Community reps meet with State Department to address human rights report's characterization (05/16/99)

Community reps meet with State Department to address human rights report's characterization

Ukrainian National Information Service

WASHINGTON - Representatives of the Ukrainian American community met on April 21 with officials from the U.S. Department of State to discuss a controversial phrase in the State Department's Ukraine Country Report on Human Rights Practices for 1998. The meeting was the result of a recommendation by Steven Pifer, U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, after strong objections were voiced at an earlier regular meeting between the community and the State Department.

The Ukraine Country Report on Human Rights Practices for 1998, released by the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor of the U.S. Department of State on February 26, 1999 (see: http://www.state.gov/), provides an analysis of human rights successes and shortcomings Ukraine is experiencing in its transition to the rule of law. Issued by the State Department, the country reports are the U.S. government's assessments of various governments' respect for democracy, human rights and the rule of law.

"The reports can be very influential," explained Orest Deychakiwsky of the U.S. Helsinki Commission, and are "often used as basis for rulings on asylum and refugee requests, and circulated to congressmen, senators, and other government agencies for use in their decision-making."

One sentence in Ukraine's country report makes a reference to "deep-seated societal anti-Semitism," without offering substantiating evidence. The Ukrainian American community representatives met with State Department officials to address the community's perspective that this phase negatively characterizes all Ukrainians.

Marc Susser, head of the country reports team for the State Department's Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, began the dialogue with the Ukrainian American community representatives with an overview of how the country reports are produced. Information is reported to the State Department from U.S. embassies and consulates throughout the world. The gathering of data in a particular embassy is seen as crucial to the reports, since information is obtained from various government officials, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), the press, etc.

Once compiled, an embassy initiates the first draft of the report, which is then sent to the State Department for consensus. Speaking on the findings of the report, Wendy Silverman of the bureau stated that the country reports represent "general discrimination," whereby the reports clearly differentiate between governmental and societal actions. Ms. Silverman further commented that the report was not intended to characterize an opinion about all Ukrainians.

In turn, Ukrainian American Bar Association (UABA) representative Arthur Belendiuk, explained that the Soviet disinformation program of the Cold War promoted negative stereotypes of Ukrainians in order to undermine their efforts in support of democracy and independence. "Such stereotypes," explained Mr. Belendiuk, "such as Ukrainians' purported intolerance towards other ethnic groups, have been totally discredited from the moment of Ukraine's independence." Later, Mr. Belendiuk commented that it is unfortunate the Ukrainian American community is still forced to clear up remnants of that disinformation that linger even today.

Ukrainian National Information Service (UNIS) Director Michael Sawkiw, Jr. raised an issue regarding the uniformity of the country reports. Having read both the Ukraine and Russia Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 1998, Mr. Sawkiw stated: "In reading both reports, it was evident that only in the summary of the Ukrainian report does it indicate 'societal anti-Semitism,' when it is clearly documented in press reports, such as in The New York Times, that abuses of this nature are occurring more frequently in Russia." The UNIS director further noted that discrimination against women and other religious and ethnic minorities were generally stated in both reports, therefore specific reference to 'anti-Semitism' in Ukraine was unnecessarily portrayed. The inconsistencies cast doubts on the methods of information gathering, editing and reporting.

The State Department officials thanked the community representatives for their opinions and comments and noted that representatives of the bureau have taken the Ukrainian American community's concerns into advisement and would be willing to meet with the community representatives in the future. Results of the meeting notwithstanding, it is evident that the entire community must remain vigilant against such negative stereotyping towards Ukrainians in the future, noted Mr. Sawkiw.

In addition to Ms. Silverman, and Mr. Susser, the State Department was represented by Eric Schultz, desk officer of western Slavic and Moldovan affairs, popularly known as the Ukraine Desk, who coordinated the meeting from the State Department; as well as several consultants who specifically worked on the Ukraine Country Report.

The Ukrainian American community representatives at the meeting were Mr. Belendiuk (Ukrainian American Bar Association); Dr. Zenia Chernyk and Bohdan Korzeniowski (Ukrainian Federation of America); Mr. Deychakiwsky (The Washington Group); Ihor Gawdiak (Ukrainian American Coordinating Council); Prof. Taras Hunczak (Ukrainian Congress Committee of America); Mr. Sawkiw (Ukrainian National Information Service); and Dr. Roman Goy (Ukrainian Medical Association of North America), who also coordinated the meeting from the Ukrainian American side.

Dr. Roman Goy contributed to this article.

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