Hosted by Kosha Joubert. Produced by J’aime Rothbard.

What role does empathy play in powering the fight for justice? And why is prosecuting war crimes an essential step towards collective healing? 

In this powerful episode, which was first aired last March as part of the Pocket Project World Women Summit 2025, human rights defender Oleksandra Matviichuk provides a deeply personal account of how empathy fuels her struggle to secure accountability for atrocities committed during the invasion of Ukraine.

The head of the Center for Civil Liberties, which was awarded a Nobel Peace Prize in 2022, Matviichuk reflects on the necessity of everybody embracing the fight to preserve civil liberties — particularly in countries where people may be tempted to take democracy for granted.

Matviichuk also shares inspiring an accounts of her organisation’s work to gather the evidence required to one day hold perpetrators of war crimes to account — an essential step towards supporting Ukraine to heal.

“I think that one of the main questions nowadays is the following: How do we — people who live in the twenty-first century — defend human beings, their lives, their freedom, and their human dignity?” Matviichuk tells co-host Kosha Joubert. 

“Can we rely on the law? Or does just brute force matter? The answer to this question will define the future, not just of people in Ukraine, in Iran, in Sudan, in Nicaragua or Venezuela,” Matviichuk says. “The answer to this question will define our common future.”

This inspiring episode reveals the depth of the courage and commitment Matviichuk and fellow human rights defenders are bringing to the struggle to protect freedom and dignity — and shows how we each have a role to play in stemming the rising authoritarian tide. 

World Women Summit 2026: Registration is Open

Pocket Project World Women Summit 2026

Resilience Ukraine Trauma Relief Project 

Further Resources:  

Oleksandra Matviichuk’s TED Talk: The Ordinary People Doing Extraordinary Things in Ukraine

Center for Civil Liberties

About Oleksandra Matviichuk: 

Oleksandra Matviichuk, a lawyer and human rights activist, leads the 

Center for Civil Liberties in Ukraine. The centre has recorded war crimes by Russian troops since the invasion in 2022, from the shelling of schools and maternity hospitals to torture and executions. Her organisation received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2022. 

Matviichuk believes that “the mass mobilization of ordinary people in different countries can change world history” and embodies this principle by coordinating civic initiatives such as Euromaidan SOS, which unites thousands of volunteers to provide aid in response to political injustice and crimes against humanity.

Since October 2022, Matviichuk has been vice-president of the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH). In 2017, she became the first woman to participate in the Ukrainian Emerging Leaders Program at Stanford University and in 2022 was recognised as one of the world’s 25 most influential women by the Financial Times.