The Berkley Center condemns the criminal Russian invasion of Ukraine in the strongest terms. The unprovoked attack is an illicit assault on national sovereignty, human rights, and human dignity. It is an act of aggression against the UN Charter and the international legal order made all the more egregious by Russia's chairmanship of the Security Council and willingness to countenance nuclear threats. Every day that the war continues we express our fullest solidarity with the people of Ukraine, who are heroically fighting for their freedom and independence.
Following Pope Francis, the Berkley Center supports a culture of encounter as the most appropriate and legitimate means of addressing international conflicts and common global challenges. War is always a negation of encounter and of dialogue, but this war in particular is rooted in the failure to recognize the right of the other to its own name, its own identity, its own history, and its right to determine its own future in peaceful interaction with its neighbors.
As a center committed to scholarship and action at the intersection of religion, peace, and world affairs, the Berkley Center will continue to sponsor events and programs related to the war and will work with partners inside and outside Ukraine to strengthen academic cooperation during the conflict and once national reconstruction begins.
