COMMENTARY: 20th anniversary of the Ukrainian Helsinki Group (01/05/97)

COMMENTARY: 20th anniversary of the Ukrainian Helsinki Group

by Bozhena Olshaniwsky

Twenty years ago, on November 9, 1976, the Ukrainian Public Group to Promote the Implementation of the Helsinki Accords (also known as the Ukrainian Helsinki Group) was founded in Kyiv. The group's purpose was to monitor the Soviet government's adherence to the Helsinki Accords in Soviet Ukraine.

From 10 founding members - Mykola Rudenko (chairman), Oleksa Tykhy, Oksana Meshko, Nina Strokata Karavanska, Petro Grigorenko, Oles Berdnyk, Mykola Matusevych, Myroslav Marynovych, Levko Lukianenko and Ivan Kandyba - the group ultimately expanded to more than 40, including external members and representatives. All of the members but one were either imprisoned, sent to labor camps, deported or exiled. Three members - Oleksa Tykhy, Yuriy Lytvyn and Vasyl Stus - died in prison due to harsh treatment.

The Helsinki Accords were signed in 1975 by 33 European nations plus the United Sates and Canada. Being one of the signatories, the Soviet Union agreed to the conditions of the accords, including the third basket, where rights and freedoms were guaranteed.

The signing of the Helsinki Accords, the establishment of the Ukrainian Helsinki Group (UHG) and its activities had a major impact on the international perception of human and national rights, since, for the first time, Soviet violations against its own citizens were exposed.

The establishment of UHG prompted the formation of Americans for Human Rights in Ukraine (AHRU) in 1980. Based in New Jersey, AHRU worked with 19 other branches to disseminate information about the status of human rights compliance in Ukraine to the U.S. government, concerned individuals and organizations.

In 1982 AHRU was instrumental in initiating concurrent resolutions (H.Con.Res. 205) in both houses of the 97th Congress and a presidential proclamation issued by President Ronald Reagan that designated November 9, 1982, as a day honoring the Ukrainian Helsinki Group on the sixth anniversary of its founding.

The proclamation noted:

"The spontaneous formation on November 9, 1976, in Kyiv, Ukraine, of the Ukrainian Public Group to Promote the Implementation of the Helsinki Accords affirmed once more that the human spirit cannot be crushed and that the desire for human freedom cannot be conquered."

In 1986, the 10th anniversary of the UHG was a milestone in the struggle of human rights in the Soviet Union. AHRU again was instrumental in initiating a concurrent resolution on November 9, 1986, in the U.S. Congress (S.Con.Res. 154; H.Con.Res. 332).

The resolution stated:

"The Ukrainian Helsinki Monitoring Group opened a new phase in the Ukrainian struggle for human and national rights, providing impetus for human rights activists to demand not only that the Soviet government uphold the human rights guarantees by the Soviet Constitution, the Helsinki Final Act, and other international human rights declarations and covenants, but also to assert that the Western democracies have a solemn responsibility to support the struggle for achievement of human rights of Ukrainians and other peoples living under Soviet domination.

"The Soviet Union continues to violate the human rights provisions of the Helsinki Final Act and other international human rights declarations and covenants by denying to the citizens of Ukraine and other Soviet republics rights of national identity and basic human rights through intensified Russification, ethnocide, repression and imprisonment of the citizens of Ukraine and other Soviet republics who lawfully engage in calling the Soviet government to account for violations of human, national and religious rights, as well as the rights of family reunification and emigration.

"The blatant disregard by the Soviet Union of the humanitarian provisions of the Helsinki Final Act and other international human rights declarations and covenants, in particular its persecution of the members of Ukrainian and other public Helsinki monitoring groups, contribute to tensions between East and West and give rise to doubts about Soviet commitments to their international obligations."

The resolution also noted the untimely deaths of Messrs. Tykhy, Lytvyn and Stus of the UHG and Eduard Arutunyan of the Armenian group after years of inhuman treatment in Soviet labor camps.

The resolution stated that the president and his administration should use every "appropriate opportunity" to discuss human rights violations in the USSR with their Soviet counterparts.

In the 1980s AHRU's activities revolved mostly around the defense of the abused and imprisoned members of the Ukrainian Helsinki Group. It was neither practical nor feasible to defend all members individually; therefore, AHRU chose the most prominent, the sickest, the most abused or the most publicized, and then built defense actions around them.

One of the most memorable international forums for this activity was provided by the Vienna Review Meeting of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe, which opened on November 4, 1986. Several members of AHRU went to Vienna and vigorously lobbied the 35 participating delegations on behalf of the imprisoned UHG members. For several days, AHRU members stood outside of the entrance to the palace where the conferees were meeting, holding up a huge sign with a statement: "10th anniversary of the Ukrainian Helsinki Group."

Throughout the 1980s AHRU worked closely with the U.S. Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe. Established in 1976, the Helsinki Commission (as it is known) is still very active today. It became one of the most important agencies in the U.S. to promote the defense of human rights on the world stage.

Of all the political prisoners defended by AHRU, the case of Oksana Meshko was the most poignant. Here was a wizened grandmother, speaking out publicly for her incarcerated son, on the brink of collapse from malnutrition and disease, being brutally persecuted in an icy, desolate region by the mighty Soviet empire. The case graphically depicted the ugliness and dehumanizing brutality of the Soviet system.

Another assertive figure was Mykola Rudenko. He was a war veteran who fought in the Soviet army and was wounded in action. His spinal wound caused a crater-like scar in his back that never fully healed and caused constant pain. He could not be without medication. However, the needed medication was not given to him in prison.

Then there was Oleksa Tykhy, quietly dying from stomach ulcers and complications, who was confined in a prisoner hospital without access to medical care, medication or proper diet.

In addition to the aforementioned 10 founding members, the other members of the Ukrainian Helsinki Group were: Vyacheslav Chornovil, Olha Hewyko, Mykola Horbal, Mykhailo Horyn, Vitaliy Kalynychenko, Sviatoslav Karavansky, Zinoviy Krasivsky, Yaroslav Lesiv, Yuriy Lytvyn, Volodymyr Malynkovych, Valeriy Marchenko, Mykhailo Melnyk, Vasyl Ovsienko, Leonid Plyusch, Oskana Popovych, Bohdan Rebryk, Vasyl Romaniuk, Petro Rozumny, Iryna Senyk, Stefania Shabatura, Yuriy Shukhevych, Danylo Shumuk, Petro Sichko, Vasyl Sichko, Ivan Sokulsky, Vasyl Stiltskiv, Vasyl Stus, Nadia Svitlychna, Petro Vins and Yosyf Zisels.

Despite to unbearable suffering and reprisals, the Ukrainian Helsinki Group held fast. It continued to be strong in spirit in prisons and places of exile. Ukrainian Helsinki Group members were the first ones to stand up to the brutal Goliath. For this they paid dearly.

Their sacrifice is not forgotten. Their actions precipitated the beginning of the end of the Soviet empire. We will be eternally grateful to these brave men and women, and they will always be in our hearts.

Bozhena Olshaniwsky is president of Americans for Human Rights in Ukraine.

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