Sharing Thoughts, Views & News
For
July and August

In the May and June issues of Our Life, I wrote with a heavy heart about the disturbing events taking place in Ukraine. Unfortunately but not surprisingly, they continue. On Tuesday, June 15, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Volodymyr Vasylenko, Ukraine’s representative to the United Nations Human Rights Council, was dismissed. The council is the main body that exercises control over observance of human rights throughout the world. It was founded in 2006 to replace the UN Commission on Human Rights which had functioned since 1946. The present council’s work includes a universal periodic review, during which all UN members—without exception—report on human rights conditions within their respective countries. Ukraine was invited to join the council in May 2006. Not quite two years later, in March 2008, during the 7th session of the UN Human Rights Council, an official report was read on the topic of the freedom of expression in Ukraine. It was pointed out that “the current situation in Ukraine is marked by extraordinarily great polarization and political instability, and this is hindering the development of a full-fledged democratic system based on a rule-of-law state, adequate public administration, and respect for human rights.” (Cited from Emilia Nazarenko’s 2008 interview with Volodymyr Vasylenko in Geneva during the 7th session of the UN Human Rights Council). Under President Yanukovych and his cabinet, the accomplishments of the last 19–20 years, during which Ukraine was looking toward the West and beginning to implement democratic reforms, are unfortunately unraveling and being reversed by the present regime. The UNWLA is an apolitical organization, but its members are disheartened by these events, and we are reacting specifically to the human rights violations occurring in Ukraine. In response to these evolving and ongoing abuses, the UNWLA’s Executive Board drafted a strong statement of protest to the President of Ukraine. (See Ukrainian-language Open Letter to the President of Ukraine on page 2.) This letter (in English and Ukrainian) has already been forwarded to all UNWLA Branch Presidents, with a request that they obtain signatures within their respective communities to petitions expressing solidarity with the freedom loving people of Ukraine. At the same time, copies of this letter are being mailed to Ukrainian government officials, representatives of the Ukrainian government in the United States, the U.S. State Department, and organs of the Ukrainian press. UNWLA membership has been asked to reach out to local and state representatives as well as to United States Senators and Members of Congress. As in the past, the UNWLA continues to stand firm in defense of the basic freedoms of our brothers and sisters in Ukraine.

It is ironic and yet timely that our cover for this issue of Our Life features Natalia Pohrebinska’s Awakening. The 16-foot-long work is dominated by blue, yellow, and orange—colors that symbolize Ukraine’s history and struggle for sovereignty and which continue to instill pride and hope in the country’s future.

The Ukrainian Museum held its annual meeting on June 12, 2010. As we celebrate the 5th anniversary of the opening of the UM’s impressive home, we look back with pride upon our accomplishments and successes while looking forward with optimistic but realistic eyes. Having successfully passed through the initial organizing and growing period since the new building opened, the UM has become an established, respected, and rich institution. Our mutual goal must be to ensure that the mission of the UM is fulfilled and that its future is guaranteed. In connection with this, one of my priorities as 1st VP of the UM and as UNWLA President will be to help develop the UM Library into a functioning resource for visitors and members. The library, located on the museum’s lower level, was initially funded by a $100,000 gift from the UNWLA. Two of the Museum Board members and UNWLA appointees, Sophia Hewryk and Natalia Sonevytsky, have volunteered to lead this project.