However, whether we will be able to achieve justice during the tribunal and whether the guilty will be punished depends on the recording of Russian crimes and our testimonies. Therefore, the campaign we started together with OPORA is very important for us, and we will invest our broadcasting and digital resources into the promotion of giving evidence, developing specialized services, and the fight for justice, no matter how long-term it may be,” Oleksandr Bohutskyy, Starlight Media CEO said.
News stories, studio interviews with guests, and text news about the importance of testifying about war crimes, instructions about where to go, what exactly war crimes are, how a person’s testimony becomes evidence in international courts, why it is important to interview witnesses not only in Ukraine, but also abroad, etc. will appear regularly on the air of TV channels STB, ICTV, ICTV2, Novyi Kanal, and their social networks and websites, as well as in the United News telethon. The representatives of the Center for Assistance in Ware Crimes Documentation, which OPORA opened in Warsaw, specialized experts of human rights organizations involved in documenting war crimes, representatives of the Office of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine, and others will be experts in these publications. The journalists of Starlight Media will prepare thematic media products, while OPORA will provide the specialized experts. Also, within the joint information campaign, a social ad video will be broadcast on TV from February to May.
Chair of Board of Civil Network OPORA Olga Aivazovska says that we must prepare ourselves that justice will not be achieved quickly. “Unpunished evil grows; therefore, the investigation of war crimes committed in Ukraine is an integral component of the comprehensive security in Europe. According to the data os surveys, 16% of citizens of Ukraine witnessed war crimes, and 51% of the surveyed think that victory and peace are impossible without justice. We believe that every victim who is now safe should be informed about what war crimes and crimes against humanity are, what legal actions can be taken and what is the role of a witness in the justice process. This informational campaign is designed to encourage the witnesses to cooperate with law enforcement officers and public organizations that facilitate documentation, and also to clearly understand that justice will not be quick, but for many, the war will end only with the punishment of criminals,” she noted.
An interview with Olga Aivazovska about the Center for Assistance in War Crimes Documentation in Warsaw is available by the link. And the day before, on February 15, David Cameron, the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth, and Development Affairs and former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, visited OPORA’s Center for Assistance in War Crimes Documentation in Warsaw.
