Recognising the urgent need for international cooperation to withstand the trans-boundary drug trafficking, the participants in a joint news conference dedicated to the International Day Against Drug Abuse (26, June) have called to scale up prevention actions and find solutions to drug abuse problem within its roots – among the drug users in order to slow down the drug abuse for a long-term perspective.

In accordance with the agreements signed between the Government of Ukraine, the Delegation of the European Commission and the UN Development Programme in Ukraine, the Programme of Assistance for the Prevention of Drug Abuse and Drug Trafficking in Belarus, Ukraine and Moldova (BUMAD Programme) has been implemented in Ukraine since 2003. The Programme Partners in Ukraine are the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Interior, Security Service, State Customs Service and State Border Service. BUMAD has organized the joint press-conference, creating a viable platform for dialogue between its partners.

Speaking at the press-conference, Ambassador Ian BOAG, Head of the EC Delegation to Ukraine and Belarus, said that drug abuse has been causing tremendous social problems in any society. Moreover, about 1.5mn deaths are recorded annually worldwide that are caused by drugs. It is estimated that there exist 10mn heroine addicts worldwide, as Mr Boag said. “It is crucial that EU coordinates with its neighbour countries like Ukraine in fighting drug trafficking. That’s why EU has provided 6.5mn Euros to fund BUMAD activities since 2003,” Mr BOAG said.

UNDP has been acting as BUMAD’s implementing partner. According to Ms. Joanna KAZANA-WISNIOWIECKA, United Nations Development Programme Deputy Resident Representative in Ukraine, UNDP is looking at the drug abuse problem from the human development perspective. “We ask the questions who are those ‘drug users’ in Ukraine and what is the real life situation and problems these people have to cope with. Very often we see that these are young men and women, living in provincial towns or in ‘depressive’ districts of big cities, very often they do not have a job, live with their parents and have not got too many options for a prosperous future,” Ms KAZANA-WISNIOWIECKA told a news conference.

“We are trying to understand how these people could be assisted to better realise their human potential. Drug addicted people need social assistance, community involvement and medical care, especially, when they are HIV positive. What they do not need is problems with law enforcement agencies. While the society does not need having problems with drug users,” she added.

UNDP has been uniquely well-placed to facilitate cooperation between the law enforcement and public health authorities in Ukraine, the press conference participants agreed. According to Mr. Valeriy PIDBOLIACHNIY, Deputy Chief of the Security Service of Ukraine, it is hard to overestimate the importance of international cooperation and the urgency for its further development, especially when Ukraine more frequently has been viewed by international drug traffickers as a transit channel for their illicit doings.

The drug abuse has been recognised as a growing trouble and a dangerous challenge at the country’s top level. Most recently, the numbers of drug addicts have grown by 1.5-times, according to Mr. Oleg SHUTYAK, the Deputy Chief of Department for Combating Illicit Drug Trafficking of the Ministry of Interior Affairs of Ukraine.

According to the Ministry of Health of Ukraine, as of early 2006, 116,000 were officially registered for having drug-use problems (compared to only 22,500 in 1990). At the same time, surveys carried out with the UN assistance, demonstrate that the numbers of intravenous drug users alone exceed 560,000 persons. While the Ministry of Interior Affairs statistics suggests 152,000 persons committed drug related offences.

The most popular drugs in Ukraine include opiates, marijuana and synthetic psychotropic substances (Amphetamine, MDMA etc.).

Specialists assessed that yearly income of illicit drug trafficking in Ukraine might be between USD 0.5 and USD1.6 bn.

Other participants in the press-conference included Mr. Volodymyr RUSSKOV, Deputy Chief of the State Customs Service and Mr. Anatoliy VIEVSKY, Head of the National Alcohol and Drug Monitoring Centre.

By adopting a special resolution on 7th December 1987, the UN General Assembly decided to observe 26 June as the International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking as an expression of its determination to enhance multi-lateral cooperation in achieving the goal of having a drug-free international society. This resolution recommended further actions with regard to the report and conclusions of the 1987 International Conference on Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking.

About BUMAD Programme:

BUMAD is an EU-funded and UNDP-led project aimed to assist the Government of Ukraine in raising capacity of national law-enforcement and supervising bodies to carry out their specific tasks, as well as improve the state policy making mechanism in the sphere of control for drugs situation at a national level.

For more information, please, contact Mr Igor Konopatskiy, Comunications Specialist of BUMAD Programme, tel.: (+38044) 501-42-03 or email: igor.konopatskiy@undp.org.ua

Kyiv, 27 June 2007

EU-funded project 'Civic Education Ukraine' participated in the World Bank Equal Access to Quality Education project’s national conference on ‘Developing a National Curriculum for the 21^st Century’ in Kyiv on 26 and 27 June 2007. The Project Team Leader and the Long-term National and International Curriculum Development Experts made a joint presentation at the plenary session on the first day on ‘Curriculum development within the Civic Education Ukraine project’.

The presentation highlighted the project’s response to its terms of reference and the process of developing a civic education competencies table for all education stages, based on an analysis of national normative documents, and the development of a cross-curricular approach to the delivery of civic education. The presentation concluded with a summary of curriculum development practice in other European countries.

Project national and international experts participated in group work on both days and the International Curriculum Development Expert made a presentation to the social sciences group.

For further information on the project please contact

David Royle, International Team Leader, Cambridge Education, Ukraine Civic Education Project

Tel: (+380-44) 4665467; 2386389; 5685780; Fax: (+380-44) 2308102 E-mail: David.Royle@ced.kiev.ua

Kyiv, 25 June 2007

The forum (www.teachers.in.ua) started in April 2007 in draft form. It has now had more than 1,000 visitors since it started. The forum deals with key issues about civic education, for example:

• Is civic education/up-bringing important for modern Ukrainian society?
• Who should educate/bring up a citizen?
• What does the project ‘Civic Education – Ukraine’ means for you and your students?

Information about the project ‘Civic Education – Ukraine’ is given in answer to the question ‘What does the project ‘Civic Education – Ukraine’ mean to you and your students?’. Other questions are given without comment in order to stimulate free discussion. Respondents are also asked to say whether civic education is needed; most answered this question positively. Teachers who register for the forum can suggest their own topics for discussion and they can start a discussion on issues which are important for their school communities.

It is planned to increase the number of questions and to make them more specific, for example: ‘How is civic education delivered in your school? Who can be a partner in the important task of bringing up/educating a Citizen? How can we involve community representatives in this process – please share your experience’.Topical questions may also be included: ‘How do you co-operate with the media? Is such co-operation needed? What are the possibilities to co-operate with media in the issue of civic education?’

For further information on the project please contact

David Royle, International Team Leader, Cambridge Education, Ukraine Civic Education Project

Tel: (+380-44) 4665467; 2386389; 5685780; Fax: (+380-44) 2308102 E-mail: David.Royle@ced.kiev.ua

End

Kyiv, 25 June 2007

The round table, Best Practices of Multisectoral Approaches to Preventing HIV/AIDS among the Youth and Promoting Healthy Lifestyle: European and Ukrainian Experience, will be conducted at the Ukrainian Journalist Union office (27a Kreshchatyk Street, 2^nd floor) on June 25, 2007 from 02:00 PM to 04:00 PM. The event is sponsored by the EU-funded Project, “Strengthening Multisectoral Approaches towards HIV/AIDS Prevention among Youth in Ukraine” (SMAHAPY).

The round table is intended to discuss the experiences of international best practices in service provision for the prevention of HIV and promotion of Healthy Lifestyles among youth. A Ukrainian team of experts has visited respective services in the City-State Hamburg in Germany from May 29^th, 2007 through June 5^th, 2007 which was organized by the EU- Project. They will derive recommendations for the services in Ukraine from their experience during this study tour. This round table also is a means of training them who represent the pilot projects in the regions to cooperate with the media and strengthen their necessary experience in advocacy measures.

The organizers of the round table invited representatives from the Education and Science Ministry of Ukraine, Health Ministry, State Social Service on Family, Children, and Youth Matters, Family and Youth Department of the Kyiv City State Administration, Donetsk, Odesa, Lviv and Ivano-Frankivsk regional departments, leading experts, representatives from non-government and international organizations and the mass media.

SMAHAPY has been implemented in Ukraine since April 2005. This EU project helps the Ukrainian Government fight HIV/AIDS epidemic in Ukraine by improving educational measures for the prevention of HIV/AIDS among the youth through mobilization and cooperation of national multisectoral stakeholders pursuant to the National Program for Fighting HIV/AIDS for 2004 through 2008.

Basically, the Project focuses on strengthening the capacities of service providers in the area of health, education and services in the social sector and for the minors through multisectoral strategic planning and management for the purpose of effective promotion of healthy lifestyle and prevention of HIV/AIDS among the youth.

Contact person: Valery Yakhno, Project Coordinator.
Tel.: +38 044 5377092

Kyiv, 22 June 2007

The taxation is one of the priority spheres of approximation of the Ukrainian legislation to the acquis communautaire. Harmonisation of this sphere with the EU standards is one of the corner stones for establishing of a Free Trade Area between Ukraine and the European Community.

The taxation reform has become a crucial topic in the current political debate in Ukraine. Two versions of the draft Taxation Code (one elaborated by the Verkhovna Rada, another one – by the Cabinet of Ministers) are subject to a wide public discussion as regards the scope of the substantive rules, proposed taxation rates and conditions for exemptions. Thus, the discussion at the Round Table will be devoted to the issues, which, to a large extent, have been left aside in this public debate, namely the functioning of the Tax Administration and the taxpayer’s rights.

For this reason the UEPLAC has invited a wide range of participants including those representatives of the Secretariat of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, the Secretariat of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, ministries, other Ukrainian authorities and specialists in taxation matters.

The latest trends in this sphere among Member States will be presented by Mr Jacques Tallineau, UEPLAC Legal Adviser in Internal Market Issues and Economic and Trade-related Reforms, who will moderate the event. Among the key-speakers will be: Mr Mykola KATERYNCHUK, in his capacity as the main contributor to the one of the versions of the draft Taxation Code, Mr Mats GRAMPERT, Team-Leader of the EU funded Project “Support to the Taxation Reform in Ukraine”, Mr Volodymyr RYABOSHLYK, UEPLAC Short-Term Expert, former Deputy Minister of Economy, Mr Igor LAVRYNENKO, UEPLAC Short-Term Expert, Lawyer an others.

Contact persons: Ms Anzhela Markova and Ms Anastasiya Chepka (044) 278 85 69

Kyiv, 18 June 2007

The EU-funded Project “Ukraine: SME Support Services in Priority Regions” provided an introductory training course on the Sector Wide Approach (SWAP) programme planning and implementation tool to selected employees of the State Committee of Ukraine for Regulatory Policy and Entrepreneurship (SCURPE).

The participants of this three-day seminar were initiated to this new EU approach for delivering international aid to beneficiary countries. Major attention was dedicated to the necessity of Ukraine and especially the Ukrainian government to comply with the requirements of this new donor aid approach, which is already successfully implemented in many countries throughout the world.

The training was highly participatory, enabling the participants to learn the impacts of the proposed SWAP approach on their future co-operation with the European Commission in the framework of the EuropeAid support programmes.

Of particular interest for participants was the European Neighbourhood Programme and how it operates.

For more information please contact:

Kyiv, 11 June 2007

The Government of Ukraine is committed to improve the environmental/ecological situation in the country. The industrialisation and the high density of military stocks of the USSR has put enormous pressure on nature and people of Ukraine. The consequences of the Chernobil disaster also had not diminished completely and industry starts picking up after the deep depression. In the Environmental Forum of OSCE (Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe) on May 23 2007 in Prague the environmental situation of Ukraine was quoted as “catastrophic”. The Ministry for Environmental Protection is planning to get approval of the Government of Ukraine for the new Energy Strategy up to 2020 and is preparing first general concept. At the same time the new environmental and ecological concepts and programmes are being discussed at the European Union and its member countries.

The event is fully dedicated to the discussion of the draft Concept of Ukrainian National Environmental Strategy up to 2020 and the UEPLAC is determined to share the best of the European expertise in this field since the issue is very high on the European Commission’s agenda.

Two working groups would focus on discussing the aims of the National Environmental Strategy directed at improving the ecological situation and ecological security as well as relevant parts of the National Environmental Strategy directed to the efficient use of the natural recourses.

Therefore, a wide range of experts and scientists from the Ministry for Environmental Protection of Ukraine, the National Security and Defence Council, National Agriculture University, Ukrainian State Geological Research Institution, Institute of Economics and Forecast, Institute of Hygiene and Medical Ecology, Institute of State and Law, public organisations and institutions and EU experts were invited.

The Round Table would be facilitated by Mr Juris Ozolins, the UEPLAC Key expert on Energy, Environment, Transport and Telecommunications, Special Advisor of EC Energy Commissioner jointly with the representatives of the Council of Study of Productive Forces of Ukraine, Ukrainian Centre of Ecology and Water Projects, Public Council of All-Ukrainian Environmentally oriented Organisations.

Contact person: Ms Anzhela Markova (044) 278 85 69

Kyiv, 6 June 2007

The Trade Union of Railways Workers and Transport Constructors of Ukraine and EVA European Academy for Environmentally Friendly Transport would like to invite you to a conference to Kiev. This event is the final conference of the project

„Capacity Building of the Trade Union of Railway Workers and Transport Constructors of Ukraine“,

which receives funding from Institution Building Partnership Programme IBPP of the European Community.

During the conference the results of the project will be presented, the prospects for the Ukrainian Railway and the tasks for the trade unions in Europe will be discussed. Speakers of the conference will be the president of the Ukrainian Railway Trade Union Vadym Tkachov, a representative of the management of the Ukrainian railways “UkrZaliznytsia”, a representative of the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy of Ukraine, the representative of the European Commission to Ukraine Volodymyr Kondrachuk, Xabier Irastorza from the European Monitoring Centre on Change in Dublin and the chairman of TRANSNET Trade Union Norbert Hansen.

The conference will take place on Thursday, 07.06.2007, at 09:00- 17:30 hrs in Conference Room 303 (3rd floor), Ministry of Transport and Communication of Ukraine,

14 Prospekt Peremohy, Kyiv

Contact in Ukraine:

Trade Union of Railway Workers and Transport Vladyslav Mazepa

Constructors of Ukraine Tel.: +38-044-4650074

Povitroflotsky Prospect e-mail: mazepa@zalp.org.ua

Kyiv, Ukraine www.zalp.org.ua

Contact in Germany:

EVA – Europäische Akademie Almut Spittel, Projektmanagement

für umweltorientierten Verkehr gGmbH Tel.: +49-30-3087526, Fax: +49-30-3087519

Boyenstraße 46 e-mail: almut.spittel@eva-akademie.de

D- 10115 Berlin www.eva-akademie.de

Ukrainian-European Policy and Legal Advice Centre (UEPLAC) in co-operation with the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine held a round table on migration policy

A round table EU and Ukraine - Reforming Migration Policy: what, where and how? took place on 5 June 2007 at 9:30 in the premises of the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine, Collegium Hall (provulok Rylskyi, 10).

The Round Table was aimed to offer a one day platform to discuss pros and cons of the institutional and legal reform aimed at creating a single agency dealing with the migration policy in Ukraine (ie, Ukraine Migration Service).

In October 2006 the EU and Ukraine have agreed on a revised Action Plan on Justice, Freedom and Security, and some of its most important chapters are those on Migration and Border Management.

During the Round Table the representatives from ministries, other central bodies of executive power, the Delegation of the European Commission to Ukraine and Belarus, Embassies of the EU Member States, International Organisations and NGOs participated in the debate in order to further the dialogue between institutions, civil society and partner countries around reforming Migration Policy in Ukraine.

The first session was dedicated to the Legal and Illegal Migration Policies and Legislative Framework in Ukraine and the EU (speakers: Mr Victor Chumak, Director, International Centre for Policy Studies and Mr Piotr Kazmierkiewicz, UEPLAC expert).

The second session was devoted to the Needs and Priorities of Migration Policy in Ukraine (speakers: Mr Jeffrey Labovitz, Coordinator for Ukraine, Moldova and Belarus, Chief of Mission IOM Ukraine and Ms Simone Wolken, the UNHCR Regional Representative for Belarus, Moldova and Ukraine).

For more information please contact:

Ms Anzhela Markova
tel: +38044 278 85 69
+38044 278 12 68
fax:+38044 278 35 89
E-mail: office@ueplac.kiev.ua

Kyiv, 29 May 2007

On June 5, 2007, at 14:30-17:00, closure meeting of the TACIS Project “Strengthening Civil Society” takes place in the premises of the Delegation of the European Commission (Kruhlouniversitetska st. 10).

The goal of the meeting is to present successful achievements and to draw conclusions for the whole project period (June 2005 - June 2007).

The Project team managed to strengthen capacities of socially oriented non-governmental organizations (NGOs) as providers of social services through various activities:

• Participatory learning approaches (Distance learning, quality management trainings)
• Innovative models of cooperation between NGOs and local authorities (Fairs of social services, Open Spaces)
• Networking for mutual professional support (cross-regional study visits)

Now NGOs in the target regions better understand their role as a crucial factor of participatory democracy in the social field.

• They participate in improvement of the national legislation (changes and amendments to the Law of Ukraine On volunteering and On social services)
• They contribute to improvement of local social policy
• They promote the interests of their clients

The meeting will also address the achievements of 12 social micro-projects, co-financed by the EC Delegation which are a good example of success through transfer of Know-How and financial incentives.

Among the guests invited are representatives of the EC Delegation, Ministry of family, youth and sports (Project Partner), Ministry of labor and social policy, Ministry of Economics, local authorities, international organizations, five regional Project’s representations – Social Partnership Centers, as well as Project clients - socially oriented NGOs.

Press accreditation at the phone 246 7682, 501 2670:

Tetiana Katsbert (Project expert)
tkatsbert@civilsociety.org.ua
www.civilsociety.org.ua

Kyiv, 1 June 2007

The Round Table aims to offer a one day platform to discuss pros and cons of the institutional and legal reform aims at creating a single agency dealing with the migration policy in Ukraine (ie, Ukraine Migration Service).

In October 2006 the EU and Ukraine have agreed on a revised Action Plan on Justice, Freedom and Security, and some of its most important chapters are those on Migration and Border Management.

The event facilitates the debate in order to further the dialogue between institutions, civil society and partner countries around reforming Migration Policy in Ukraine, and would provide the audience with a range of presentations and discussion issues.

For this reason UEPLAC has invited the representatives from ministries, other central bodies of executive power, the Delegation of the European Commission to Ukraine and Belarus, Embassies of the EU Member States, International Organisations and NGOs.

The first session will be dedicated to the Legal and Illegal Migration Policies and Legislative Framework in Ukraine and the EU (speakers: Mr Victor Chumak, Director, International Centre for Policy Studies and Mr Piotr Kazmierkiewicz, UEPLAC expert).

The second session will be devoted to the Needs and Priorities of Migration Policy in Ukraine (speakers: Mr Jeffrey Labovitz, Coordinator for Ukraine, Moldova and Belarus, Chief of Mission IOM Ukraine and Ms Simone Wolken, the UNHCR Regional Representative for Belarus, Moldova and Ukraine).

For more information and accreditation please contact:

Ms Anzhela Markova
tel: +38044 278 85 69
+38044 278 12 68
fax:+38044 278 35 89
E-mail: office@ueplac.kiev.ua