International Renaissance Foundation presents its strategies for 2012
The International Renaissance Foundation will provide support for the monitoring of the 2012 parliamentary elections in Ukraine, the organization’s representatives announced at a presentation of the annual strategy in Kyiv on January 31.
IRF Executive Director Yevhen Bystrytsky stressed that free and fair parliamentary elections in 2012 will be a litmus test that will demonstrate the level of adherence to democratic norms and European standards in Ukraine. The Foundation will provide support for public control of the election campaign, including an independent exit poll, monitoring of candidates’ rights, the election campaign and reactions to electoral law violations.
According to Yevhen Bystrytsky, IRF will also support the participation of civil society organizations in the decision-making process on all levels. The Foundation’s initiatives will focus on the development of the organizational and advocacy capacity of NGOs and transparent reporting. An important direction will be the development of community self-organization and the sharing of information and best practices and experiences in solving local problems.
Broad public debate of government reforms, particularly concerning land, will remain a priority of the International Renaissance Foundation.
Roman Romanov, the director of the Rule of Law Program, said that as part of the Legal Empowerment Program for the Poor, they will continue to expand the network of Legal Consultation Centers, which currently operate in 30 communities, providing legal support to more than 10,000 low-income citizens.
Ukrainian NGOs will also get support to monitor human rights practices by law enforcement. The first nationwide public assessment of the police will be conducted.
The Program will help NGOs monitor freedom of peaceful assembly and develop proposals to improve laws, legal and administrative practices.
Oleksandr Sushko, chairman of the board of IRF and research director of the Institute for Euro-Atlantic Cooperation, said the Foundation will support independent monitoring and advocacy of Ukraine’s implementation of its international obligations, in particular within the framework of the Association Agenda with the EU.
The European Integration Index will be issued regularly. It will provide a comparative assessment of European integration reforms in six countries of the Eastern Partnership
Oleksandr Sushko stressed that the Foundation will continue to support NGO efforts to remove barriers to contacts between people – the visa regime between Ukraine and the EU. The European Program plans to continue to support the monitoring and advocacy of the Action plan on visa liberalization and proper implementation of the Agreement on the facilitation of the issuance of visas.
According to the director of the Education Program, Georgiy Kasianov, as in previous years, IRF will support independent monitoring of university admissions and provide expert assessment of the government’s planned education reforms.
The International Renaissance Foundation
Stanislav Lyachynskyy
(+38 044) 486 24 74
pr@irf.ua
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Main objective of the International Renaissance Foundation is to provide financial and operational assistance to the development of an open and democratic society in Ukraine by supporting key civic initiatives in this area.
