Weekly Action - 19 June 2023 - Ukraine Recovery Conference
Ukraine Recovery Conference
This week the UK hosts the Ukraine Recovery Conference on Wednesday 21 – Thursday 22 June. The conference brings together members of the international community, international financial institutions, the private sector and civil society to commit resources, not for arms, but to help Ukraine rebuild its shattered nation, even while the conflict continues. After sixteen months of brutality and misery, the UN estimates that almost 9,000 civilians have been killed, and over 15,000 injured.[1] Some 5.9 million Ukrainians have fled as refugees across Europe, and another 5.4 million are internally displaced within the country.[2] Amongst the combatants, estimates suggest around 354,000 Russian and Ukrainian soldiers have been killed.[3] Over 15% of the country has been occupied.[4] All numbers are of course hard to verify, and the real numbers are likely to be considerably higher.
Behind all of these figures is a real human story, like that of 57-year-old Tatiana from Mariupol, reported by Human Rights Watch earlier this year. Tatiana and her adult daughter were trapped in the besieged city for more than a month before they managed to get out. One morning a shell exploded right outside their apartment building shaking it, trapping people in their rooms, shattering all the windows and setting fire to the building. Many of their neighbours trapped by the flames were forced to jump from their windows. Tatiana’s arm was broken. For over a week they lived in the basement with 50 others including children and old people in freezing conditions. “There is not a single family in Mariupol who didn’t bury someone, or doesn’t know someone who did” Tatiana says.[5] Earlier this month Ukraine launched its long heralded counteroffensive. But an end to the fighting still seems a long way off.
Ending the conflict
Whilst the support generated this week to help Ukraine rebuild at the Ukraine Recovery Conference will be crucial, ultimately there can be no peace through military means, and Russia and Ukraine must find a negotiated peace in order to live together, without compromising democratic freedoms, or rewarding naked aggression. Therefore, every effort should be made by the international community to keep talking to both sides and seeking to find that solution.
Longer-term the world desperately needs to see Russia transition away from the brutal dictatorship it has undoubtedly become, and back into a peaceful democratic nation, with a rich, noble and proud tradition, resuming its full place as part of the international community. Such a change cannot be forced from the outside. It is an internal peaceful bottom-up reform movement of brave independent Russian journalists, students, opposition politicians and ultimately the ordinary Russian people demanding change which provides the most likely route to success. This is the only route that has ever truly and sustainably worked for growing democracy, freedom and human rights around the world, as a major research report from Arise shows (Arise Manifesto, pg 86 – 88, 108 – 119). This is a tradition that goes right back to Biblical times when prophets like Isaiah challenged the rulers of their day, “stop doing wrong. Learn to do right; seek justice. Defend the oppressed. Take up the cause of the fatherless; plead the case of the widow.” (Isa 1: 16 – 17). Of course in Russia today, such a movement requires enormous courage, wisdom, skill and perseverance from its members. However, the actions of the current Russian regime are far from universally supported, and do not represent the true heart of the Russian people. In particular Christians and churches should play a key role at the core of such a movement, as they have in so many movements against other regimes in countries all over the world. Supporting such bottom-up Reform Movements (and the Christians that are so often at the heart of them) is one of three key focus campaigns for Arise.
This week will you take action as part of Arise’s Reform Movements campaign, to strengthen the brave dissenting voices of democracy and human rights activists in Russia?
Take Action
Speak out in advocacy
Contact your MP via social media. Send them the link to this weekly action, and in your own words ask them to:
1. Urge the government to generously support Ukraine to rebuild at the Ukraine Recovery Conference.
2. Keep encouraging both sides to reach a just negotiated peace that protects democracy and does not reward unwarranted aggression.
3. Urge the government to scale up support for pro-democracy and human rights activists when they speak out in Russia, in the ways that those reformers want. This might involve spotlighting and publicly condemning specific incidents, diplomatic pressure, further sanctions, seizing illicit Russian regime assets and using them to support reformers, further travel bans for any with regime links, offering asylum for activists who have had to flee, or multiple other actions.
You can find your MP’s social media details here
Pray
Pray for an end to the conflict in Ukraine. Pray for all those who have been injured or have lost loved ones, that God will provide for them and meet them in their grief. Pray for protection and peace for those trying to work for human rights, greater freedom, democracy and change in Russia. Pray for the Christians amongst them who are playing their part. Pray for change and reform, for a government that is truly democratic and respects all human rights.
Give
Give to Christian organisations like International Justice Mission, and to secular groups like Freedom House, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, who are doing crucial work supporting those who are struggling for democracy and human rights in countries like Russia.
Practical Action
Reach out to friends and neighbours in your community with Ukrainian or Russian roots. Show God’s love to them. How have they and their families been affected? How can you and your church support them?
Ethical Consumption
Speed Europe’s shift out of Russian oil to a 100% clean energy economy by switching you electricity provider to a renewable energy company like Ecotricity or Good Energy that is better for the environment, and also places greater economic pressure on Russia to end the war.
Encourage us and others by letting us know what actions you have taken – message us at info@ariseuk.org, or via Twitter, Instagram or Facebook.
Find out more
It’s great to take this action as individual Christians, but even better to come together with others to pray, discuss, worship, learn, have fun and take action together. Contact Arise if you are interested in joining or starting a local Arise group in your church or area. If you are already in an Arise group, take this action to your wider church, and get them all to do it too.
Find out more in the Arise Manifesto, Arise’s big picture, researched, Biblical, holistic and practical vision for a better world. It looks at what the Bible says, and what we can learn from the best data and the world’s leading experts on the five major areas of evangelism, discipleship, social justice, development and the environment. It then draws these lessons together into a practical road map for the changes we need to see in our world, which the Arise movement campaigns to achieve.
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[1] Number of civilian casualties in Ukraine during Russia’s invasion verified by OHCR from February 24, 2022 to June 4, 2023, Statista, (6 Jun 2023), https://www.statista.com/statistics/1293492/ukraine-war-casualties/
[2] Ukraine Data Explorer, UN OCHA, (19 Jun 2023), https://data.humdata.org/visualization/ukraine-humanitarian-operations/
[3] Ukraine war, already with up to 354,000 casualties, likely to last past 2023 – US documents, Reuters, (12 Apr 2023), https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/ukraine-war-already-with-up-354000-casualties-likely-drag-us-documents-2023-04-12/
[4] Nine months of war in Ukraine in one map, Le Monde, (28 Nov 2022), https://www.lemonde.fr/en/les-decodeurs/article/2022/11/25/nine-months-of-war-in-ukraine-in-one-map-how-much-territory-did-russia-invade-and-then-cede_6005655_8.html
[5] ‘I lost everything’: Russian’s War on Ukraine’s Civilians, Human Rights Watch, (23 Feb 2023), https://www.hrw.org/news/2023/02/23/i-lost-everything-russias-war-ukraines-civilians