Ukraine on 24 February 2022: a failure of diplomacy
The European Masonic Alliance notes with concern the invasion of a member state of the Council of Europe by the armed forces of another member state of the same Council.
The aggression committed against a population and its democratically elected government constitutes, in addition to a clear violation of international law, an unacceptable return to practices which the citizens of Europe thought, since the end of the Second World War, would never again be seen on our territories. It is democracy in all its values that is under attack. It is the negation and destruction of more than sixty years of effort and peace.
Whatever the historical, political or strategic reasons that have led to such a crisis situation, the use of arms to settle a conflict is a clear failure of the permanent dialogue, which is indispensable and in good faith, between the elected leaders of these belligerents.
Only such dialogue between the parties can bring a lasting solution to the conflict that is acceptable to the citizens of both countries. Armed violence can only bring misery and suffering to both sides.
The adogmatic Freemasons who are members of the European Masonic Alliance cannot, in good conscience, remain indifferent and powerless spectators in face of what constitutes an aggression, a transgression of everyone's right to live, free and in peace, as enshrined in the European Convention on Human Rights.
We call on all the members of our associations to mobilise to support the steps taken by the official bodies to obtain an immediate ceasefire of these hostilities, the withdrawal of the Russian armed forces from Ukraine, and the return of the parties to the negotiating table. Each and every one of us must do our duty as citizens to our elected representatives, to show our opposition to the primacy of force over law.
We also call on them to mobilise in order to provide the civilian populations taken hostage in this conflict with all the aid and assistance indispensable for the respect of human rights, which we consider to be the basis of the intangible humanist values of freedom, equality and solidarity to be placed at the forefront of the objectives of European construction.
Brussels, 27 February 2022
The President of the E.M.A.
- Charpentier