We are Rusyns

Summing up the subtotals of our project functioning, we can bravely claim that we’ve got a big success in the fight for Zakarpattia Rusyns’ rights. That’s proved by thousands of thankful letters, offers of help and cooperation. Thanks to the attention paid by human rights activists from Europe and the United States, the problem of discrimination of the Rusyns in Ukraine has been tackled by our associates in the U.S. Department of State, the European Parliament, the UN and the PACE.

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Together with that we completely realize that our efforts may be ineffective because of ignoring by Kyiv the recommendations of the international institutions regarding the respect for the rights and recognition of the Rusyn community as a national minority. Therefore, we’ve come to a conclusion that it’d be both more properly and more effective to fight not only for the Rusyns’ rights, but also for the rights of other nations living in Ukraine. The Polish, Slovak, Hungarian, Romanian, Bulgarian and Rusyn communities live in diverse legal conditions. However, all of them are being discriminated and attacked by the radical nationalists, and are being accused of separatism by the official authorities. To defend the inalienable rights and national cultures conservation we, for the first time in the history of the country, head towards unification of the efforts of all national minorities living in Western Ukraine.

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It’s noteworthy we’re supposed to create new civil society institutions and work according to the law. We’re respectful towards the work our colleagues from the Congress of Ethnic Communities of Ukraine do. But we consider being expedient to create a separate body to effectively solve troubles of the national communities in the western regions.

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September 4 the Congress of the Nations of Western Ukraine was created.

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The activity of the Congress of the Nations of Western Ukraine hasn’t started from scratch. We rely on existing social and political institutions of the national communities that are respected in the society. Except the Rusyn organizations of Zakarpattia following organizations have agreed to join us:

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• The Polish Culture Society of Lviv.

• The Regional Cultural Society “Stanislav” of Ivano-Frankivsk.

• The Ewa Felinska’s Polish Culture Society in Volhynia.

• The Polish Cultural and Educational Society in Ternopil.

• The Regional Social Organization “The New Life Association” of Khmelnytskyi.

• The Democratic Union of the Hungarians in Ukraine.

• The all-nation cultural institution of the Slovaks Matica Slovenská.

• The L’udovít Štúr’s Slovak Culture Society in Zakarpattia.

• The Christian Democratic Alliance of the Romanians of Ukraine.

• The Mihai Eminescu’s National Cultural Society.

• The Independent Actual Research Center of Bukovina.

 

The Congress of the Nations of Western Ukraine is open for all national minorities living in Western Ukraine. To participate in work of the Congress and its institutions see our contact details on the web-site. The final senior staff approval of the organization and its institutions will be held at the first Congress on November 21, 2019. The event is supported by the International Organization of the Slovaks Living Abroad, the People’s Movement Party of Romania, Hungarian diplomat István Grezsa, and many others.

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Despite all the organizational efforts made we do need your assistance in sharing the information about the Congress of the Nations of Western Ukraine in mass and social media. The more people know about historical unification of the national minorities’ efforts, the bigger is the chance to break on through to the other side of the informational vacuum and get off the ground in the fight against the discrimination of the Western Ukrainian Nations.

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Our Rights, Our Business!