PACE hears optimistic report on progress made by Ukraine (10/14/01)

PACE hears optimistic report on progress made by Ukraine

by Roman Woronowycz
Kyiv Press Bureau

KYIV - The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) stated on September 27 during its quarterly meeting in Strasbourg, France, that official monitoring of Ukraine by the European human rights organization could end as soon as January 2002 if Kyiv completes certain requirements the country had pledged to meet.

Back in Kyiv, however, Ukrainian members of PACE said they doubt that would happen.

PACE, which comprises representatives of most of the parliaments of Europe, spent a good portion of the September 27 session of its quarterly meeting reviewing Ukraine's progress in fulfilling commitments the country agreed to undertake when it took membership in 1995 and in resolving problems that have arisen since then.

The organization agreed on a resolution in which it noted the considerable progress made by Ukraine, "in the form of new laws passed that are in line with the norms and principles of the Council of Europe," especially since the last quarterly meeting in April.

PACE noted, however, that Ukraine still needs to pass legislation on a new court structure and judicial procedures as well as restructure the role of the Procurator General's Office. It also said Ukraine must more fully implement the new criminal code and the convention on human rights.

In addition, it called on Ukraine to hasten the completion of the investigation of the death of the Ukrainian journalist Heorhii Gongadze, as well as support the initiation of an independent international investigation sponsored by PACE, if necessary, and noted the need to begin an unbiased investigation into the death of another journalist, Ihor Aleksandrov.

Finally, the PACE resolution called on Ukraine to demonstrate its progress in moving toward democracy by providing democratic and fully transparent preparations for free and open parliamentary elections scheduled for March 2002.

President Leonid Kuchma hailed the adoption of the resolution, as well as the recommendations on September 29, according to Interfax-Ukraine. He thanked Ukraine's representatives to PACE for their "unity and policies in support of the state." Mr. Kuchma said he believes that a concerted effort should be made to implement the remaining commitments, including open and fair parliamentary elections.

The Ukrainian delegation to PACE also expressed satisfaction with the review during a press conference in Kyiv on October 1, but noted that it is difficult to foresee a scenario in which PACE would agree to remove its oversight in January of next year.

National Deputy Vasyl Kostytskyi, a member of the Social Democratic faction in PACE, said he doesn't believe that the Ukrainian government will be able to bring the Gongadze case to a close by that time. He also said he believes the election campaigns will give PACE's monitoring committee more than ample reason to continue scrutinizing Ukraine at least through the end of the first quarter of next year.

"One of the main themes that echoed through the session hall was that the elections to the Verkhovna Rada would be the ultimate test of Ukraine's commitment to democracy," said Mr. Kostytskyi, a member of the Social Democratic Party (United) in Ukraine's Parliament.

National Deputy Serhii Holovatyi, who led the effort to attain membership for Ukraine in the Council of Europe agreed that the country did indeed receive a passing grade from PACE. However he pointed out that it was a very low mark.

"The question that needs to be asked is: are we closer to or further from Europe," explained Mr. Holovatyi, an independent member of Ukraine's Verkhovna Rada. "I believe that in the five years [of Ukraine's membership in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe] we could have done much more."

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