Building a new country is our moral duty to the society
The International Renaissance Foundation resumes cooperation with the Ukrainian government. We severed any engagement with the Ukrainian government and the Presidential Administration on November 30, 2013, following the government’s violent crackdown on the peaceful protesters. On that day, the assault on the pro-European rally forever made a deep chasm between citizens of Ukraine and Yanukovych’s regime.
After toppling the putrid regime, Ukraine needs immediate reforms. Yet, reforming the country is impossible without direct dialogue between all branches of power at the national and regional levels with the civil society of the Maidan, local Euromaidans in the regions, and the NGO sector.
Building a new country is our moral duty to the society as a whole and to the memory of the people who gave their lives for an opportunity to make the change happen.
We are ready to assist the newly-appointed government in the spheres of priority for IRF:
· Engaging independent experts in developing an agenda for reforming the country based on principles of the rule of law, social justice, openness, transparency and accountability;
· Overcoming the economic crisis: assisting the engagement of independent experts, including leading international professionals, in drafting the economic reform program;
· Ukraine’s European integration: signing the Association Agreement with the European Union as soon as possible and implementing European standards;
· Reforming the judiciary system and law-enforcement bodies;
· Ensuring respect for human rights and civil liberties; documentation of facts of the use of violence and abuse of rights and freedoms during the protests at the country’s Maidans;
· Giving a broad support nation-wide and locally for development and strengthening the new forms of self-organization of people that proved to be effective during the protests;
· Fighting corruption: legal provisions for total openness of all budget transactions, property registers, incomes and spending by senior officials and other civil servants;
· Support for investigative journalism; development of the public and community media; strengthening independent professional media, and building public broadcasting;
· Administrative – territorial reform and local self-governance;
· Assistance to medical treatment and re-habilitation of victims through the Humanitarian Solidarity initiative.
Today we have a unique chance to build a new, open and democratic country. That chance must not be wasted!
