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8 WWW. UNWLA.ORG “НАШЕ ЖИТТЯ”, ЧЕРВЕНЬ 2012 jointly our issues and those of the UN. The annual meetings of the WFUWO, which usually take place in Ukraine, attract activists fro m various Ukrainian women's organizations. At these mee t- ings, we frequently have a paper or a panel by someone from Ukraine. For example, during our last meeting Dr. Iryna Klyuchkovska, Director of the International Institute of Education, Culture, and Com munication, and Liaison with the Dia s- pora for the Lviv National Polytechnic University , gave a paper on the status of rural women in Ukraine. Later, I organized a panel on this topic as a parallel event to the 56th session of the UN Commission on the Statu s of Women, invited the UNWLA President, Marianna Zajac, to moderate it, and facilitated the presentation of this paper in English, done by Dr. Martha Kichorowska Kebalo. (Please see the April issue of Our Life for more on this event. — OW ) Within the WFU WO, I coordinate all a c- tivities that relate to the UN. This is organizatio n- al kind of work, and when events like the panel on rural women happen, it is because I follow the dates for the submission of proposals, write the proposals, and help get people tog ether. I see my task mainly as being a kind of “glue” for all of these activities, trying to coordinate things so that we will have a program at the UN. Most recently, we have been hard at work on the statement about human rights, highligh t- ing the right s of women in Ukraine through the NGO Committee on Human Rights at the UN. Irene Jarosewich, a representative in the UN DPI - NGO section and a professional journalist, volu n- teered her time to write an excellent statement. I coordinated this effort with our main office. The WFUWO President Maria Szkambara and Irene Jarosewich co - signed the statement, and it was submitted to Mr. Ivan Simonovic, Assistant - Secretary General of the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. My other activities include attending reg u lar briefings at the UN. The last briefing at the DPI - NGO was very interesting: it focused on the UN celebration of the World Press Freedom Day on May 3, 2012. On that day, the UN honored those journalists who lost their lives as a result of their work: there were 60 of them in 2011 and a l- ready 14 in 2012. As I thought about the signifi c- ance of this day, I wanted to thank the Ukrainian press, both in Ukraine and in the diaspora, for striving to tell the truth under sometimes very difficult cir cumstances. I thought of Georgiy Go n- gadze, who lost his life so tragically because of his commitment to the truth. The work and commi t- ment of our journalists must be acknowledged and remembered. In your tenure as the main representative of the WFUWO at t he UN, what would you consider to be your most important a c- complishments? I think the main result of the WFUWO represe n- tation at the UN is that we are able to signal our presence and cultivate a positive image of Ukra i- nian women among the NGOs at the Unit ed N a- tions. There are 1,300 organizations in the NGO section of the DPI and approximately 2,050 o r- ganizations under ECOSOC, so we have a very big audience among which to spread the word about the WFUWO and various Ukrainian issues. Through writing and co - s igning statements, we also make an impact on the governmental deleg a- tions to the UN and their decisions. I hope this has some significance. The problem is that many people do not fully understand what the UN can and cannot a c- complish. Some people are ve ry frustrated with the slow resolution of problems at the United N a- tions. They would want, for example, the current Ukrainian government to stop the persecution of Yulia Tymoshenko, and it is hard for them to a c- cept that the UN does not have the power to b ring about immediate action. One needs to realize that there are 193 governments involved with the UN, and that the UN is basically a place where many different sides are trying to reach a consensus. For example, each document that comes out of the annual session of the Commission on the St a- tus of Women is the product of many hours of negotiations. Those who draft it spend nights d e- bating it because they cannot agree on this or that word. So, you see, this is a complex process, and the power that NGOs have is only advisory. Even governments that have much more power cannot resolve many problems because of the tremen d- ous diversity of views in this world. I personally feel that, despite all the diff i- culties, the United Nations is the only place where at leas t some dialogue goes on, and, hopefully, there will be reforms. It is a long process, but the world right now is going through immense rea d- justments. My hope is that at the end of this tra n- sition, and with the help and participation of our younger generati on, we will have a fairer, more democratic world. Thank you, pani Nadiu! Interview by Olesia Wallo
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