10 December 2013
MEDIA RELEASE
Ukrainian World Congress urges the European Parliament to respond to the call of the people of Ukraine
On 10 December 2013 the Ukrainian World Congress President Eugene Czolij sent a written appeal for the European Parliament to embrace the sincere call of the people of Ukraine to be part of the European Union.
On this day, as the European Parliament convenes a session entitled “Outcome of the Vilnius Summit and the future of the Eastern Partnership, in particular as regards Ukraine”, the Ukrainian World Congress also urged the European Parliament to:
1) demand that the governing authorities of Ukraine respect human rights and fundamental freedoms of all Ukrainians;
2) pressure the governing authorities of Ukraine to:
(a) release from jail all peaceful protestors of EuroMaidans;
(b) refrain from the use of force to break up peaceful anti-government demonstrations;
(c) end any pressure on civil society, students, journalists and the opposition; and
(d) punish all those responsible for gross human rights violations related to peaceful protests at EuroMaidans, failing which for the European Union to impose sanctions on them akin to those provided in the Magnitsky legislation.
3) reiterate the firm commitment of the European Union to Ukraine’s Euro-integration and the signing of the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement on the basis of the clear, united and undeniable call of the people of Ukraine, as manifested by EuroMaidans throughout Ukraine; and
4) develop a sound policy regarding Russia’s violations of its international commitments, particularly the 1994 Budapest Memorandum on Security Assurances in connection with Ukraine’s accession to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, with which Russia committed to refrain from economic pressure on Ukraine.
“Following President Viktor Yanukovych’s dramatic U-turn away from the European Union on 21 November 2013, hundreds of thousands of peaceful protesters on EuroMaidans in Kyiv and throughout Ukraine, in European Union member states, and elsewhere in the world, continue to speak loudly and clearly that they wish to live in a European and democratic country,” stated Ukrainian World Congress President Eugene Czolij. “We urge the European Union to respond to their call.”
