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Oleksandra Matviichuk | Cambridge Union

Oleksandra Matviichuk speaks in the Debating Chamber at 6:00pm on Friday 2nd February 2024. OLEKSANDRA MATVIICHUK Nobel Prize Winning Lawyer Named one of the Top 25 Most Influential Women in the World by the Financial Times, Oleksandra Matviichuk is a renowned Ukrainian human rights lawyer leading the Center for Civil Liberties in Kyiv. In 2022, Oleksandra and her team were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize - the first Ukrainian citizens ever to receive any Nobel Prize. The Center for Civil Liberties has been defending human rights since 2007. Their work has included documenting cases of unlawful imprisonment in the so-called Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics and war crimes against civilian populations perpetrated by Russian soldiers in the occupied areas of Ukraine. Ms Matviichuk will deliver a lecture on human rights at the Cambridge Union at 5:30 pm on February 2, 2024. Marking the third anniversary of the full-scale invasion and the tenth anniversary of the annexation of Crimea, Ms Matvichuk will speak on Ukraine and the defence of human rights in the 21st century. The lecture will be open to everyone and will be followed by a Q&A session.  This event was organised by Cambridge Ukrainian Studies and Centre for Geopolitics, with the support of the Cambridge Union and Cambridge University Ukrainian Society.

This House Believes In A United States of Europe | Cambridge Union

Thusday 22th February 2024 at 8:00pm in the Debating Chamber.   The vision of a United Europe has long been a dream of visionary philosophers and thinkers, from Leibniz to Lafayette. Successive empires seemed close to uniting Europe- Napoleon chief among them- before they crumbled into oblivion.   It was only after the carnage of the World Wars that such a dream could move closer to reality with the foundation of the European Coal and Steel Community in 1951, followed by the European Economic Community in 1957 and the European Union in 1993.   Now trade flows in a free single market and people and goods can move across, with some 27 member states representing some 450 million people. But is ever-closer union, and a European superstate, achievable or desirable?   ............................................................................................................................   Thumbnail Photographer: XXXXXXXXXXXXXX   ............................................................................................................................   Proposition:   PROFESSOR MARTA LORIMER   Marta Lorimer is a LSE Fellow in European Politics. Prior to joining the European Institute, she was a Postdoctoral Researcher at the University of Exeter.   Her upcoming book, Europe as Ideological Resource: European Integration and Far Right Legitimation in France and Italy, presents a novel argument that rather than providing as a liberal bulwark against the far right, European integration has helped normalise and spread these ideas.   FRANCESCA ROMANA D’ANTUONO   Francesca Romana D'Antuono is co-president of Volt Europa, the first party to be founded specifically as a pan-European party to push for European integration. The party has seats from Bulgaria to the Netherlands, Ms D'Antuono has been a particularly vocal activist for European integration and the formation of a workable European army. Outside of politics, she is an author and has been a notable critic of gender biases in the medical sector.   BRENDAN DONNELLY   Brendan Donnelly is a former MEP and founder of the Rejoin EU Party, a party that seeks to pressure for the UK to re-join the European Union. He was elected as an MEP for the Conservative Party in 1994, before quitting the party due to increasing euroscepticism within the party. Most recently he stood for election to the London Assembly and in the Chesham and Amersham by-election and continues to be a fierce advocate for Britain's participation within Europe.   JULIE WARD   Julie Ward served as a Labour MEP for NW England from 2014 to 2020. She was a member of various European Parliament's Committees including on the economy and women's rights. She was also a member of the delegation for relations with Bosnia Herzegovina and Kosovo. Prior to being elected Julie worked in the creative and cultural industries and returned to this field subsequent to Brexit.     Opposition:   DAMSITH WIMALASENA   Damsith is a second year student from Lucy Cavendish reading Land Economy. He won the right to speak through open audition.   PROFESSOR JAN ZIELONKA   Jan is a Professor at the University of Oxford and at the University of Venice, Ca Foscari. Zielonka has produced eighteen books, including Counter-revolution.   ANNE JENSDATTER   Anne is a first year student from St. Edmund’s reading History & Politics. She is vice president of the Nordic Youth Council. She won the right to speak through open audition.

Vuk Jeremic | Cambridge Union

Vuk Jeremic speaks in the Debating Chamber at 6pm on Wednesday 31st January 2024. VUK JEREMIK Serbian Former Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic is the President of the Center for International Relations and Sustainable Development (CIRSD), a global public policy think-tank, and Editor-in-Chief of the quarterly magazine Horizons - Journal of International Relations and Sustainable Development. Mr. Jeremic was directly elected by the majority of world's nations to be the President of the 67th session of the United Nations General Assembly, in the first contested vote since the end of the Cold War.  During his term in office, he played a leading role in steering the UN towards the establishment of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). As President of the General Assembly, he facilitated the adoption of the breakthrough Arms Trade Treaty, the first legally-binding instrument in UN history to establish common standards for international transfer of conventional armaments.  Mr. Jeremic initiated several high-level thematic debates in the UN on a range of critical issues. Mr. Jeremié served as Serbia's Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2007 to 2012. During his tenure, he paid official visits to over 100 countries, and addressed numerous international summits and conferences.  In 2011 and 2012, Mr. Jeremic led Serbia's successful campaign for the Chairmanship-in-Office of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) for the year 2015.

This House Would Be A Free Speech Absolutist | Cambridge Union

Thursday 15th February 2024 aat 8pm in the Debating Chamber. This week’s debate will be led by all student speakers, meaning greater opportunity to make your voice heard. It should be a really engaging and lively debate!Freedom of speech and expression, especially on campus, has not ceased to be a hot button topic this decade. The line between hate speech, incitement to violence and legitimate exercise of our democratic rights to express ourselves has been a subject of consternation and bitter protest. Some believe that campus radicals have put freedom of speech under profound crisis, choosing to prioritise the lessening of offence, and that only a full-throated embrace of free speech can save our democracy. Others argue that a buccaneering approach, termed “free speech absolutism” by Elon Must as he loosened moderation restraints on Twitter, is merely a one way track to a morass of disinformation, discrimination and dereliction of democracy. In an era where we have roved to pamphlets to millions of pieces of information on our phones, do we need to fight back against wannabe censors and embrace free speech unequivocally, or is it a carte blanche for discrimination and hate speech?

The Victims & Aftermath of Partition & Colonialism Internationally | Cambridge Union

THE VICTIMS & AFTERMATH OF PARTITION & COLONIALISM INTERNATIONALLY Partition and the impacts of colonialism have deeply affected numerous countries, often marked with conflict and political division. This panel brings together international speakers from a range of backgrounds to speak on this issue and the victims of partition and colonialism and aims to highlight the commonalities of their experiences. VIKRAM DORAISWAMI Vikram Doraiswami has been India's High Commissioner to the LK since September 2022 and was previously High Commissioner of India to Bangladesh.  He has spent over 30 years in the Indian Foreign Service, with foreign assignments in New York (at the Indian Mission to the UN), and Johannesburg in South Africa, where he was India's Consul General.  In India, he has served in the Prime Minister's Office, including as Private Secretary to the Indian Prime Minister. DE HUMERA IQBAL Dr Humera Iqbal is Associate Professor of Social and Cultural Psychology at the Thomas Coram Research Unit, University College London.  She uses arts and fim based methods in her research and is Principal Investigator of the international AHRC funded study *Partition of Identity: An exploration of Belonging in Bengalis in Pakistan, 1971-present! IAN JEFFERS Ian Jeffers has recently been appointed as the CEOof the all Ireland peace and reconciliation charity. Co-operation Ireland, which has worked across Ireland for 45 years to engage marginalised communities in peace building work. He has previously worked as Deputy Chief Executive of The Princes Trust and Commissioner for Victims and Survivors of the conflict in Northern Ireland and has worked with victims from all sides. PROFESSOR PETE SHIRLOW Professor Peter Shirlow is the Dirchor at the University of Liverpool's Institute of Irish Seudies. Me was formerly the Deputy Director of the Institute for Conflict Transformation and Social Justice at Queen's University Belfast. He is the Independent Chair of the OFMDEM Employers Guidance on Recruiting People with Conflict-Related Convictions Working Group and has undertaken conflict transformation work in Northern Ireland. CHRISTOS KARAOLIS Christopher Karaolis is President of the National Federation of Cypriots in the UK, which has 80 member organisations and represents the community to the governments of the UK and Cyprus. He is also a member of the President of Cyprus' 'Overseas Cypriots Advisory Committee