Promoting Intercultural Dialogue in Ukraine
Responding to an increase in the number of suspected racially motivated attacks in Ukraine beginning in December 2006, International Organization for Migration (IOM), the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Amnesty International (AI) and other concerned civil society organizations formed the Diversity Initiative in April 2007 to begin addressing the issue in a coordinated way.
The Diversity Initiative (short form D.I.) strives to uphold the human dignity and well-being of migrants, refugees and visible minorities in Ukraine. It currently includes over 50 organizations from the international, civil, corporate, and government sectors as well as diplomatic missions and interested individuals.
There are three main areas of action:
• government liaison, which seeks to support government activities that encourage intercultural dialogue;
• legal affairs, which provides analysis of existing legislation in the area of discrimination and bias motivated crimes, it also researches good legal practices from other countries;
• advocacy, which seeks to engage civil society and the broader population, activities include researches and surveys, round tables, cultural events, monthly bulletins, flyers and debates.
Key Objectives
• Provide a platform and forum for civil society to network with each other and with Ukrainian government representatives.
• Support the Ukrainian government’s interventions in the areas of promoting cultural understanding and interagency cooperation.
• Collect and disseminate verified and standardized statistics as well as other relevant information relating to suspected racially motivated crimes in Ukraine.
• Engage in public awareness raising and educational activities to encourage intercultural dialogue.
Beneficiaries
• Migrants, asylum seekers, foreign students,
visible minorities and citizens of Ukraine
• Non-governmental organizations who participate
in the network’s mailing list and other activities
• Governmental counterparts
Achievements
• Liaise and support Ukrainian government focal points in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Interior, Security Service of Ukraine, and State Committee of Nationalities and Religions.
• 34 civil society projects funded by various embassies. Establishment of an inter-agency working group on the counteraction of xenophobia in Ukraine chaired by the State Committee of Nationalities and Religions.
• Comments provided by network members to the Ministry of Interior and State Committee of Nationalities and Religions’ Action Plans, and legal analysis of Ukrainian and European discrimination legislation resulting in the development of a White Paper on this topic.
• 100 individuals and organizations are direct recipients of the DI mailing list. Over 2,000 individuals and organizations receive a monthly bulletin, “In the Same Boat”, published by the East European Development Institute, a partner organization.
• Production of a public service announcement encouraging the support of diversity, produced by Gudimov Art project, screened on MTV and in the process of being shown regionally as well as for use by any interested parties.
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