21 January 2014
MEDIA RELEASE
Ukrainian World Congress calls for immediate international action to help resolve the crisis in Ukraine without further bloodshed
On 21 January 2014 Ukrainian World Congress (UWC) President Eugene Czolij issued a letter calling upon the international community to take immediate action to help resolve the crisis in Ukraine without further bloodshed.
Expressing grave concern over the recent illegitimate adoption by Ukraine’s governing authorities of laws aimed at establishing a fully authoritarian regime in Ukraine, the UWC called upon the international community to:
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condemn the illegitimate adoption, on 16 January 2014, of authoritarian anti-protest laws in Ukraine; -
incite Ukraine’s governing authorities to repeal these repressive laws; -
call on Ukraine’s governing authorities to prosecute those responsible for all gross human rights violations related to peaceful protests on Ukraine’s EuroMaidans; -
notify Ukraine’s governing authorities that individual sanctions will be imposed on those responsible for blatant violations of basic human rights and fundamental freedoms; and -
adopt European laws akin to the U.S. Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act and the proposed U.S. Global Human Rights Accountability Act in order to put violators of human rights and fundamental freedoms on clear notice that the international community will take concrete measures to hold them accountable for such reprehensible conduct.
“We all have a collective moral obligation towards the people of Ukraine in their struggle to live in a democratic European country,” stated UWC President Eugene Czolij. “The repressive laws, adopted by the ruling majority in Ukraine’s Parliament, blatantly curtail basic human rights and fundamental freedoms.”
