Declaration of the Ukrainian Public Group to Promote the Implementation of the Helsinki Accords (11/09/86)

10th ANNIVERSARY OF THE UKRAINIAN HELSINKI GROUP

Declaration of the Ukrainian Public Group to Promote the Implementation of the Helsinki Accords

"Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers."

- Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 19.

We Ukrainians live in Europe, which in the first half of the 20th century has been twice ravaged by horrible wars. These wars inundated the Ukrainian land with blood, just as they did the lands of other European countries. And that is why we consider illegal the fact that Ukraine, a full member of the U.N., was not represented by a separate delegation at the Helsinki Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe.

Nevertheless, we take into consideration that, according to the treaty of December 27, 1922, on the creation of the Soviet Union, all international treaties signed by the government of the Soviet Union are in force also on the territory of Ukraine. It follows from this, therefore, that the Declaration of Human Rights, as well as the Declaration of Principles on which the states that participated in the Helsinki Conference are to base their relations, also apply to the Ukrainian people.

Experience has shown that the implementation of the Helsinki Accords (especially the humanitarian sections) cannot be guaranteed without the participation of the general public of the participating countries. Accordingly, on November 9, 1976, the Ukrainian Public Group to Promote the Implementation of the Helsinki Accords was formed. Since the humanitarian articles of the Final Act of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe are based wholly on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Ukrainian Public Group has set for itself the following objectives:

1. To promote the familiarization of wide circles of the Ukrainian public with the Declaration of Human Rights; to demand that this international legal document become the basis of relations between the Individual and the State;

2. Convinced that peace among nations cannot be guaranteed without free contacts among people and the free exchange of information and ideas, to promote actively the implementation of the humanitarian articles of the Final Act of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe;

3. To demand that Ukraine, as a sovereign European state and member of the U.N. be represented by its own delegation at all international conferences at which the results of the implementation of the Helsinki Accords will be discussed;

4. For the sake of the free exchange of information and ideas, to demand the accreditation in Ukraine of representatives of the foreign press, the creation of independent news agencies, and the like.

The group regards as its primary task informing the governments of the participating countries and the world public about violations in Ukraine of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the humanitarian articles accepted by the Helsinki Conference. To this end, the Ukrainian Public Group to Promote [the Implementation of the Helsinki Accords]:

a. Accepts written complaints about violations of human rights and does everything necessary to bring them to the attention of the governments that signed the Helsinki Accords and of the world community;

b. Compiles information collected on the state of legality in Ukraine and, in accordance with Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, disseminates it regardless of frontiers;

c. Studies the facts of violations of Human Rights with regard to Ukrainians living in other republics, in order to give wide publicity to those facts.

In its activity the group is guided not by political, but by humanitarian and legal considerations only. We realize that the long-time bureaucratization of state life, which continues to grow, is capable of taking countermeasures against our legitimate aspirations. But we also fully understand that the bureaucratic interpretation of human rights does not exhaust the interpretation that is embodied in international legal agreements signed by the government of the USSR. We accept these documents in their full scope, without bureaucratic distortions or arbitrary limitations by officials or state agencies. We are deeply convinced that only such an understanding of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Helsinki Accords is capable of bringing about a genuine relaxation in international relations. It is to this noble end that the humanitarian and legal activities of our group should be devoted.

Members of the Ukrainian Public Group to Promote the Implementation of the Helsinki Accords:

Oles Berdnyk
Kiev 159, Lukhachov Boulevard 8-b, Apt. 16.

Petro Grigorenko
Moscow H-21, Komsomol Avenue 14, Apt. 96, Tel. 246-27-37.

Ivan Kandyba
Lviv Region, Pustomyty Village, Shevchenko Street 176, Tel. 33913.

Levko Lukianenko
Chernihiv, Rokosovsky Street 41-b, Apt. 41.

Oksana Meshko
Kiev 86, Verbolozna Street 16.

Mykola Matusevych
Kiev, Lenin Street 43, Apt. 2, Tel. 241-148.

Myroslav Marynovych
Kiev Region, Vasylkiv District, Kalynivka Village, Tel. 246-100.

Mykola Rudenko (Group leader)
Kiev 84, Koncha-Zaspa 1, Apt. 8, Tel. 614-853.

Nina Strokata

Oleksiy Tykhy
Donetsk Region, Kostyantynivsky District, Yizhevka settlement.

November 9, 1976

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