The brutal Ukrainian war rolls on, the tragic and needless loss of life continues. Don’t be fooled. The yells and cries of “Slava Ukraini!” from the noble social media mob have ended, the protestors moved on to their latest outrage, and whilst those tiny blue and yellow flag emoji’s have vanished; the death, war crimes, and conscription of men in Ukraine keeps going. An invasion not only of Ukraine, but an invasion of men’s human rights too. Millions of men, in both Ukraine and Russia, are still having their basic human rights taken away; and replaced with a gun and a handful of ammo, and told to wage war against other such men, and to fight for their family’s safety. The options for these men are bleak. You either go to war, and face death at the hands of the Russians, or try to flee, and face death at the hands of Ukranian border guards. That’s it. For adult men, there is no other choice; for their human rights have still not been returned, and none of the human rights organisations seem that interested in such a cause either. So silence for men and boys reins supreme. And the situation won’t change anytime soon. In fact, it has been announced that Ukraine will likely keep the ban on men leaving in place, for at least three years after the war is over. For even after victory, with 7 million Ukrainians having fled, the country simply would not survive if the men followed suit. So the men stay. Rebuilding and reorganising, bringing a state of stability sand safety to a country that bravely teeters on the edge of collapse. The backbone of the country hangs on, reminding us all that men are not useless to society, but every bit as essential as women. But what is the cost of such a war, and is the invasion of men’s fundamental human rights a price worth paying for victory? ~ Images by Felipe Dana, Joe Raedle, Fadel Senna, and Dmytro Kozatsky #ukraine #slavaukraini #ukrainewar #kyiv #ukrainetoday

2023-08-12