Ukrainian World Congress directors convene annual meeting in Kyiv (09/24/06)

Ukrainian World Congress directors convene annual meeting in Kyiv

KYIV -The board of directors of the Ukrainian World Congress held its annual meeting on August 21-22 at the Writers' Union of Ukraine building in Kyiv. The meeting was preceded by a requiem service held at the site of the October Palace, which had served in Soviet times as a secret police detention center. The service was celebrated by representatives of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church - Kyiv Patriarchate, the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church and the Roman Catholic Church.

Twenty-four countries rendered reports about their communities: Armenia, Australia, Argentina, Belarus, Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Estonia, France, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Lithuania, Mozambique, Portugal, Russia, Serbia, the Slovak Republic, Spain, the United States of America and Uzbekistan.

The Ukrainian Youth Association World Executive, the World Council of Plast Organizations and the Ukrainian National Women's League of America gave reports as well.

Additionally, the board heard reports from the World Social Service Council, the World Coordinating Educational Council, the Human and Civil Rights Commission, the Sports Commission, the United Nations' Council, the Commission against Human Trafficking, the Mass Media Council, the World Council on Cultural Affairs, the Commission to Aid Ukrainian Citizens Abroad and the World Scholarly Council.

The Federation of Ukrainians in Spain replaced Wasyl Borsuk with Antonina Dobrowolska on the Commission to Aid Ukrainian Citizens Abroad, representatives from Scandinavia were added to the commission and Yuriy Chopek from Madrid was elected chair of the commission.

UWC Executive Committee members, the president, two vice-presidents (the second from the World Federation of Ukrainian Women's Organizations, or WFUWO), the secretary general, the treasurer, the financial director and the chair of the UWC Auditing Commission rendered reports as well.

Five new members from Croatia (Association of Rusyns and Ukrainians in the Croatian Republic as a central coordinating organization), Portugal (Sobor Association of Ukrainians in Portugal as a national organization) and Italy (Association of Ukrainian Women in Italy, Association of Ukrainian Women Workers in Italy and the Ukrainian Plus Association, all as national organizations) were accepted.

A 2007 budget was adopted and an independent auditor was designated. A plan was mapped out and discussed at length for the 75th anniversary observances of the Great Famine to include parliamentary resolutions in some 30 countries, a U.N. resolution/statement, a monument-museum in Kyiv, educational material for school programs, publications, conferences and exhibits. To date resolutions on the Famine have been passed in Argentina, Australia, Canada, Estonia, Hungary, Lithuania, Poland and the United States. Stefan Romaniw from Australia was asked to coordinate the Famine-Genocide commemoration effort.

The Ninth Congress By-Laws Commission was established with the following members: Chairperson Olya Danylak from the WFUWO, Bohdan Futey and Roma Dyhdalo from the U.S., Eugene Czolij and Paul Grod from Canada, Slavko Burda from Europe, Romania Yavir from Asia, a representative to be designated by Argentina from South America and Maria Yarocka from Australia.

Finally, the city of Donetsk was chosen as the site of the 2007 UWC board of directors meeting and the city of Kyiv was designated the site of the UWC's ninth congress to be held in 2008.

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