Ukraine's U.N. Mission celebrates 40th anniversary
by Irene Jarosewich
NEW YORK - The Permanent Mission of Ukraine to the United Nations commemorated its 40th anniversary on March 27 at an afternoon reception at the Mission for 150 guests, including U.N. diplomats, representatives of the U.N. Secretariat, U.S. businesspeople and representatives of Ukrainian American organizations. Although Ukraine was one of the 51 original member-nations to the United Nations and a signatory on the United Nations Charter at its founding conference in San Francisco in 1945, the government of Ukraine did not establish its Permanent Mission at the U.N. headquarters until March 24, 1958.
At a press conference held on March 13, Ukraine's 10th ambassador to the U.N., Volodymyr Yelchenko noted Ukraine's consistent participation in U.N. activities, beginning with the efforts of Ukraine's first delegation, headed by Dmytro Manuilsky, towards drafting the U.N. Charter, to the present day, when Ukraine's Minister of Foreign Affairs Hennadii Udovenko holds the top post at the U.N. General Assembly.
Ambassador Yelchenko explained that a key priority of the Mission at present is to ensure Ukraine's election to one of the non-permanent (rotating) seats on the U.N. Security Council for the years 2000-2001. Twice before, in 1948-1949 and 1984-1985, Ukraine served as a non-permanent member of the Security Council. According to Ambassador Yelchenko, Ukraine is considered by most member-states to be an excellent candidate for the seat, offering Ukraine's consistent payment of U.N. dues, participation in U.N. missions and U.N. specialized bodies, and Ukraine's status as one of the very few countries in the world that can claim peaceful relations with all its neighbors - Russia, Belarus, Poland, the Czech Republic, Moldova and Romania - as reasons for positive consideration. The decision will be made in autumn 1999. Slovakia also is a contender for the seat.
During its 52 years as a member-state of the U.N., Ukraine has belonged to many key U.N. committees and currently has membership in nearly 100 U.N. bodies, specialized agencies and committees. Since proclaiming its independence in 1991, Ukraine consistently has been among the top countries to participate in U.N. peacekeeping missions around the globe, sending 10,000 Ukrainian soldiers to participate in nine out of 17 U.N. missions. Last year Ukraine's U.N. contribution totaled more than $28 million, making Ukraine the 12th largest contributor to the this organization.
Mr. Yelchenko noted that while Ukraine was not well known in the world prior to 1991, its U.N. presence, nonetheless, made Ukraine a familiar entity to world diplomats, in particular to those from the countries with whom Ukraine served on two key U.N. committees: the Special Committee Against Apartheid and the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People.
Ambassador Yelchenko, who is 38 years old, noted that he is considered to be a veteran of the Ukrainian diplomatic corps. Offering perspective on the changes in Ukraine's diplomatic service since 1991, he said that at the time of independence there were approximately 250 people working for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, some of whom left the service shortly after the break-up of the USSR. Since then many more have retired and some have passed away. Presently there are no more than 50 diplomats that remember "stari chasy" (the old days) prior to 1991, Ambassador Yelchenko among them.
In turn, the pressure to expand the foreign service was intense. Now approximately 1,600 people are in the service of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 600 of those in Kyiv and 1,000 abroad. He said that Ukrainian diplomats consider five year's service since 1991 to be equal to at least a decade of experience under more normal circumstances since the level of responsibility for each diplomat was heightened. He also commented that though Ukraine was not completely without diplomatic experience at the time of independence, there was no independent base of bilateral relations and contacts; now Ukraine has 70 embassies abroad and there are 80 foreign embassies in Kyiv.
Noting other changes since independence, Ambassador Yelchenko commented that unlike Soviet times during which Ukraine and Belarus (the only Soviet republics with representatives at the U.N.) followed the lead of Russia in voting, nowadays, most of the former republics, who have had representatives at the U.N. for only a few years, orient themselves on Ukraine's positions and follow Ukraine's lead during votes - yet another indicator, according to Ambassador Yelchenko, of Ukraine's important regional role.
Responding to questions about the apparent discrepancy between Ukraine's praiseworthy foreign policy and dismal internal policy, Ambassador Yelchenko speculated that whereas there was basic and almost immediate unity among all parties and leaders on the tactics and strategy to pursue regarding Ukraine's foreign policy after the break-up of the Soviet Union, there was no such consensus regarding domestic policy. Furthermore, in terms of human resources, there were very few foreign policy experts and professionals in Ukraine, therefore much less vested interest, whereas this was not the case in domestic politics.
| 1. Udovychenko, Petro Platonovych | (1958-1961) |
| 2. Kyzia, Luka Yehorovych | (1961-1964) |
| 3. Shevchenko, Serhii Tymofiiovych | (1964-1968) |
| 4. Polianychko, Mykhailo Deonysovych | (1968-1973) |
| 5. Martynenko, Volodymyr Nykyforovych | (1973-1979) |
| 6. Kravets, Volodymyr Oleksiiovych | (1979-1984) |
| 7. Udovenko, Hennadii Yosypovych | (1985-1992) |
| 8. Batiuk, Viktor Havrylovych | (1992-1994) |
| 9. Zlenko, Anatolii Maksymovych | (1994-1997) |
| 10. Yelchenko, Volodymyr Yuriiovych | (October 1997-) |
Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, April 5, 1998, No. 14, Vol. LXVI
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