The UWC Executive met on Saturday, June 4, 2005 in Toronto. The following action was taken:

• May fundraising activities were considered and supplemented;
• draft 2006 budget;
• recommendations of new members were approved for submission to the Board of Directors;
• an agenda was set for the August Board of Directors meeting;
• the IV Forum was tabled for lack of Ukraine government funding;
• visits by the UWC president to communities in Slovakia and Turkey were urged;
• a definition of “national organization” for purposes of UWC membership was debated with a consensus that a strict  three branch requirement was unreasonable if an entity functioned nationwide;
• to forward formal requests for meetings with a UWC delegation August 19-23, 2005 to Ukraine’s President, Prime Minister and Verkhovna Rada Chair;  to issue a statement of support on President Yuschenko’s recent appeal to restore places of historical importance.   

UWC  BOARD  OF  DIRECTORS  SESSION  AGENDA SET

    The agenda for the UWC Board of Directors session scheduled for Kharkiv on August 17-18, 2005 has been set. The program includes:

• acceptance of new members;
• adoption of the 2006 budget;
• reconciliation of the By-laws;
• reports of Executive Committee members and the Auditing Board;
• presentations by council and commission chairs on their global activity;
• discussion by some thirty member organizations of the UWC on activities in their country and an assessment of the UWC’s efficacy as a coordinating body.

    Additionally, representatives have been invited from such countries as Austria, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Croatia, Italy, Moldova, Mozambique and Paraguay who are not members of the UWC but communicate with the UWC on a relatively regular basis. Finally, time has been allocated for an ecumenical requiem on the site of the Kharkiv prosecution of 1930 and a plague will be installed at the site of a former prison where the late Patriarch of the Ukrainian Catholic Church Josyp Slipyj was incarcerated in the early 1960’s.  

UWC  PRESIDENT  VISITS  COMMUNITIES  IN  SOUTH  AMERICA

    Askold S. Lozynskyj visited Ukrainian communities in Argentina, Paraguay and Brazil from May 4-15, 2005. The UWC president also participated in the initial congress of Ukrainians in those three countries held in Brazil. The three communities are characterized by a strong institutional infrastructure that dates back to the 19^th century, but have suffered greatly from assimilatory processes.  A summary on each country in the Ukrainian language is included herein. The UWC would like to thank the communities for their hospitality, and, in particular, commend the efforts of Jurij Danylyshyn in Argentina, Michael Chudyk in Paraguay and Vitorio Sorotiuk in Brazil.

UWC  ISSUES  STATEMENT  ON  BYKIVNIA

    Following up on President Yushchenko’s recent statement at a Requiem service for Bykivna victims on May 15, 2005, the UWC issued its Statement of support on June 8, 2005. In it the UWC stressed:

            “In his statement at the Requiem, President Yushchenko shared with the Ukrainian nation his deepest emotions concerning the tragic events of the Stalinist era. President Yushchenko’s moving words make clear to all that Ukraine is on the road to filling in the blank pages of its history. In this regard the UWC welcomes the call by President Yushchenko at the Requiem in the Bykivna forest on May 15, 2005 to establish an Institute of National Remembrance of Ukraine…The second most important statement made by President Yushchenko at the Requiem in the Bykivna forest is that the President regards it unacceptable that the October Palace – this historically important place – is being utilized as an amusement park. The October Palace should become a Museum of the Repressed and any initiatives in this regard will be supported by the government, stated the President. The Executive Board of the UWC is pleased to note the proposal by President Yuschenko to establish in the city of Kyiv an Institute of National Remembrance of Ukraine and to transform the October Palace into a Museum of the Repressed. The Executive Board of the UWC welcomes these initiatives of the President of Ukraine, Victor Yushchenko, and assures the full support and assistance of the Ukrainian Diaspora in their realization.”

WORLD  COORDINATING  EDUCATIONAL  COUNCIL  (WCEC)  TO  HOST  SUMMER INSTITUTE