During the period between 19 to 23 June 2022, the Nobel Peace Prize-winning human rights activist Tawakkol Karman paid a visit to Poland and Ukraine as an expression of solidarity with the Ukrainians and to get a close look at the situation of Ukrainian refugees.

In a statement shared on her official Facebook page just prior to her visit, Tawakkol Karman sent a message to the Ukrainians, saying: “Dear Ukrainians, your struggle is ours.”

During the journey arranged by the "Nobel Women's Initiative" and shared by her colleagues Liberian Lima Gbowe and American Judy Williams, Tawakkol Karman met the mayor of Lviv, a very important city regarding refugees and displaced persons and their border crossing, and listened to refugees and displaced persons about their sufferings caused by Russia’s brutal war on Ukraine.

On June 20, Mrs. Karman and her companions arrived at a center run by the Jewish Community Centre of Krakow (JCC Krakow), and co-celebrated the World Refugee Day that marked June 20.

After that, on June 21-22, she left for Rzeszow and Przemysl before paying a one-day visit to Lviv where she got a close look at the situation of the displaced and refugees.

On her way back to home, on June 23, she stopped once again in Rzeszow to pay a visit to a temporary refugee home.

In a speech to Ukrainian refugees in Poland, Tawakkol Karman said that Putin turned Ukraine from a basket of global food into a disaster area whose cities have been destroyed, its population displaced, its services disrupted, and its territory occupied.

She also pointed out that the adventures by some regimes and governments have certainly contributed to the expansion of conflicts, wars and chaos.

In addition, she indicated that it is a wrong choice to resort to the war as an alternative to politics and negotiation, stressing that such a thing should be rejected by everyone and that it’s important to discard leaders and governments who see wars as legitimate ways to expand and obtain political and economic benefits.