Ukrainian World Congress meeting in Kharkiv attracts leaders of new communities (08/28/05)

Ukrainian World Congress meeting in Kharkiv attracts leaders of new communities

by Zenon Zawada
Kyiv Press Bureau

KYIV - Ukrainian diaspora leaders from new, vibrant communities in Italy, Spain and Portugal took part in the annual meeting of the Ukrainian World Congress (UWC) in Kharkiv on August 18 and 19.

More than 14 countries were represented at the meeting of the UWC, the leading diaspora organization, which is led by president Askold Lozynskyj of New York City.

The annual meeting offered an opportunity for leaders in the new diaspora communities to get advice from leaders in the established communities, said Michael Sawkiw Jr., president of the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America (UCCA).

"They're trying to open up Saturday schools, and some governments are trying to help, while others aren't necessarily cooperative," he said. "They're trying to preserve culture and language. That's where we were as a Ukrainian American community 50 to 75 years ago."

Upon returning to Kyiv, a UWC delegation met with Foreign Affairs Minister Borys Tarasyuk and Verkhovna Rada Chairman Volodymyr Lytvyn.

Relations between the diaspora and the new Ukrainian government have already improved, Mr. Lozynskyj said.

"We sense that we are more welcomed," Mr. Lozynskyj said following a meeting with Mr. Lytvyn. "Former presidents also met with us, and former ministers met with us, but I think now there is more understanding that the diaspora is a part of Ukrainian people."

Relations with the Kravchuk and Kuchma governments were lukewarm at best, because they were former Communists who didn't trust members of the diaspora, whom they perceived as Banderites.

"This government is much more Ukrainian, and I think that's why we find a common dialogue," Mr. Lozynskyj said. The UWC prepared a memorandum for President Viktor Yushchenko, and discussed with Mr. Lytvyn the main points related to the Verkhovna Rada.

At the top of their agenda, the UWC told Mr. Lytvyn, is the Ukrainian government's recognition of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists - Ukrainian Insurgent Army.

UWC leaders also told Mr. Lytvyn that Ukaine must increase the number of voting precincts abroad for the more than 5 million Ukrainian citizens living and working outside of Ukraine.

Most of these citizens don't have the ability to vote because polling precincts are inadequate, Mr. Lozynskyj said.

For example, the more than 1 million Ukrainians in Italy could vote only in two cities, even though there are significant Ukrainian communities in 80 cities, he noted. That meant that each polling Ukrainian precinct in Italy was supposed to handle 500,000 voters - an unrealistic number, Mr. Lozynskyj said.

In Canada, the westernmost polling precinct was Toronto, he said.

Increasing the number of voting precincts abroad would benefit the Yushchenko government because Ukrainians living and working in Western countries are more likely to vote for pro-Western candidates and parties, Mr. Lozynskyj said.

The current law regarding Ukrainians abroad also is inadequate, UWC leaders told Mr. Lytvyn. It gives U.S. citizens of Ukrainian ethnicity, for example, no preference or rights as compared with other Americans.

Therefore, when a Ukrainian American wants to adopt a Ukrainian child, he or she receives no preference over another American citizen and must wait the standard yearlong period for a foreigner seeking to adopt. The yearlong waiting period is meant to allow a Ukrainian citizen the opportunity to adopt the child.

The UWC advocated that if a foreign citizen can prove his or her Ukrainian ethnicity, which can be done with two Ukrainian citizen witnesses signing an affidavit, then that person should gain all the rights of a Ukrainian citizen, including adopting a child without delay or running for office.

As always, diaspora leaders urged more efforts to reinforce the use of the Ukrainian language in the diaspora. Significantly, they met in Kharkiv, a city where Ukrainian is rarely spoken.

Mr. Lozynskyj told Mr. Lytvyn the UWC is dissatisfied with the government's "Ukrainianization" efforts, linguistically and culturally.

Mr. Lytvyn reassured the UWC that making Russian Ukraine's second official language "is not an issue" for the Rada, according to Ihor Storozhuk, the chairman's press secretary, who addressed reporters after the meeting with UWC leaders.

Responding positively to OUN-UPA recognition, the Rada chairman said it should not be limited to just granting veterans' benefits but also achieving a political status, Mr. Storozhuk reported. Rather than several bills on recognition floating around the Verkhovna Rada, Mr. Lytvyn said he would like to see one government-endorsed bill that a realistic coalition of national deputies could rally behind, Mr. Storozhuk said.

Social acceptance of the OUN-UPA's role in Ukrainian history will become more objective as citizens grow more informed and aware, Mr. Lytvyn reportedly said.

The Verkhovna Rada chairman said he would examine the issues raised by the UWC and then refer them to the appropriate parliamentary committees with the possibility of taking them into consideration for the formation of bills, Mr. Storozhuk said.

In their earlier meeting with Mr. Tarasyuk, the Ukrainian World Congress leaders learned that Ukraine's Foreign Affairs Ministry has created a separate department to handle the affairs of foreign-based Ukrainians. Oleksander Novoselov will lead this department, Mr. Tarasyuk said.

The Foreign Affairs Ministry has also established a center to assist Ukrainians abroad and is in the process of establishing cultural and information centers in foreign cities with significant Ukrainian populations, Mr. Tarasyuk said. He thanked Ukrainians abroad for aiding in Ukraine's revival and actively supporting democratic forces during the Orange Revolution.

Mr. Yushchenko has decided that Kyiv will host the sixth World Forum of Ukrainians on November 20 and 21 in Kyiv, Mr. Tarasyuk said.

The World Forum is distinct from the Ukrainian World Congress because it meets every five years and includes all Ukrainians, not just diaspora members.

When asked what relationship the UWC and UCCA had with their former employee, First Lady Kateryna Yushchenko, Mr. Sawkiw and Mr. Lozynskyj said they had no direct relationship.

Mrs. Yushchenko directed UCCA's Washington office between 1982 and 1984.

The UCCA will provide a welcome and assistance when she arrives in New York with her husband for the United Nations' 60th anniversary celebration in September.

"We work through the ministries and our ties with the president," Mr. Lozynskyj said. "We are very proud that a diaspora woman was able to become first lady, but we don't abuse our relations."

As for the parliamentary elections next year in March, Mr. Lozynskyj said international election observers will have a much smaller presence than in the presidential elections perhaps no more than 250 observers.

More importantly, he said, the laws for the parliamentary elections need significant revision because they were drafted in March 2004, before the events of the Orange Revolution.

The reason the third tour of the presidential elections was successful was not so much the presence of election observers, he said, but because critical laws were amended that created a bipartisan balance on the local election commissions.

For the 2004 presidential elections, the UCCA sent more than 2,000 election observers from the United States. Mr. Sawkiw could not estimate how many observers his organization will send in March 2006. He said he'd like some of last year's election observers to return to Ukraine to judge whether or not there's a difference, and whether the elections are freer and fairer.

"It's going to be a crucial election," Mr. Sawkiw said. "Now we need a democratically elected Parliament."

In response to recent criticism from Dr. Taras Kuzio, a visiting professor at George Washington University, that the UWC had been a defender of the Kuchma government, Mr. Lozynskyj said the professor's comments were unjustified.

"I both criticized President Kuchma and praised him for his positive aspects," Mr. Lozynskyj said. "I respect the office of the president of Ukraine. When I criticize, I do it in an appropriate way, not an offensive way. It's also my personal view that in his 10 years of office, Mr. Kuchma did a lot for Ukraine - both positive and negative."

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