First lady calls on Americans to support continued U.S. aid to new democracies (02/22/98)

First lady calls on Americans to support continued U.S. aid to new democracies

by Yaro Bihun
Special to The Ukrainian Weekly

WASHINGTON - First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton called on Americans to support continued U.S. assistance to Ukraine and the other new democracies that sprang up on the ashes of the old Soviet empire.

She made her appeal on February 17, during a briefing and slide show about her trip in November 1997 to Kazakstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Russia and Ukraine.

Joining her in addressing the capacity audience of approximately 800 at the Dean Acheson Auditorium at the State Department were Secretary of State Madeleine Albright; the administration's special advisor on aid to that region, Richard Morningstar; and the administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development, J. Brian Atwood. The audience included 11 foreign ambassadors and foreign embassy staff; U.S. government policy-makers and administrators of NIS initiatives; congressional staff; heads of foundations; and representatives of the Ukrainian American and other ethnic American communities.

"We need to remind ourselves that only six years ago, the countries I visited were living under totalitarian rule," Mrs. Clinton said.

"I am convinced that one of the most important things that the administration can do is to help ensure the successful transitions to democracy by helping to persuade the American public, Congress and the corporate and not-for-profit sectors to understand why American engagement is critical not only to those with whom we are partners and friends, but to the interests of the United States as well," she added.

The first lady noted that "having spent trillions of dollars to defend ourselves against communism, we must do what is necessary to ensure the successful transformation of all of these countries to market democracies."

Mrs. Clinton traveled to the region on behalf of President Bill Clinton, she said, "to bring a message of hope and solidarity from the American people that we will stand by the people and governments of these countries, during their historic transitions; and that we wanted to strengthen the ties between us."

She returned from her visit convinced that despite the many challenges facing the peoples of this region, "there is far more cause for hope than despair."

She said she was struck "with a sense of renewal and transformation" throughout the region. There is a new generation of reform-minded leaders coming to power and a new awareness among citizens about their stake in creating democracies and free markets.

The United States also feels it has a stake in their success and wants to be their partner as they develop, she said.

"I believe that the transition to democracy and free market economies requires patience and persistence," Mrs. Clinton said, recalling what she told an audience in Lviv.

"We became a newly independent state in 1776, and for the past 222 years, our democracy has been a work in progress. It took us more than 10 years to draft a Constitution; 89 years to rid our nation of slavery; 144 years to give our women the vote; and 188 years to make all our citizens equal under the law," she said last November.

Mrs. Clinton showed slides of her visit to the recently erected monument to Taras Shevchenko and her visit to the Lviv Regional Clinical Hospital, which, has lowered its infant mortality rate by 30 percent since it began its partnership program with the Henry Ford Health Center in Detroit, she said

"I was pleased to learn that the Ministry of Health is working with USAID and the American Hospital Association and the Henry Ford Health Center to establish centers like this throughout Ukraine," she said.

Noting that such efforts are critical today because of the serious deterioration of the health care system in Ukraine, Mrs. Clinton cited the Children of Chornobyl Relief Fund as an other good example of a private organization working effectively in this area. Earier CCRF had been cited in Secretary Albright's remarks as an excellent example of an American foundation working with the U.S. government program Operation Provide Hope to deliver humanitarian assistance.

The first lady also visited the historic Gilad Synagogue, which was used as a horse stable under the Nazis and as a warehouse under the Soviets. "Today, people can once again pray and worship freely," she said, adding: "I am very, very impressed at the attitude of the Ukrainian government and the Ukrainian people for supporting such a strong commitment to religious freedom."

During her visit the to new memorial in Lviv honoring victims of Communist repression, Mrs. Clinton stressed that the American people would stand by Ukraine in its fight for freedom and democracy.

She pointed out that democracy does not end with a constitution and the right to vote. It is a "never-ending struggle that we must grapple with every day," she explained.

"And if we want democracy and freedom to thrive, then we must build a civil society where democratic values live in our hearts and minds, where people stand up for what is right, and where the rule of law, not the rule of crime and corruption, prevails," she said.

"Democracy will thrive only if we use our ethnic diversity as a force not to pull us apart but rather to bring us together, as you have done in Ukraine," Mrs. Clinton said. "It will thrive only if women are full participants in every aspect of society, and if the people of Ukraine continue to forge an alliance of values with the democratic community of nations."

Mrs. Clinton recalled her visit to St. George Cathedral, the seat of Ukraine's Greek-Catholic Church forced by the Soviets into an underground existence between 1945 and 1989. She said that the Church is now a vibrant part of society, involved in many community welfare programs, including assistance to the handicapped.

At the Lviv Opera House, Mrs. Clinton was introduced in Ukrainian by her chief of staff, Melanne Starinshak Verveer, a third-generation Ukrainian American. The first lady recalled that while a student at Georgetown, Ms. Verveer kept telling her fellow-student William Clinton that Ukraine would one day be free and independent.

In her speech at the opera house, Mrs. Clinton again underscored the importance of building a civil society and the role women in that endeavor and noted, that an country's progress depends on the progress of women.

In her Opera House speech, the first lady also raised the issue of the international trafficking of women from Ukraine and neighboring countries for the purpose of prostitution and announced that the United States and the European Union would be working with non-governmental organizations in Ukraine to launch a information campaign against this human rights abuse.

"We have seen many stories in the last few months about women being tricked into, sold into and in some way pushed into prostitution, from Russia, Ukraine and other NIS countries, in part because they are desperate, in part because they are being abused by people who are taking advantage of them," Mrs. Clinton said.

"We want to inform law enforcement, consular officers and international organizations to join together to put a stop to this crime against women and humanity."

Among the diplomatic corps present in the auditorium was Ukrainian Ambassador Yuri Shcherbak, who had discussed the women-trafficking problem in a meeting with the first lady in January and proposed an international conference on the subject.

As he was leaving the auditorium, Ambassador Shcherbak said Secretary Albright would be visiting Ukraine in the near future. Informed sources indicate, depending on Ms. Albright's schedule, that the visit could be as early as March 5.

Secretary Albright, in her speech at the State Department, also made a strong pitch for supporting the administration's "Partnership for Freedom" assistance package for the new independent states of that region.

"I hope all of you who are in a position to do so will help spread the word about the president's budget so that people are informed and in a position to lend their support to programs that merit their support," she said.

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