default header
07 May 2004
U.S. Praises OSCE Role in Promoting Democracy in Ukraine
Minikes says October elections will be "test of Ukrainian democracy"
The United States "attaches great value" to continued cooperation between the Ukrainian government and the office of the OSCE Project Co-ordinator, and believes that such cooperation is vital to Ukraine "in fulfilling its Euro-Atlantic ambitions," said U.S. Ambassador Stephan Minikes May 6.
In remarks to the OSCE Permanent Council in Vienna, Minikes praised the work of Project Co-ordinator David Nicholas and his office, and cited examples of cooperation in a variety of areas such as small and medium-sized business development, military reform, and combating human trafficking.
"The Office's work reinforces other ongoing efforts to support Ukraine's transition to democracy and to improve the standard of living of its people," Minikes said.
He said the United States considers the upcoming presidential election on October 31 to be "an important test of Ukrainian democracy and of its will to uphold OSCE commitments." He outlined some areas of concern such as "campaign-related human rights violations and harassment of the opposition," as well as "tax investigations of businesses affiliated with the opposition."
Following are his remarks:
(begin text)
United States Mission to the OSCE
Vienna
http://osce.usmission.gov/
STATEMENT ON UKRAINE
As delivered by Ambassador Stephan M. Minikes to the Permanent Council
May 6, 2004
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
The United States would like to join others in welcoming Ambassador Nicholas [David Nicholas, OSCE Project Co-ordinator in Ukraine] to Vienna. I had the pleasure of meeting with Ambassador Nicholas during my recent visit and came away very impressed with the enthusiasm and the dedication of his staff and the important work they are carrying out.
The United States appreciates the work the Project Office is carrying out in a wide variety of areas. The Office's work reinforces other ongoing efforts to support Ukraine's transition to democracy and to improve the standard of living of its people.
The Office's training and education programs for former military personnel and conversion of military bases help to facilitate military reform, an area that is closely related to Ukraine's efforts to integrate into Euro-Atlantic structures.
We support the Office's efforts to promote economic activities, particularly its efforts to promote development of small and medium-sized enterprises, which can serve as an engine for job creation and economic growth. We have long been aware of Ukraine's need for foreign direct investment and are also pleased that the Office is working to help attract investment at the oblast level. Other Missions could benefit from the Office's experience.
We appreciate the Office's work to foster rule of law: engendering respect for rule of law is perhaps the most critical challenge facing the Ukrainian government. This requires the development of an independent, professional judiciary; thus, the training programs for judges fill an especially critical need. We encourage the Office to develop a project on implementation of new legislation. We applaud the Office's efforts to combat trafficking in human beings, including its collaborative engagement with NGOs in conducting prevention campaigns.
We consider the Office's efforts to coordinate election assistance activities particularly valuable in view of the importance of the upcoming presidential election. This election is an important test of Ukrainian democracy and of its will to uphold OSCE commitments.
We remain concerned by reports of campaign-related human rights violations and harassment of the opposition. We are also concerned about reports that pro-government forces are abusing administrative resources in order to tilt the playing field against opposition candidates. Tax investigations of businesses affiliated with the opposition are especially troubling. The Ukrainian government announced a moratorium of investigations by state agencies of media companies for the duration of the campaign, which we support. The United States would welcome a similar moratorium on investigations of businesses.
We believe the Office is playing a positive role and encourage it to continue to coordinate closely with ODIHR, which will observe the election process. ODIHR representatives were present at the April 18 mayoral election in Mukacheve and issued a statement outlining some of the problems they found.
Mr. Chairman, in closing, the United States attaches great value to continued cooperation between the coordinator's office and the Ukrainian government in the implementation of the Office's activities. We commend the Office and Ukraine for the cooperation that continues to characterize the activities outlined in Ambassador Nicholas's report. We believe such cooperation is vital to both the success of the Office but more importantly Ukraine in fulfilling its Euro-Atlantic ambitions. We welcome future reports on the achievements that such cooperation yields.
Thank you.
(end text)
(Distributed by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
