May 17, 2012
PRESS RELEASE
UWC PRESIDENT MEETS OFFICIALS
AND THE UKRAINIAN COMMUNITY IN DENMARK
On May 9-10 and 12-13, 2012, Ukrainian World Congress (UWC) President Eugene Czolij travelled to Copenhagen, where he discussed a range of issues with officials and the Ukrainian community in Denmark.
During his meetings with Christian Christensen, Head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Department for the European Neighbourhood and Russia, and Hanne Severinsen, former Member of Parliament and a representative of The Danish Helsinki Committee for Human Rights, Eugene Czolij underscored Denmark’s Presidency of the Council of the European Union and encouraged Denmark to take advantage of this status to promote the benefits of integration with the EU among the Ukrainian people. They also discussed Ukraine’s current human rights record.
The UWC President stressed the importance of the October Parliamentary elections in Ukraine and of allowing the prominent opposition leaders, Yulia Tymoshenko and Yuri Lutsenko, to participate in those elections. In addition, he asked Denmark to send election observers.
In his address to the Ukrainian community, Eugene Czolij highlighted UWC’s efforts to protect the interests of the Ukrainian people in Ukraine and the diaspora. He familiarized himself with local religious issues in a meeting with Fr. Vasyl Tykhovych of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church. The UWC President greeted Roman Catholic Bishop, Czeslaw Kozon, and thanked him for enabling Ukrainian liturgies to be celebrated in St. Ansgar’s Cathedral. He discussed with Alina Protsyk, President of the Ukrainian youth organization Lastivka, the possibility of establishing a Ukrainian Saturday school in Copenhagen. He also met Ivan Nestor, President of the Danish-Ukrainian Association, who shared information about the activities of the organization, including the erection in Copenhagen of a bust of Taras Shevchenko, which they both visited.
The UWC is an international coordinating body for Ukrainian communities in the diaspora representing the interests of over 20 million Ukrainians. The UWC has member organizations in 32 countries and ties with Ukrainians in 14 additional countries. Founded in 1967 as a non-profit corporation, the UWC was recognized in 2003 as a non-governmental organization (NGO) by the United Nations Economic and Social Council with special consultative status.
