Ukrainian World Congress sharpens stand on World Coordinating Council membership (03/22/98)

Ukrainian World Congress sharpens stand
on World Coordinating Council membership

by Andrij Kudla Wynnyckyj
Toronto Press Bureau

TORONTO - At the February 20-21 meeting of its Presidium, the Ukrainian World Congress (UWC) decided to not participate in any further meetings called by the Kyiv-based Ukrainian World Coordinating Council (UWCC) until conditions agreed to at the second World Forum of Ukrainians in August 1997, and further set out in a December 15, 1997, letter to UWCC President Ivan Drach are met.

A resolution passed at the conclusion of the meeting held in Toronto signaled a major rupture in the formal ties between the two Ukrainian umbrella bodies.

The demands outlined in the UWC resolution included that the issue of the by-laws be clarified; that a statement be issued acknowledging that the UWC has settled all dues obligations to the UWCC; that a full budget statement be issued and received prior to any future UWCC meeting; that the names of the Ukraina Association (since September 1997, the administrative arm of the UWCC) and its official organ, Visti z Ukrainy, be changed and a statement issued explaining the need to distance the newspaper and the organization from its past ties to the KGB and defamatory statements about the diaspora; and that the UWCC issue an official statement barring its officials from conflicts of interest through the holding of government office or position in organizations deemed to present such a conflict.

UWC President Dr. Dmytro Cipywnyk reported that he had met with Mr. Drach in Kyiv in December, discussed the letter of December 15, 1997, suggested that a UWCC meeting scheduled for January 20-21 be postponed until after the March parliamentary elections in Ukraine and cautioned his Kyivan counterpart about the conditions for ongoing UWC participation in the UWCC.

Apparently, the letter and Dr. Cipywnyk's suggestions were ignored, as the UWCC met as scheduled and then Mr. Drach sent a fax on January 23 expressing distress that UWC delegates did not participate, along with, according to Dr. Cipywnyk's report, "grandiose" plans for 1998. According to Dr. Cipywnyk's report, "in many instances, [these plans] do not reflect the questions that arose during the UWCC meetings and the forum."

The chairperson of the Conference of Ukrainian Youth Organizations, Evhen Czolij, asserted that all of the UWC's demands had been ignored outright. He proposed a resolution stating that the UWC would not attend any future UWCC meetings until the demands are addressed.

The payment of dues had already been suspended at the previous meeting of the UWC presidium, on November 21-22, 1997.

UWC Vice-President Oleh Romanyshyn seconded the motion, adding an amendment to Mr. Czolij's resolution that called for a meeting of leaders of Ukraine's civic organizations to be held in Toronto in order to discuss how a world body representing Ukrainians could work efficiently.

The resolution passed, with UWC General Secretary Yaroslav Sokolyk and World Federation of Ukrainian Women's Organizations (WFUWO) Chair Oksana Sokolyk abstaining.

Ukrainians abroad

In response to the UWC's request for clarification on the Ukrainian government's "The Ukrainian Diaspora to the Year 2000" program, Kyiv officials sent the UWC a proposal to establish a special category of "Ukrainians abroad" that would allowed for preferential visa treatment and other favors for diasporans.

At the UWC Presidium meeting, UWC General Secretary Sokolyk reported on a meeting with UWCC representative Mykhailo Slaboshpytsky held on January 13 in Toronto, at which this proposal was discussed in light of similar legislation adopted by Slovakia and Armenia. Mr. Sokolyk also presented letters from the Central Representation of Ukrainians in Germany and the Association of Ukrainian Organizations in Australia in support of this concept.

Mr. Czolij said such a category is contrary to the principles of the UWC and that it should be strongly opposed. He said that any preferential categories would set an unsavory precedent for treatment of visitors of non-Ukrainian background, institutionalize the potential for bribery, and carry the possibility that unwanted responsibilities and duties could also be imposed on those accepting such special status. As well, such preferential categories could create conflicts with the citizenship laws of other countries.

"From the earliest days of the World Congress of Free Ukrainians [the UWC's predecssor] we fought for Ukraine to be established as a democratic country, and not as a state governed by arbitrary measures and distinctions," Mr. Czolij stated.

Bishop Yuri Kalishchuk, chairman of the UWC's Religious Council, warned that this was an attempt to create a class of semi-citizens, based on the allure of privileges.

Concerns of rights commission

UWC Executive Director Christina Isajiw prepared a report on the work of the UWC's Commission on Human and Civil Rights (CHCR), which was read by CHCR member Alexandra Kowalska. The commission has kept abreast of the case brought against Nikolai Siwicki by Polish prosecutors for alleged subversion and hate-mongering in his book concerning Polish-Ukrainian conflicts ("Dzieje Konfliktow Polsko-Ukrainskich").

Also of concern for the CHCR was the arrest of Marian Lech, a 65-year-old Ukrainian community activist in Poland, who was arrested on December 28, 1997, and accused of threatening to blow up a Roman Catholic cathedral in Koszalin. According to the CHCR's sources, Mr. Lech is currently in custody, although no formal charges have been filed.

Noginsk church affair

In response to representations concerning the Russian Parliament's discriminatory law "On Freedom of Conscience and Religious Associations," the UWC received a letter from Canada's Minister of Foreign Affairs Lloyd Axworthy.

Mr. Axworthy stated that "Canada is concerned that this legislation discriminates against certain religious groups and we have expressed these concerns to the Russian government and Parliament at the highest levels. Prime Minister [Jean] Chrétien raised the issue with President [Boris] Yeltsin, Prime Minister [Viktor] Chernomyrdin and the chairmen of both houses of the Russian Federal Assembly during his official visit to Russia from October 19 to 22, 1997."

The minister wrote that Canada's delegation had expressed its concern to the Human Dimension Review Meeting in Warsaw of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, adding that "we ... continue to make representations to the Russian government to minimize discrimination against selected groups, including the Ukrainian Orthodox Church." No specific mention is made in the letter of the Russian authorities' seizure on September 29, 1997, of a church in Noginsk, Moscow Oblast, belonging to the UOC-Kyiv Patriarchate.

Vasyl Kolomatskyi, the external representative at the UWC of the Union of Ukrainians in Russia, submitted a brief concerning the Noginsk situation and announced the formation of a civic initiative group to mobilize community action in the diaspora on the issue.

Mr. Kolomatskyi, who is a member of the CHCR, asked interested parties to contact the CHCR at the UWC's headquarters, 2218A Bloor St. W., Toronto, Ontario M6S 1M8; fax, (416) 762-8081.

WFUO Chair Oksana Sokolyk's report included a mention of the Joint Statement on Trafficking and Enslavement of Women issued to the 42nd session of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women, co-signed by the Women's International Democratic Federation, International Health Awareness Network, World Information Transfer, International Alliance for Women, Global Alliance for Women's Health, International Union of Family and the World Union of Catholic Women's Organizations.

Computer link established

UWC General Secretary Sokolyk announced that the UWC has established a computer link to its offices. The organization's e-mail address is [email protected]; its Internet website is located at http://www.htplus.net/congress.