Message about Ukraine from the Dean of the Faculty of Laws

Once again the scourges of war, destruction, huge harms to life, and displacement descend onto the European continent. This is clearly a war that few of the people involved want, and it is a war that patently violates basic international norms of non-aggression. As the Laws community we want to express our solidarity with the people of Ukraine, and with all others who are affected by this indefensible bloodshed.

We do not want to be thrown back to our worst pasts, in which Ukraine has way too often been a battleground for fatally flawed wars of aggression. Our own Philippe Sands has written so eloquently and with great erudition about past suffering in Ukraine, and the role Lviv played in the effort to eradicate genocide and crimes against humanity (East-West Street). Unfortunately, that effort needs to be continued, even redoubled. But it is also clear that today’s Europeans, looking at their neighbours in Ukraine, simply no longer accept, to the point of being incredulous about what is happening, that war can be the answer to anything. Notwithstanding our political differences, we are all agreed that nations should be able to organise themselves as they see fit; that their territories and people should be secure; and that the rule of law and the protection of fundamental rights are non-negotiable.  As lawyers we realise, perhaps more than others, how important those principles are. That is why we need to speak out as a Faculty, in this awful case.

We have members of our community on all sides. This act of aggression is attributable to a political regime that has lost all sense of perspective, and not to the Russian people. Now, more than ever, we must all treat each other with the greatest of respect, and cannot judge anyone on the grounds of their nationality. That is what we fundamentally stand for, and it’s the whole point of our condemnation of this aggression.

Let’s all stand together in the face of this crisis.
 
With best wishes,
 
Prof Piet Eeckhout
Dean of UCL Faculty of Laws

Image: Photo by Sylwia Bartyzel on Unsplash 

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