Verkhovna Rada rejects bill on rights of diaspora Ukrainians (09/23/01)

Verkhovna Rada rejects bill on rights of diaspora Ukrainians

by Roman Woronowycz
Kyiv Press Bureau

KYIV - Ukraine's Parliament rejected a bill on September 20 that would have guaranteed ethnic Ukrainians living abroad certain rights in their homeland, including visa-free entry.

The draft law was soundly quashed by a vote of 210-103 before it could get past the first of three required readings, with 98 of the nay votes offered by the Communist faction. Two hundred twenty-six votes were required to move the bill forward.

Sponsored by National Deputy Ihor Ostash, chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Foreign Affairs and a member of the Reform and Order Party, the draft law would have allowed ethnic Ukrainians who are citizens of other countries to spend up to 120 days in Ukraine annually without a visa if they met certain requirements and registered with Ukraine's Consulate General or a consular office in their country.

It also would have allowed for those registered to receive three-year multiple entry visas at their request without going through an invitation process. In addition, it would have given them the same rights and equal protection under the laws and the Constitution of Ukraine it does Ukrainian citizens, the only exemptions being the right to vote or serve in government or the military.

Mr. Ostash said a minimum of 12 million Ukrainians live abroad, dispersed across the globe for various reasons, including economic and political ones, and they should be encouraged to return home or at least maintain ties with their historic homeland.

"We have a debt before the diaspora. We should develop relations and stimulate the interest of all Ukrainians to remain tied to their country," explained Mr. Ostash.

The Communist faction probably thought otherwise given the way it voted. It had said from the time the bill was introduced in April that it could not support the draft law because it was at odds with the Constitution of Ukraine.

Even while some supporters of the bill conceded the argument had merit, there was a consensus among them that the real reason for Communist opposition was tied to a general belief that the bill was designed to support and encourage relations with the Western diaspora.

"The Communists were against it from the very beginning, primarily because of their anti-Western attitude and their perception that the bill was developed for the Western diaspora," explained National Deputy Mykhailo Ratushnyi, who voted for passage.

Even today the Western diaspora remains for many Communists nothing more than the "bourgeois nationalists" and the "traitors" propagated for decades by the Soviet regime.

Mr. Ratushnyi said that in reality the bill would not have benefited the Eastern diaspora, Ukrainians in Russia and Kazakstan, who are in closer geographic proximity to Ukraine and more closely tied to the country.

"The point was to allow them to return to Ukraine once a year for 120 days to visit their family and friends," said Mr. Ratushnyi.

National democratic parliamentarians who supported the bill but doubted whether it could have passed constitutional muster explained that it contradicted the basic law with regard to the definitions of a Ukrainian citizen and a foreigner, and their respective rights.

"I voted in support of the draft law even though it is in conflict with the Constitution on certain points," said National Deputy Roman Zvarych, who was born in New York, but gave up his U.S. citizenship some years ago in favor of a Ukrainian one.

Mr. Zvarych said the Constitution clearly states that a Ukrainian is a person residing on the lands of Ukraine. It also clearly states the rights of a Ukrainian and does not extend them to foreigners. He said, however, that he understands and agrees with the premise that historical wrongs must be corrected and a means must be identified to do this.

"There were those who were historically forced to leave Ukraine for any number of reasons, including my parents," explained Mr. Zvarych. "We need to find a mechanism to recognize this and to right this wrong."

He criticized the authors of the rejected bill for not clearly identifying and developing the legal basis for the draft law.

"If the point is to allow certain foreign nationals easier access to Ukraine, then the bill becomes discriminatory in favor of a specific group of foreigners," said Mr. Zvarych.

He explained that at the heart of the matter is a question that Ukrainians in the diaspora need to ask themselves: whether they are Ukrainians or Americans and Canadians of Ukrainian extraction.

"If they feel they are Ukrainians, then why don't they return to live here?" queried the U.S.-born, Ukrainian national deputy.

Mr. Ostash, the author of the bill, explained in an interview the day before the vote that he believed the law is needed to stimulate travel by diaspora members to Ukraine; to instill in students of Ukrainian heritage a desire and give them a way to study in Ukraine, or at least take part in student exchanges; and to make it easier for ethnic Ukrainians abroad to strengthen entrepreneurial contacts and make business investments as well as philanthropic contributions.

He said the draft law was developed with the help of diaspora leaders, as well as Mykhailo Horyn, chairman of the World Coordinating Council of Ukrainians, Askold Lozynskyj, president of the Ukrainian World Congress and Oleksander Rudenko-Desniak, chairman of the Association of Ukrainians in Russia.

National Deputy Ratushnyi said he believes the bill, which cannot be resubmitted to the legislative body until the next session, will be reworked and reintroduced with similar content during the next session of the Verkhovna Rada.

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