“The Centre’s participation in the Council of Europe Conference of NGOs ‘Call in support of the Ukrainian People’ is shared with other European and European-based international organizations, urged to follow suit!”
“Our Russian friends and colleagues must not be held responsible for the work of a tyrant. We are with them in their agony.”
Paris, 12 March 2022
The Wiesenthal Centre’s Director for International Relations, Dr Shimon Samuels, congratulated Marija Pejčinović Burić, Secretary-General of the Council of Europe – a 47-State pan-European human rights organization – for the decision to suspend Russian representation rights, following its invasion of Ukraine.
Euractiv.com quoted the Russian Federation news agency TASS claim: “Russia will not participate with these NATO and EU countries... Let them enjoy every communication with each other without Russia.”
The Centre similarly commended Mathias Cormann, Secretary-General of the Paris-based OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) for its “suspension of the participation of Russia and Belarus in OECD bodies... (and) to further strengthen support to the democratically elected Government of Ukraine, including to reinforce recovery and reconstruction.”
Samuels listed the Centre’s correspondence with other organizations to which it is affiliated:
- Roberta Metsola, President of the European Parliament, based in Strasbourg
- Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, based in Brussels
- Helga Schmid, Secretary-General of the OSCE (Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe), based in Vienna
- Audrey Azoulay, Director-General of UNESCO, based in Paris
- Michelle Bachelet, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, based in Geneva.
In this last case, many of the UN Human Rights Council voting States are close to the Russian Federation.
“Please note in attachment, the Council of Europe Conference of NGOs ‘Call in support of the Ukrainian People’ – which is also promoted by the Simon Wiesenthal Centre - Europe”...
“Our Russian friends and colleagues must not be held responsible for the work of a tyrant. We are with them in their agony,” concluded Samuels.