Spotlighting Atrocity: External Support for the Ukrainian Helsinki Group and Union, 1976-1991

• In Event: Accountability and Justice for Atrocities in Ukraine: Lessons from the Past and Present

Abstract

This paper analyzes the establishment of the Ukrainian Helsinki Group (UHG) and the Ukrainian Helsinki Union (UHU) in response to the signing of the Helsinki Accords by the Soviet Union and how Ukrainians abroad supported the UHG and UHU. By analyzing UHG/UHU document reprintings in the United States, such as The Human Rights Movement in Ukraine: Documents of the Ukrainian Helsinki Group, 1976-1980, published by Smoloskyp, and the book Founding Documents of the Ukrainian Helsinki Union, published by the External Representation of the Ukrainian Helsinki Union, and memoirs by activists abroad such as Christina Isajiw's Negotiating Human Rights: In Defence of Dissidents during the Soviet Era, this research explores how Ukrainians in the homeland and abroad documented and called attention to human rights violations in Soviet Ukraine from 1976-1991. The solidarity between the homeland and those abroad demonstrates how grassroots organizations supported each other by documenting human rights violations and calling for international support, illustrating how diaspora networks can aid transnational justice.

Author

• Katerina Szylo, U of Oxford (UK)