The Educational House of Human Rights in Chernihiv has begun its work

On March 26, 2014, the discussion club “Expert Thought” hosted a presentation of a unique educational project – the Educational House of Human Rights in Chernihiv.

The idea of ​​creating a Human Rights House in Ukraine first appeared in 2006. However, its implementation took place in 2013, when human rights organizations in Ukraine became institutionally capable of carrying out significant work to achieve a long-standing common goal – the creation of a coordination center for human rights education in Ukraine.

It is important that these organizations represent the eastern, western, northern and southern regions of the country.

The Educational House of Human Rights in Chernihiv will become a project of a nationwide scale. It will be a resource center and provide services for conducting educational and awareness-raising events for human rights defenders, legal specialists and public activists from all over Ukraine.

At a press conference, representatives of Ukrainian human rights organizations-founders of the Educational House of Human Rights in Chernihiv told how important this project is for all of Ukraine and Chernihiv and expressed their opinions on the role of the Educational House of Human Rights in Chernihiv in the current situation in Ukraine.

Serhiy Burov, City Youth Public Organization “M’ART”, Chernihiv

Human dignity, human rights and fundamental freedoms are the most important values ​​of those involved in the All-Ukrainian educational program “Understanding Human Rights”. Its graduates – public activists, journalists, active young people – with their actions successfully contribute to making these values ​​a reality.

Now we will have even more opportunities to implement human rights protection initiatives, because we have created an Educational House on Human Rights. For the program “Understanding Human Rights” – this is a dream that has become a reality and is a certain result of our many years of work.

The Human Rights Educational House is not just a building where trainings and human rights schools will be held, where there will be an opportunity to accommodate people who, for certain reasons, will need temporary shelter. The House is, first of all, a consolidated cooperation of like-minded people – public activists, the number of whom is constantly growing. It is an opportunity and resource for the development and support of public initiatives in the field of human rights.

The Human Rights Educational House is an organization that is part of the international Network of Human Rights Houses. Such communities exist in Norway, Poland, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Serbia, Great Britain, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Uganda, Armenia, Russia, Belarus. This strengthens the opportunities for international solidarity actions of civil society aimed at protecting and supporting human rights.

Although the main purpose of the House in Chernihiv will be to work as a resource center for human rights educational activities, it will probably be the first to receive Crimeans who will need temporary shelter.

For Chernihiv residents, the presence of such a resource provides special opportunities due to its location. We will be glad to receive initiatives from activists and public organizations that can be implemented on the basis of the House.

The first financial support, thanks to which the Human Rights Educational House in Chernihiv was created, was provided by the Norwegian Foundation for Human Rights Houses together with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Norway, assistance was provided by the founding organizations and individual public activists. We are currently expecting other contributions, as the premises still need reconstruction and arrangement to fulfill their functions.

Volodymyr Feskov, Public Organization “Transcarpathian Public Center”, Uzhhorod

Today in Ukraine, human rights and freedoms have received a new lease of life. All these concepts, which are distant for the vast majority of Ukrainians, have become quite close. In general, society has become more sensitive to the rights and freedoms that inalienably belong to all of us and which the state in the form of the police, courts, local or central authorities cannot and should not encroach on.

When the Euro revolution began, the public fought for phenomena that it did not actually have, but which it certainly aspired to. After it became obvious that there would be no European association, which meant that the acquisition of values ​​that exist in developed democracies was postponed, many gave up and prepared to continue living in the country we had, expecting a new chance in the distant future.

However, the authorities, having compromised their democracy, launched a new offensive, this time on what we have and what is inalienable – our rights and freedoms. Then everyone began to feel that something important was being taken away from them, something that makes our lives comfortable and safe. These were precisely the rights and freedoms that a democratic state has no right to encroach on. Then a new stage of the revolution began, much more powerful and effective, which ended with the overthrow of the political regime. And today, regardless of what education someone has, it has become obvious and valuable to everyone that they have rights in the country. The right to assemble for rallies and that the authorities cannot take it away from us and prohibit our events. The right to freely express our thoughts and views in the form that we consider appropriate, and no laws, such as those adopted on January 16, 2014, can limit it. The state in the form of law enforcement agencies cannot torture and inhumanely treat people. That the judiciary must be fair and cannot violate our rights to freedom of movement and personal integrity without real grounds. And this list can be continued.

The main thing is that society has changed and will no longer be the same as it was in the summer of 2013. Everyone has become sensitive to personal rights and freedoms, and therefore the activities of people who preach these principles have become many times more relevant. Therefore, programs such as “I Understand Human Rights” have received wide fronts for work. Therefore, such environments as the “Educational House of Human Rights in Chernihiv” are becoming socially important centers of enlightenment. And therefore, the “new” government, if it really wants to be “new”, must understand this and promote such environments. To raise public awareness of fundamental rights and freedoms. This way it will be able to protect itself from new revolutions, this way it will be able to build international democratic standards in Ukraine today, without formal signed associations.

Dasha Sviridova, OO “Centre of Civil Education “Almenda”:

The idea of ​​creation and work of the SPDRC is to protect, strengthen and support human rights organizations at the local level, as well as to unite them in the international Network of Human Rights Houses.

Today, our organization, which planned to represent the interests of the Educational House in Chernihiv and conducted active educational activities in Crimea, was forced to leave Crimea with almost all of its assets. It is possible that the organization and its activities in Crimea will soon come under the Federal Law “On Public Associations” and be defined as the activities of “foreign agents”.

Recently, in Crimea, activists of our organization and ordinary residents of Crimea have faced a previously unknown problem – restrictions on the right to express opinion, on freedom of peaceful assembly. As early as January 22, 2014, a peaceful and positively perceived by the residents action of young people on the Day of the Cathedral of Ukraine, with flags and the anthem of Ukraine, took place on the Yalta embankment. In March 2014, young guys, women with children, and residents of the city who went to actions for the peace and integrity of Ukraine were already waiting for the complete absence of security guarantees for holding peaceful meetings and aggressive young men in tracksuits who actively prevented the holding of such peaceful meetings. In the near future, according to our forecasts, mass violations in the sphere of protection of property rights, freedom of movement, access to justice, etc. are waiting for Crimea.

The establishment of the House will not only allow our organization to continue its activities in principle, but also strengthen the possibilities of providing assistance to those citizens of Ukraine who remain in Crimea, through the pooling of the resources of the human rights organizations that are the founders of the House.

Viktor Tarasov, Chernihiv public Committee for the Protection of Human Rights

The opening and operation of such a House is a unique opportunity for the city of Chernihiv to become a resource center for civic activism, human rights education, and generally contribute to the cultural and tourist attractiveness of the region. After all, participants in various educational events based on the House will be not only Ukrainian activists, human rights defenders, but also representatives of other countries, primarily those who have problems with the development of democracy and the state of civil society, for example, from Belarus, Russia, and now, unfortunately, Crimeans.

Also, one of the tasks of the House is the ability to provide temporary shelter to activists who are persecuted or deprived of the opportunity to engage in public activities in their countries or other regions of Ukraine.

The creation of the Human Rights Educational House was made possible thanks to the support of the Government of the Kingdom of Norway and the Human Rights House Foundation.