August 27, 2012
PRESS RELEASE
UWC CALLS UPON INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY TO CLOSELY MONITOR
THE STATE OF INDEPENDENT MEDIA OUTLETS IN UKRAINE
On August 27, 2012, Ukrainian World Congress (UWC) President Eugene Czolij sent a letter to the international community expressing grave concern over a news article about the complaint of TVi, an independent Ukrainian news channel, that the tax service continues to impede its work and that more regional providers have been disconnecting the TVi channel from their networks due to censorship by the authorities. These events are very disturbing in the run-up to Ukraine’s 28 October 2012 Parliamentary elections.
UWC called upon the international community to closely monitor the situation and “to stress, in this regard, the importance of media freedom and the freedom of civil society, and to ensure that the Ukrainian authorities refrain from any attempt to control, directly or indirectly, the content of national media reporting” as per the European Parliament resolution of 1 December 2011.
A copy of the letter was sent by UWC to President Viktor Yanukovych, calling upon him to ensure the immediate compliance with the above noted European Parliament resolution.
The UWC is the international coordinating body for Ukrainian communities in the diaspora representing the interests of over 20 million Ukrainians. The UWC has member organizations in 32 countries and ties with Ukrainians in 15 additional countries. Founded in 1967 as a non-profit corporation, the UWC was recognized in 2003 by the United Nations Economic and Social Council as a non-governmental organization (NGO) with special consultative status.
