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George Casey on his mission to bring the war in Ukraine center stage in the corporate world and his experience at Salzburg Global

Global managing partner at Shearman & Sterling LLP George Casey has been very vocal about the raging war in Ukraine. His social media coverage of Russia’s invasion of the country has switched between reports of what is truly happening on the ground and appealing to business leaders and corporate institutions to support Ukraine and “be on the right side of history.” Originally Ukrainian, George wants to use his position in the corporate world to make a difference.

“When the war started, I wanted to make sure that the international business community of which I am part of is aware of what is happening, (…) that this is not some complicated regional conflict that people cannot fully understand and as a result can ignore. This is a manifestation of evil of historic proportions, the worst of the 21st century, we have not seen anything like this in the last eighty years.”

George started posting, calling for action, fundraising, doing pro bono work, helping Ukrainian refugees and relaying Ukrainian news, often not covered by global media, and historical background that the business community was often not aware of.

So what role can the corporate world play in this war?

“I think the most important thing to me is that the global community stands with Ukraine, provides moral, political and, where possible, financial and humanitarian support, and does not develop fatigue. As time passes, people tend to shift focus and move on to other things. This war is so unjust and so many atrocities continue to be committed. (…) I will actually call it for what it is. It's genocide of the Ukrainian people.

(…) When you see the actions of the Russian military on the ground, when Russia’s leaders deny the very fact that the Ukrainian nation exists, when they say that Ukraine is an artificial creation by a decree from Moscow. And you see mass murder, rape, atrocities at a level that people have not seen in the last eighty years, and then combine that with about 2 million people been forcibly deported from Ukraine into Russia, with 300,000 children deported and forcefully put into foster care. This is genocide, squarely within the definition of the UN Genocide Convention. We must stop it, and we must figure out how to remedy what has been done.”

George is a Salzburg Global Fellow who has previously participated in the Salzburg Global Corporate Governance Forum, in a program that examined responsible leadership in the corporate world. Most recently, George participated in the session Connecting and Supporting Ukrainian Civil Society in Time of War.

He is enthusiastic about the opportunity to connect with people from different parts of Ukrainian society, hearing their stories firsthand. “The level of commitment, energy, inspiration, is beyond anything I could possibly expect. (…) Salzburg Global Seminar has shown that they are really staying at the forefront of issues like this, bringing the Ukrainian community together at the time of war, and facilitating discussions to figure out how to move forward.”  He is also grateful for the invitation to present his views on how to position Ukraine to become a “magnet economy” for foreign investments after the war.

What does George hope comes out of the Salzburg Global program?

“The most important thing for me is to see that there are a lot of very good discussions and to participate in them. What will be important is that the ideas generated here are not lost, and that we find a way to implement some of these ideas and bring them to Ukraine. (…) I am convinced that Ukraine will win this war. It is about what’s after that. I think this is a unique opportunity, historic opportunity for Ukraine to get to the level of position in the global community that Ukraine did not have before, to be where it actually belongs.”

The Fellows of this session have drafted a Salzburg Statement, in which they set out the priorities and recommendations from Ukrainian civil society identified at this meeting.

To read the Salzburg Statement, click here.