Pursuant to Clause 8.5 of the “Declaration of Ethical Principles of the Ukrainian Helsinki Human Rights Union”, we present the Working Report of the NGO “Helsinki Initiative – XXI” for 2016.
Throughout the year, the NGO “Helsinki Initiative – XXI” acted as a regional partner of the Ukrainian Helsinki Human Rights Union (UHHRU) in the operation of its reception office in Ternopil.
The reception office is located at the address: 46000 Ternopil, 11 Zhyvova St., office 903.
Lawyers of the NGO “Helsinki Initiative – XXI” commenced conducting off-site receptions at the Chortkiv and Kremenets Local Centres for Free Secondary Legal Aid. Online legal consultations were launched at the Ternopil Regional Universal Scientific Library via the network of internet centres in communal libraries of the region. Additionally, off-site receptions were held in institutions of the State Penitentiary Service of Ukraine within the Ternopil Region, and legal assistance was provided to internally displaced persons and those affected by the armed conflict in Eastern Ukraine at their places of residence.
Commemorating the 160th anniversary of the birth of Anton Horbachevskyi (1856 – 1944), one of the first lawyers and human rights defenders in Galicia, an information and education campaign was conducted, which included publications in print and online media, as well as a series of public events: at the Ternopil Regional Universal Scientific Library, the Chortkiv Central District Library, the O. Barvinskyi Chortkiv Humanitarian-Pedagogical College, and the M. Shashkevych Chortkiv Gymnasium.
Commemorating the 71st anniversary of the end of the Second World War, an information session titled “The Holocaust in the Chortkiv District of the General Government – Restoring Historical Memory” was conducted for a group of researchers from Germany, jointly with the Ukrainian Centre for Holocaust Studies and the “Helsinki Initiative – XXI”.
Throughout the year, the NGO “Helsinki Initiative – XXI” facilitated the activities of two Docudays UA human rights documentary film clubs: at the district library in Chortkiv (“Cinema Club on Zelena Street”) and at the Kopychyntsi Correctional Colony No. 112 (“Free Zone” Cinema Club).
In November and December, an information campaign was held to mark the 40th anniversary of the establishment of the Ukrainian Helsinki Group (UHG). This included the distribution of printed publications about the UHG and the holding of public lectures at the O. Barvinskyi Chortkiv Humanitarian-Pedagogical College, the Faculty of Philology, Journalism and History of the V. Hnatiuk Ternopil National Pedagogical University, the Ternopil Regional Universal Scientific Library, the T. Shevchenko Kremenets Humanitarian-Pedagogical Academy, the J. Słowacki Kremenets Central District Library, the Chortkiv and Zalishchyky Central District Libraries, the Skala-Podilska General Education School (Levels I-III), and the Chortkiv General Education School No. 2 (Levels I-III).
The “Helsinki Initiative – XXI”, jointly with the ENGO “Green World”, facilitated the events of the Docudays UA Travelling International Human Rights Documentary Film Festival in seven districts of the Ternopil Region (Borshchiv, Buchach, Zalishchyky, Husiatyn, Monastyryska, Zbarazh, and Terebovlia) and in the city of Chortkiv.
The “Helsinki Initiative – XXI” partnered with other non-governmental organisations, educational, and cultural institutions of the Ternopil Region in conducting a number of civic public events within the context of the All-Ukrainian Week of Law, 8–12 December.
The result of an appeal by the “Helsinki Initiative – XXI” to the German Embassy in Ukraine was the decision to provide a grant for the installation of a monument in Chortkiv to the writer and humanist Karl Emil Franzos, who was born and spent his childhood years in this city.
The organisation's internet page was maintained on a voluntary basis.
No financial activity of the NGO “Helsinki Initiative – XXI” was carried out during the year.
All activities of the NGO “Helsinki Initiative – XXI” were organised and conducted on a voluntary basis.