Nobel Peace Prize laureate Oleksandra Matviichuk to speak at SSE
The Stockholm Institute of Transition Economics, together with the Embassy of Ukraine in Sweden, will host Ukrainian human rights lawyer Oleksandra Matviichuk for a special lecture at the Stockholm School of Economics on September 18. She will discuss human rights, international crimes, and accountability in Ukraine.
Matviichuk heads the Center for Civil Liberties, the Ukrainian human rights organization awarded the 2022 Nobel Peace Prize. During her upcoming visit to Stockholm, she will join the Stockholm Institute of Transition Economics (SITE) at the Stockholm School of Economics (SSE) for the lecture Defending Human Rights in Times of War.
The event will take place on Friday, September 18, from 14:00-15:00. Attendance is free, but registration is required. Venue details will be shared with confirmed attendees.
Defending human rights and documenting international crimes
Matviichuk is a human rights lawyer and Head of the Center for Civil Liberties, an organization working to defend freedom, human dignity, and human rights in Ukraine and throughout the OSCE region.
For many years, she has worked to mobilize citizens in defense of fundamental rights and freedoms and has extensive experience documenting human rights violations during armed conflict. She has authored reports submitted to institutions including the United Nations, the Council of Europe, the European Union, the OSCE, and the International Criminal Court.
Following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Matviichuk and partner organizations established the Tribunal for Putin initiative to document international crimes under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court across all regions of Ukraine, including territories under Russian occupation.
Her work has received extensive international recognition. She received the OSCE Democracy Defender Award in 2016 and became the first woman to participate in Stanford University’s Ukrainian Emerging Leaders Program in 2017. In 2022, she received the Right Livelihood Award and the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought, while the Center for Civil Liberties was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. That same year, the Financial Times named her among its most influential women of the year.
More recently, Matviichuk received the Dutch Auschwitz Award in 2025 and, in 2026, was recognized as an Honourable Member of the European Order of Merit for her contribution to European integration and the protection of European values.
The lecture will be chaired by Jesper Roine, Deputy Director at the Stockholm Institute of Transition Economics and Adjunct Professor at the Stockholm School of Economics.
Registration
Attendance is free, but registration is required. Please complete your registration to attend the event in-person or online.
Venue details will be shared exclusively with confirmed attendees.
For questions, contact site@hhs.se.
