UWC URGES ELECTION PARTICIPATION OF UKRAINIAN CITIZENS ABROAD

     In tandem with our information about the need for Ukrainian citizens abroad to notify their respective diplomatic representations of their whereabouts in order to ensure a representative compilation of voters’ lists by the consular officials by July 1, 2004, we are commencing the process of urging voter participation. We intend to impress upon the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Ukraine and the Central Elections’ Commission, the need for additional polling places, geographically appropriate for large concentrations of Ukraine’s citizens abroad. However, we must stress that the creation of additional polling places will be irrelevant unless Ukraine’s citizens abroad make an effort to participate. Further appeals and directives from the UWC will follow following our meeting with Ukraine’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and the head of the Central Elections’ Commission.

UWC PRESIDENT AND AUR CHAIR VISIT  COMMUNITIES IN NORTHWEST RUSSIA

    From June 21-24 UWC President, Askold S. Lozynskyj and Association of Ukrainians in Russia (AUR) Chair, Oleksander Rudenko-Desniak visited Ukrainian communities in the northwest Russian Federation, specifically, St. Petersburg, Petrozavodsk, Medvezhehorsk and Sandаrmoch.. In addition to meetings with the greater communities as well as with high level officials in both St. Petersburg (Deputy Governor) and Karelia Republic (Head), a special trip was made to the so called killing fields of the Solovky concentration camps, Sandermoch. In 1937-38 some nine thousand political prisoners were executed in the Sandermoch woods. In particular, between October 27 and November 4, 1937 one thousand one hundred eleven were exterminated, among them five hundred Ukrainian intellectuals, including the renowned theatre director Les Kurbas and the poet Mykola Zerov. Sandаrmoch as a killing field was under wraps until 1997.  A summary of the trip to Russia in the Ukrainian language is included.

FAMINE BILL SUBMITTED TO PARLIAMENT OF ESTONIA

    The Congress of Ukrainians in Estonia has advised us that a bill on the 1932-33 Ukraine Famine has been submitted for consideration by the Estonian Parliament. The bill’s language specifically characterizes the Famine as intentional genocide against the Ukrainian people, expresses condolences to the Ukrainian people and the Ukrainian community in Estonia and seeks specific action from the European Parliament condemning communism and its crimes against humanity.  It was formally submitted on June 16 by the three ruling parties in Estonia – Reform, Peoples and Republic. Hearings on this matter have been scheduled for July. We will keep you informed.

SHEVCHENKO MONUMENT FIASCO IN BUDAPEST

    We have been informed by the Ukrainian Cultural Society in Hungary, the central representation for Ukrainians in that country, that pursuant to a joint initiative by the City of Budapest and the Embassy of Ukraine in Budapest, an effort was made to unveil a monument to the Ukrainian bard Taras Shevchenko in early June. Unfortunately, the location was egregiously inappropriate and the sculpture lacked any resemblance to Shevchenko. Thus the Ukrainian Hungarian community temporarily enjoined the unveiling. However, the Ukrainian Ambassador in Budapest insists on going forward.  The UWC has written to both the Mayor of Budapest and Ukraine’s Minister for Foreign Affairs asking them to defer to the Ukrainian-Hungarian community. UWC President Lozynskyj hopes to raise this issue personally during his upcoming meeting with Ukraine’s Minister for Foreign Affairs Konstantyn Hryschenko. We’ll keep you posted.

    On Saturday, June 26, 2004, the Ukrainian community in the United States commemorated the 40^th anniversary of the unveiling of the Taras Shevchenko monument
in Washington, D.C. The commemoration was organized by the Shevchenkо  40^th Anniversary Commemoration Committee and at which over 500 people gathered to honor the memory of the great Kobzar and demonstrate unity within the community. The Secretary General of the Ukrainian World Congress(UWC), Victor Pedenko took part in theceremony, laid a wreath and delivered greetings from UWC.