Belarusians Participate in Peace-Making

16.12.2003.

On 12-14 December the Head of the Human Rights Center “Viasna” Ales Bialiatski, a member of the international monitoring group within the limits of the mission on conflict management and prevention was in Bukovyna, the Ukrainian region the capital of which is the city Chernivtsi where considerable groups of national minorities of Romanians and Moldovans live. These national minorities comprise about 20% of the region’s population. The meetings with the leaders of Romanian and Moldovan national minorities, representatives of Ukrainian national NGOs and representatives of the regional authorities took place.

Though there are serious problems in the life of Moldovan and Romanian societies in Bukovina, there are serious possibilities for preservation of their national identity. For instance, in 82 secondary schools pupils are told in Romanian. Four of these schools are situated in Chernivtsi. There are also several schools with the Ukrainian and the Romanian languages of teaching and the Romanian cultural society owns a four-stored building in the center of Chernivtsi.

On 15 December the monitoring group worked in the Trans-Dnister region, on December 16 it works in Gagauziya, an autonomous republic in Moldova, on 17 December the monitoring group will meet with representatives of NGOs and the authorities in Kishinyov.

The report of the monitoring group will be presented to the appropriate UN committees, to the governments of the Ukraine and Moldova, the power structures of Trnas-Dnister republic and Gagauziya as well as to the appropriate missions of the European Union, OSCE and other international bodies.