On Saturday 29 March 2025, from 9.30 a.m. to 12 noon, the 8th General Assembly was held in Bascharage (L). Here is a report on the activities and assistance provided by the association during 2024, as well as its plans for the future.
1. Opening of the meeting by the president
The president of the Ad Pacem servandam association welcomed all members present, including paying members and committee members. Secretary Renaud Cecconi was excused as he had to work at the pharmacy on Saturday and was unable to attend.
The president presented the agenda: opening of the meeting, 2024 activity report, 2024 financial report, auditor’s report and provisional budget for 2025, with a ‘Miscellaneous’ item at the end.
The president proposed himself as chair of the meeting and proposed Christian Welter as secretary. All agreed.
At the beginning of the meeting, the chair noted that over the past twelve months, the value of international justice has deteriorated. The International Court of Justice has been unable to make itself heard or to bring to justice those responsible for the ongoing wars, especially Russia’s war against Ukraine. Peace is being bargained away and justice against those responsible for these wars is not being enforced. In any case, this is not noticeable, either in the media or in reality.
The ideals of justice, peace and freedom that have prevailed since the end of the Second World War are changing. They are no longer the same and their meaning is being changed by politicians and journalists. The speeches of some political leaders are distorting the meaning of peace and justice. Economic values are taking precedence over political values and ideals of freedom, justice and peace. Guaranteeing peace is subject to other criteria that did not prevail before. The media plays an enormous role in the dissemination of news. Contradictory information is reported on the same events. The people are divided between those who believe what is true and right and those who do not. This becomes more difficult when the truth is not clear to understand. The media and social networks decide what people should or can think.
After this introduction, Vice-President Natalya Pantaleoni said a few words about the late Oleksij Savkevich. On Saturday 15 March, we received news of his death at the front. Nataly knew Oleksij when he was a political science student at the University of Donetsk in the 1990s. When the Russians occupied the city in 2015, he fled with his family to Avdiivka, where he organised a Ukrainian culture festival for young people for several years. It was to support this festival that our association invited him to Luxembourg in 2019, enabling him to bear witness to the Russian aggression. With the proceeds from a charity concert, we bought musical instruments for a group of musicians of which he was one of the leaders.
The Vice-President reminds us that every day, many young Ukrainian soldiers are dying at the front. It is in learning of the death of our friend Oleksij that we can feel the deep sorrow felt by Ukrainian families who lose one of their own at the front.
There was a minute’s silence in memory of Oleksij Savkevich.
Continue reading “Report on the 8th General Assembly of Ad Pacem 2025”