Ukraine opens new headquarters for Permanent Mission in Geneva (02/02/97)

Ukraine opens new headquarters for Permanent Mission in Geneva

by Tamara Tarnawska
Special to The Ukrainian Weekly

GENEVA - Ukraine has consolidated its independent diplomatic presence in one of the world's leading political and economic centers. And it has acquired a splendid building to house its Permanent Mission to the United Nations Office and other international organizations in Geneva.

The large and elegant new building was formally opened on January 23 by Ukraine's Foreign Affairs Minister Hennadii Udovenko at a ceremony attended by U.N. Under-Secretary General and Director-General of the U.N.'s European Branch Vladimir Petrovsky, and invited diplomats and journalists.

Until now, Ukraine's Permanent Mission in Geneva had been crammed together with its Belarusian counterpart in a wing of the huge former Soviet diplomatic complex, which has been taken over by the Russian Federation. As one journalist quipped at the reception, by moving out it into their own building, the Ukrainians were demonstrating that even in Geneva they have had to "secede" in order to defend their independence.

Minister Udovenko said the acquisition of the building reflects the importance the Ukrainian leadership attaches to Geneva as the United Nations European headquarters and one of the world's most influential political centers. He noted that over 2,000 international conferences are held each year in the city to address global and regional issues. Geneva is also the seat of 70 percent of the U.N.'s organizations responsible for such crucial spheres as disarmament, human rights, humanitarian cooperation, world trade, health and economic development.

Ukraine's acquisition of its own diplomatic base in Geneva, Minister Udovenko added, also demonstrates that Ukraine wants to assume an appropriate position and role for itself in European and international affairs. Geneva also has a special historical significance, he explained, because the Permanent Mission of Ukraine in this city "is one of our country's oldest external diplomatic institutions."

Of course, Ukrainian connections with Geneva reach much farther back than the Soviet period. The city has also been a famed haven for refugees and exiles, including the 19th century Ukrainian political thinker and activist Mykhailo Drahomanov. He spent 13 years here, establishing a printing press and acting as Ukraine's voice in the free world. Last year, the Ukrainian Permanent Mission was able to arrange for a commemorative plaque to be unveiled on the site where Drahomanov lived and ran his prototype Ukrainian embassy.

After the failure to achieve independence in 1917-1920, various Ukrainian leaders and representatives came to Geneva attempting to defend the Ukrainian cause before the League of Nations, which had its headquarters here. Indeed, the government-in-exile of the Ukrainian National Republic was represented here during the inter-war years by Oleksander Shulhin. The archives of the League of Nations housed in the U.N.'s Palais des Nations in Geneva still hold the countless petitions and appeals from Ukrainian organizations and exiles.

Since Ukraine achieved independence, Geneva has also been important in the cultivation of Swiss-Ukrainian relations. Ukraine already has its own fine Embassy building in the Swiss capital, Berne, where the former Ukrainian representative in Geneva, Ambassador Oleksander Slipchenko, is responsible for developing Swiss-Ukrainian ties. While in Geneva, he played an active role in the search and acquisition of a suitable building. Ambassador Slipchenko was present at the inaugural ceremony.

Ambassador Slipchenko's recent replacement in Geneva is Mykola Maimeskoul, who is just as comfortable as his predecessor in speaking French as he is English. He heads a team of 14 that is stretched to deal with the busy daily schedule of diplomatic life in Geneva.

Swiss-Ukrainian relations have been flourishing, and last March President Leonid Kuchma made a successful official visit to Switzerland. He is expected here again at the end of this week. After an official visit to France, he is due to lead a large Ukrainian delegation to the annual economic forum in the Swiss Alpine resort of Davos.

And perhaps it is no surprise that here, too, there is a connection with Geneva. Bohdan Hawrylyshyn, the management guru who was instrumental in getting Ukrainian presidents to Davos, is one of the relatively few longstanding Ukrainian residents of Geneva. The other veteran Ukrainian "permanent representatives" in this city are the Nyzhankiwsky family, which has been especially active in the cultural sphere, with Zoya Nyzhankiwska also representing Ukraine in women's organizations.

As Permanent Representative Maimeskoul put it, after all these years, Ukrainians in Geneva finally have, not only a diplomatic building they can be proud of, but a place that can serve as a Ukrainian home. Certainly, the new Mission building is a fitting monument to the many unofficial Ukrainian emissaries who endeavored to represent their country in this famous European city in less auspicious times.

Tamara Tarnawska is a Ukrainian journalist accredited at the United Nations Office in Geneva.

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