The Open Dialogue Foundation is a non-profit organization based in Warsaw, Poland that works to promote human rights, democracy, and the rule of law. In 2018, the Foundation supported Polish-Ukrainian solidarity and defended activists in Ukraine facing harassment. It opposed the use of force against protesters in Kiev and demanded investigations into attacks on journalists and activists. The Foundation also works to support reforms and protect human rights in Ukraine through research, advocacy, and cooperation with other organizations.
The document provides information about the Open Dialog Foundation, including its mission to defend human rights and promote democracy. It details the Foundation's activities in 2014, which focused on the situation in Ukraine resulting from protests on Maidan Square in Kiev. The Foundation conducted research and analysis on human rights issues in Ukraine, disseminated its findings, and provided assistance to individuals and organizations in support of its mission.
The Open Dialog Foundation is a non-profit organization based in Warsaw, Poland that was established in 2010. In 2016, the Foundation reported total revenues of 1,096,024.54 PLN and total costs of 1,210,632.90 PLN. The Foundation's activities in 2016 focused on supporting democratic reforms in Ukraine, providing humanitarian aid to areas affected by the Chernobyl disaster, advocating for political prisoners in Russia and Ukraine, and monitoring human rights in Moldova. However, due to financial constraints, the Foundation closed offices and scaled back many programs during the year.
The Open Dialog Foundation released a statement in response to an article in Wprost weekly that was critical of the foundation. The statement expresses gratitude for media coverage of human rights issues in Kazakhstan but says the article did not support democracy and rule of law. It provides details about the foundation's independent and nonprofit work monitoring elections and supporting political prisoners. The foundation denies claims in the article that it receives funding from Mukhtar Ablyazov or limits its dialogue to just one political group in Kazakhstan.
Final sprawozdanie merytoryczne 2015 eng_fin_done_finodfoundation
The Open Dialog Foundation is a non-profit organization based in Warsaw, Poland that was established in 2010. In 2015, the Foundation monitored the situation in eastern Ukraine, providing humanitarian aid and publishing reports on internally displaced persons and Ukrainian volunteer battalions. It also organized numerous public assemblies in solidarity with Ukraine and maintained the Ukrainian World Centre in Warsaw to provide services and classes for Ukrainians in Poland. The Foundation sought to foster Polish-Ukrainian dialogue and cooperation while addressing problems faced by Ukrainians in Poland.
The Open Dialog Foundation's activities in 2013 included:
1. Organizing election observation missions and trial observations in Kazakhstan, Spain, Hungary, Bulgaria, and France related to politically motivated prosecutions.
2. Monitoring human rights violations during protests in Ukraine and organizing support for Ukrainian civil society.
3. Participating in debates and meetings in the European Parliament and parliaments of several EU countries regarding human rights issues in Kazakhstan.
4. Organizing conferences, exhibitions, and events to raise awareness of political persecution and human rights violations.
5. Providing support to political refugees seeking asylum in Poland and other EU countries to prevent extraditions to Kazakhstan.
Кремлівська політика «соотечественников» як інструмент гібридного впливу.
Влад Кобєц (Польща / Білорусь) – виконавчий директор, The International Strategic Action Network for Security (iSANS)
Другий Харківський Міжнародний Безпековий Форум
“Боротьба за людей в умовах гібридної війни”
29 листопада, 2019
Tolerance and Non-Discrimination: Current Situation and Ukraine’s PerspectiveDonbassFullAccess
The outcomes of OSCE Human Dimension Implementation Meeting Warsaw, 26 September 2016 Working session 11: Tolerance and non discrimination, including prevention and responses to hate crimes in the OSCE area and combating racism, xenophobia and discrimination, also focusing on intolerance on religious grounds.
Civil society under Russia’s threat: building resilience in Ukraine, Belarus ...DonbassFullAccess
This document summarizes a research paper on civil society resilience in Ukraine, Belarus, and Moldova in response to threats from Russia. It finds the top three vulnerabilities for each country are:
For Ukraine - high insecurity from the ongoing conflict in eastern Ukraine; turbulence in its predatory and fractured political environment; and susceptibility to Russian disinformation.
For Belarus - its structural dependence on Russia economically, in energy, geopolitically and socio-culturally; issues with national identity and the Russian language; exposure to Russian information warfare.
For Moldova - strong linkages between politics, media and the Orthodox Church that allow Russian propaganda to dominate; low trust in institutions due to this undermining
The document provides information about the Open Dialog Foundation, including its mission to defend human rights and promote democracy. It details the Foundation's activities in 2014, which focused on the situation in Ukraine resulting from protests on Maidan Square in Kiev. The Foundation conducted research and analysis on human rights issues in Ukraine, disseminated its findings, and provided assistance to individuals and organizations in support of its mission.
The Open Dialog Foundation is a non-profit organization based in Warsaw, Poland that was established in 2010. In 2016, the Foundation reported total revenues of 1,096,024.54 PLN and total costs of 1,210,632.90 PLN. The Foundation's activities in 2016 focused on supporting democratic reforms in Ukraine, providing humanitarian aid to areas affected by the Chernobyl disaster, advocating for political prisoners in Russia and Ukraine, and monitoring human rights in Moldova. However, due to financial constraints, the Foundation closed offices and scaled back many programs during the year.
The Open Dialog Foundation released a statement in response to an article in Wprost weekly that was critical of the foundation. The statement expresses gratitude for media coverage of human rights issues in Kazakhstan but says the article did not support democracy and rule of law. It provides details about the foundation's independent and nonprofit work monitoring elections and supporting political prisoners. The foundation denies claims in the article that it receives funding from Mukhtar Ablyazov or limits its dialogue to just one political group in Kazakhstan.
Final sprawozdanie merytoryczne 2015 eng_fin_done_finodfoundation
The Open Dialog Foundation is a non-profit organization based in Warsaw, Poland that was established in 2010. In 2015, the Foundation monitored the situation in eastern Ukraine, providing humanitarian aid and publishing reports on internally displaced persons and Ukrainian volunteer battalions. It also organized numerous public assemblies in solidarity with Ukraine and maintained the Ukrainian World Centre in Warsaw to provide services and classes for Ukrainians in Poland. The Foundation sought to foster Polish-Ukrainian dialogue and cooperation while addressing problems faced by Ukrainians in Poland.
The Open Dialog Foundation's activities in 2013 included:
1. Organizing election observation missions and trial observations in Kazakhstan, Spain, Hungary, Bulgaria, and France related to politically motivated prosecutions.
2. Monitoring human rights violations during protests in Ukraine and organizing support for Ukrainian civil society.
3. Participating in debates and meetings in the European Parliament and parliaments of several EU countries regarding human rights issues in Kazakhstan.
4. Organizing conferences, exhibitions, and events to raise awareness of political persecution and human rights violations.
5. Providing support to political refugees seeking asylum in Poland and other EU countries to prevent extraditions to Kazakhstan.
Кремлівська політика «соотечественников» як інструмент гібридного впливу.
Влад Кобєц (Польща / Білорусь) – виконавчий директор, The International Strategic Action Network for Security (iSANS)
Другий Харківський Міжнародний Безпековий Форум
“Боротьба за людей в умовах гібридної війни”
29 листопада, 2019
Tolerance and Non-Discrimination: Current Situation and Ukraine’s PerspectiveDonbassFullAccess
The outcomes of OSCE Human Dimension Implementation Meeting Warsaw, 26 September 2016 Working session 11: Tolerance and non discrimination, including prevention and responses to hate crimes in the OSCE area and combating racism, xenophobia and discrimination, also focusing on intolerance on religious grounds.
Civil society under Russia’s threat: building resilience in Ukraine, Belarus ...DonbassFullAccess
This document summarizes a research paper on civil society resilience in Ukraine, Belarus, and Moldova in response to threats from Russia. It finds the top three vulnerabilities for each country are:
For Ukraine - high insecurity from the ongoing conflict in eastern Ukraine; turbulence in its predatory and fractured political environment; and susceptibility to Russian disinformation.
For Belarus - its structural dependence on Russia economically, in energy, geopolitically and socio-culturally; issues with national identity and the Russian language; exposure to Russian information warfare.
For Moldova - strong linkages between politics, media and the Orthodox Church that allow Russian propaganda to dominate; low trust in institutions due to this undermining
The EuroMaidan started in Kyiv on the evening of November 21st 2013. Throughout the subsequent weeks it turned into a true revolution – one that changed Ukraine’s political system and its geopolitical vector. Less known, however, is the fact that EuroMaidan went beyond the Independence Square in Kyiv. It also took place in eastern Ukraine.
The Open Dialog Foundation is a non-governmental organization based in Lublin, Poland that was established in 2010. In 2012, the Foundation monitored elections and human rights in Kazakhstan, organized observation missions to court proceedings related to the Zhanaozen massacre, and held conferences on the situation in Kazakhstan. The Foundation also supported political refugees from Kazakhstan and engaged in cultural activities like an international theatre festival in Lublin. While the Foundation's activities focused on Kazakhstan, it also monitored situations in Russia and Ukraine.
Mariupol: Living with conflict and post-conflict prospectsDonbassFullAccess
Mariupol is a large industrial city in the south of the Donetsk region. The city is one of the most important industrial centres in Ukraine, since it is home to two major metallurgical companies. The Port of Mariupol is the largest and most well-equipped port on the Sea of Azov, one of Ukraine’s four biggest ports. After armed conflict broke out in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions in 2014, Mariupol became the most important strategic point in the country, a target of clashes between the two opposing sides.
This research looks at the views of the inhabitants of Mariupol and its environs on the local consequences of the conflict, to understand the expectations of citizens, businesses and government officials in terms of minimising the impact of the conflict, and to identify areas of dialogue and cooperation that may be possible among the community, businesses and local authorities in order to address the most pressing local issues.
The research was conducted by the Mariupol Youth Union and commissioned by International Alert with the financial support of the European Union.
Digest by Ukrainian Helsinki Human rights Union, April 2019DonbassFullAccess
The document summarizes the activities of the USAID Human Rights in Action Program implemented by the Ukrainian Helsinki Human Rights Union in April 2019. It discusses the program's work on human rights monitoring, advocacy, strategic litigation, free legal aid provision, and human rights education. Key events covered include Russia simplifying citizenship for eastern Ukrainians, and the PACE keeping sanctions on Russia in place.
The document summarizes:
1) John McCormick, a professor of European politics at IUPUI, was recently awarded the prestigious Jean Monnet Chair by the European Commission, one of only four conferred in the US in 2010.
2) The award comes with €45,000 over three years to support McCormick's work in European Union studies, which he plans to use for teaching initiatives, revising textbooks, and hosting conferences and lectures.
3) McCormick's research focuses on shared values among Europeans like multiculturalism, which accepts cultural differences within tolerance of nationalism, in contrast to the American "melting pot" model of assimilation.
This document summarizes a master's thesis about conflict potential and the role of youth in the Ferghana Valley region. The valley is located at the borders of Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan and has a risk of conflict due to cross-border issues related to borders drawn by Stalin. Socioeconomic conditions are worst in Tajikistan, followed by Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan, with high unemployment especially among youth. In June 2010, ethnic violence broke out in southern Kyrgyzstan's Osh region, where over 400 people died. While the violence occurred along ethnic lines, the underlying causes included poor socioeconomic conditions and a power vacuum after Kyrgyzstan's revolution in
Non governmental organizations have been active in Moldova since 1989, but a civil society started its today’s formation as a result of radical reforms in economic and political areas only after the country became independent in 1991. Since that time the establishment of a transitional civil society in Moldova is under way. However, starting from 2001, when the Communist Party won the general elections, development of the nongovernmental sector has become slower. Although several positive patterns evident at the end of the nineties indicate progress in the development of Moldovan non-governmental sector, there is a number of sensitive issues (e.g., freedom of media, human rights protection) in relation to which certain regress has been observed especially in the last two years. Media market in Moldova is far from being free, and protection of human rights remains to be a problem (in all respects, situation of non-governmental sector in Transnistria is much worse than in Moldova). Finally, it needs to be emphasized that critical socio-economic situation seems to be the main threat to democracy and the rule of law in the country. This is because further significant economic decline can provide fertile ground for non-democratic political forces and extremists. Economic collapse could be a real threat to the achievements in the area of democratization and civil society development. Thus, only results of a successful economic reform process may reverse undesirable patterns and change socio-economic situation in Moldova, increase income of population, decrease poverty, guarantee stability and irreversibility of Moldovan achievements in democratization and development of civil society.
Authored by: Jacek Cukrowski, Radzislawa Gortat, Piotr Kazmierkiewicz
Published in 2003
This document provides an overview of the mass anti-government protests in Ukraine (known as Euromaidan) that began in late 2013 in response to the Ukrainian government suspending plans to sign an association agreement with the European Union. It describes how peaceful protests emerged and grew in size in Kiev and other regions of Ukraine throughout November 2013. However, on November 30th security forces violently dispersed protesters in Kiev, beating dozens and leaving some missing. This crackdown transformed the protests into more openly anti-government demonstrations and led to further government oppression of activists and journalists.
The document summarizes the tensions between Russia and Ukraine since Ukrainian independence in 1991. It discusses Ukraine's divisions along ethnic, linguistic, and religious lines that have complicated its national identity. It describes Russian influence on Ukrainian politics and opposition by pro-Western groups, such as during the 2004 Orange Revolution. The conflict escalated after Russia annexed Crimea in 2014 and supported separatists in eastern Ukraine. Resolving the conflict will require addressing issues like Russian influence over post-Soviet states, Ukraine's sovereignty, the status of disputed regions, Ukrainian national identity, and international alliances.
This document summarizes a research paper on cooperation between Finland, Hungary, and Estonia based on their shared Finno-Ugric ethnic links. It discusses the foreign policy narratives of the three countries and how their shared cultural and linguistic heritage with Finno-Ugric peoples in Russia has led to some institutionalized cooperation. However, the paper finds that while there is rhetoric of cooperation, there is limited evidence of substantial cooperation in influencing the EU's policies towards Russia or in advocating for the rights of Finno-Ugric minorities in Russia. The paper aims to analyze whether shared ethnic backgrounds can facilitate foreign policy cooperation between EU member states.
This section documents numerous violations of human rights and public safety that occurred in Ukraine between November 2013 and March 2014, during the period of violent protests. It describes clashes between protesters and police, as well as acts of vandalism, unlawful seizures of buildings, and training in violent tactics. Right-wing nationalist groups like Pravyi Sektor and Svoboda were involved in many of these illegal and aggressive acts, including attempts to break through police lines, seize government buildings, and destroy a monument to Lenin. The timeline shows a progression over this period towards more widespread violence and disregard for the rule of law.
The document discusses geopolitical visits to Moldova following parliamentary elections in November 2010. It summarizes that Russia and Western countries attempted to influence the formation of Moldova's new government according to their geopolitical interests. Russia preferred a coalition including pro-Russian parties, visiting Moldova and meeting with the Communist and Democratic parties. In response, European foreign ministers visited in support of Moldova's pro-Western direction and met longer with parties favoring EU integration. The document argues these visits showed the ongoing geopolitical competition for influence in Moldova between Russia and the West.
Freemuse Annual Statistics on Censorship and Attacks on Artistic Freedom in 2015La French Team
Artistic freedom is under extreme pressure in far too many countries. The Freemuse annual report summarises censorship and threats on artistic freedom in 2015 in over 70 countries.
In total, Freemuse registered 469 cases of censorship and attacks on artists and violations of their rights in 2015, making it our worst recorded year yet, nearly doubling the number of cases from 2014 with a 98% increase from the year previous, wherein 237 cases were registered.
While at the UN level there have been positive signs of larger attention being paid to the importance of protecting artistic freedom in 2015, sadly the year was dominated by a 20% increase in registered killings, attacks, abductions, imprisonments and threats, and a staggering 224% increase in acts of censorship.
cultural and social assimilation of immigrants, and systemic solutions – Pol...Przegląd Politologiczny
: The article presents the problem of migration and assimilation of newcomers in the countries
of residence. One of the main reasons for migration are economic and social considerations, this applies
to both non-European arrivals and internal migration. The aim of this study, conducted by scholars from
Norway and Poland, is to compare systemic solutions both within the social legislation and the functioning of the labor market with respect to Poles and Ukrainians, confronting them with existing barriers regarding the possibility of assimilation and obstacles related to the transformation of economic into
settlement migration. The methodological and theoretical basis of the team’s research is comparative
methods, including comparative politics. The research on immigrants was conducted using both quantitative methods – statistical and qualitative data analysis – and research using the in-depth interview
method. Poles and Ukrainians are not at the same stage of formal migration due to the formal plane. According to the analysis, Ukrainians have much greater opportunities for actual assimilation than Poles in
Norway. Smaller cultural differences and linguistic barriers to the Ukrainians in Poland are conducive
to this process. If the state and Polish society take advantage of this situation and enable the settlement
of Ukrainians and make their job offers more attractive, there is a chance that they will fill the emerging
demographic gap. It would be for the benefit of both societies.
Events of August '91 as an Expression of Political Disobedience in the Proces...AnnaJach1
Civil disobedience is the attitude which in the 20th century proved to be the only effective form of resistance to authoritarian regimes. So it was in the case of the events of August '91 when the Soviet society objected to the activities of the State Committee on the State of Emergency. It would not have been possible without the reform programme known as perestroika initiated by the last USSR leader Mikhail Gorbachev. Thanks to perestroika and the accompanying glasnost-transparency of sociopolitical life-the previously apathetic and alienated Soviet society felt responsible for their own life and for the fate of the State. By opposing the rebels through pas sive resistance, the citizens proved to the leaders of their own country, to the world, and above all, to themselves that they were aware of their rights and responsibilities. The process of sociopolitical socialization stimulated the development of civil society in the Soviet Union.
Birgitte Bjerge Poulsen interned at the Royal Danish Embassy in Helsinki from February to July 2016. During her internship, she conducted background research, prepared analyses of Finnish affairs, did daily media monitoring and newsletters, networked with officials, participated in briefings, updated websites and social media, and contributed to other tasks. She worked independently and had strong analytical skills, prioritization abilities, and learned quickly. The recommendation letter states she was a sociable, modest employee who developed networks through collaboration. The embassy warmly recommends her for having satisfactorily completed her tasks.
Politburo 2.0 works as a network structure. It is an informal agency and there is no formalization of its functions, such as general meetings.
Sectoral branches are distributed among its members, who offer their management schemes within their competence.
MAIN TRENDS IN MEDIA COVERAGE OF SOCIOPOLITICAL PROCESSES IN UKRAINE IN 2014-...DonbassFullAccess
The document analyzes trends in media coverage of socio-political events in Ukraine from 2014 to 2017 based on monitoring by NGO Detector Media. It finds that for many years, the political views expressed by private Ukrainian TV channels have been defined by the interests of their oligarchic owners rather than objective journalism. Following Ukraine's 2014 revolution, some channels began transforming into public broadcasters, but oligarchic media groups still dominate the landscape. The monitoring found violations of journalism standards increased in news coverage, especially invited commentary that censored opposing views. Overall the analysis shows oligarchic influence and lack of strong public media have hampered quality coverage of political issues important to Ukrainian society.
In 2009, the Republic of Moldova created an alternative to the communist
leadership. In 2013, the Alliance for European Integration was replaced by the Alliance for Pro-European Governance, which secured two issues: the signing of the Association Agreement between the Republic of Moldova and the European Union, and
the interests of local oligarchs. After the parliamentary elections in 2014, as an alternative to the increasingly powerful Igor Dodon’s Party of Socialists, another coalition,
the Political Alliance for European Moldova was created and ‘sealed’ by embezzling
$ 1 billion from Moldovan banks (12.5% of GDP). The coalition formed in January
2015, was replaced by the re-launched Alliance for European Integration, and then by
another coalition without a definite name in January 2016. This extremely expanded
political activity is a backdrop for the façade of democracy and the subsequent parliamentary elections scheduled for 2018. The pro-European coalitions in the Republic of
Moldova discredited themselves in front of the society as strongly as their predecessors (the communists), causing a state of general disintegration.
The Open Dialogue Foundation is a non-profit organization based in Warsaw, Poland that was established in 2010. In 2017, the Foundation focused on monitoring human rights and supporting reforms in Ukraine, providing humanitarian aid to Ukraine, and defending civil society activists facing persecution. However, the Foundation also had to defend itself against attacks from the Polish government for criticizing changes that weakened the rule of law in Poland. The Minister of Foreign Affairs filed a lawsuit attempting to suspend the Foundation's board for its statement in support of judicial independence.
The Open Dialog Foundation's activities in 2013 included:
1) Organizing election observation missions and trial observations related to human rights cases in Kazakhstan, Spain, Hungary, Bulgaria, France, and Ukraine.
2) Monitoring the mass protests in Ukraine against President Yanukovych for refusing to sign an EU association agreement.
3) Participating in public hearings and meetings in the European Parliament and parliaments of several European countries regarding human rights issues in Kazakhstan and Central Asia.
4) Organizing conferences and events on topics like the situation in Kazakhstan and Central Asia, and the illegal deportation of opposition figures.
The EuroMaidan started in Kyiv on the evening of November 21st 2013. Throughout the subsequent weeks it turned into a true revolution – one that changed Ukraine’s political system and its geopolitical vector. Less known, however, is the fact that EuroMaidan went beyond the Independence Square in Kyiv. It also took place in eastern Ukraine.
The Open Dialog Foundation is a non-governmental organization based in Lublin, Poland that was established in 2010. In 2012, the Foundation monitored elections and human rights in Kazakhstan, organized observation missions to court proceedings related to the Zhanaozen massacre, and held conferences on the situation in Kazakhstan. The Foundation also supported political refugees from Kazakhstan and engaged in cultural activities like an international theatre festival in Lublin. While the Foundation's activities focused on Kazakhstan, it also monitored situations in Russia and Ukraine.
Mariupol: Living with conflict and post-conflict prospectsDonbassFullAccess
Mariupol is a large industrial city in the south of the Donetsk region. The city is one of the most important industrial centres in Ukraine, since it is home to two major metallurgical companies. The Port of Mariupol is the largest and most well-equipped port on the Sea of Azov, one of Ukraine’s four biggest ports. After armed conflict broke out in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions in 2014, Mariupol became the most important strategic point in the country, a target of clashes between the two opposing sides.
This research looks at the views of the inhabitants of Mariupol and its environs on the local consequences of the conflict, to understand the expectations of citizens, businesses and government officials in terms of minimising the impact of the conflict, and to identify areas of dialogue and cooperation that may be possible among the community, businesses and local authorities in order to address the most pressing local issues.
The research was conducted by the Mariupol Youth Union and commissioned by International Alert with the financial support of the European Union.
Digest by Ukrainian Helsinki Human rights Union, April 2019DonbassFullAccess
The document summarizes the activities of the USAID Human Rights in Action Program implemented by the Ukrainian Helsinki Human Rights Union in April 2019. It discusses the program's work on human rights monitoring, advocacy, strategic litigation, free legal aid provision, and human rights education. Key events covered include Russia simplifying citizenship for eastern Ukrainians, and the PACE keeping sanctions on Russia in place.
The document summarizes:
1) John McCormick, a professor of European politics at IUPUI, was recently awarded the prestigious Jean Monnet Chair by the European Commission, one of only four conferred in the US in 2010.
2) The award comes with €45,000 over three years to support McCormick's work in European Union studies, which he plans to use for teaching initiatives, revising textbooks, and hosting conferences and lectures.
3) McCormick's research focuses on shared values among Europeans like multiculturalism, which accepts cultural differences within tolerance of nationalism, in contrast to the American "melting pot" model of assimilation.
This document summarizes a master's thesis about conflict potential and the role of youth in the Ferghana Valley region. The valley is located at the borders of Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan and has a risk of conflict due to cross-border issues related to borders drawn by Stalin. Socioeconomic conditions are worst in Tajikistan, followed by Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan, with high unemployment especially among youth. In June 2010, ethnic violence broke out in southern Kyrgyzstan's Osh region, where over 400 people died. While the violence occurred along ethnic lines, the underlying causes included poor socioeconomic conditions and a power vacuum after Kyrgyzstan's revolution in
Non governmental organizations have been active in Moldova since 1989, but a civil society started its today’s formation as a result of radical reforms in economic and political areas only after the country became independent in 1991. Since that time the establishment of a transitional civil society in Moldova is under way. However, starting from 2001, when the Communist Party won the general elections, development of the nongovernmental sector has become slower. Although several positive patterns evident at the end of the nineties indicate progress in the development of Moldovan non-governmental sector, there is a number of sensitive issues (e.g., freedom of media, human rights protection) in relation to which certain regress has been observed especially in the last two years. Media market in Moldova is far from being free, and protection of human rights remains to be a problem (in all respects, situation of non-governmental sector in Transnistria is much worse than in Moldova). Finally, it needs to be emphasized that critical socio-economic situation seems to be the main threat to democracy and the rule of law in the country. This is because further significant economic decline can provide fertile ground for non-democratic political forces and extremists. Economic collapse could be a real threat to the achievements in the area of democratization and civil society development. Thus, only results of a successful economic reform process may reverse undesirable patterns and change socio-economic situation in Moldova, increase income of population, decrease poverty, guarantee stability and irreversibility of Moldovan achievements in democratization and development of civil society.
Authored by: Jacek Cukrowski, Radzislawa Gortat, Piotr Kazmierkiewicz
Published in 2003
This document provides an overview of the mass anti-government protests in Ukraine (known as Euromaidan) that began in late 2013 in response to the Ukrainian government suspending plans to sign an association agreement with the European Union. It describes how peaceful protests emerged and grew in size in Kiev and other regions of Ukraine throughout November 2013. However, on November 30th security forces violently dispersed protesters in Kiev, beating dozens and leaving some missing. This crackdown transformed the protests into more openly anti-government demonstrations and led to further government oppression of activists and journalists.
The document summarizes the tensions between Russia and Ukraine since Ukrainian independence in 1991. It discusses Ukraine's divisions along ethnic, linguistic, and religious lines that have complicated its national identity. It describes Russian influence on Ukrainian politics and opposition by pro-Western groups, such as during the 2004 Orange Revolution. The conflict escalated after Russia annexed Crimea in 2014 and supported separatists in eastern Ukraine. Resolving the conflict will require addressing issues like Russian influence over post-Soviet states, Ukraine's sovereignty, the status of disputed regions, Ukrainian national identity, and international alliances.
This document summarizes a research paper on cooperation between Finland, Hungary, and Estonia based on their shared Finno-Ugric ethnic links. It discusses the foreign policy narratives of the three countries and how their shared cultural and linguistic heritage with Finno-Ugric peoples in Russia has led to some institutionalized cooperation. However, the paper finds that while there is rhetoric of cooperation, there is limited evidence of substantial cooperation in influencing the EU's policies towards Russia or in advocating for the rights of Finno-Ugric minorities in Russia. The paper aims to analyze whether shared ethnic backgrounds can facilitate foreign policy cooperation between EU member states.
This section documents numerous violations of human rights and public safety that occurred in Ukraine between November 2013 and March 2014, during the period of violent protests. It describes clashes between protesters and police, as well as acts of vandalism, unlawful seizures of buildings, and training in violent tactics. Right-wing nationalist groups like Pravyi Sektor and Svoboda were involved in many of these illegal and aggressive acts, including attempts to break through police lines, seize government buildings, and destroy a monument to Lenin. The timeline shows a progression over this period towards more widespread violence and disregard for the rule of law.
The document discusses geopolitical visits to Moldova following parliamentary elections in November 2010. It summarizes that Russia and Western countries attempted to influence the formation of Moldova's new government according to their geopolitical interests. Russia preferred a coalition including pro-Russian parties, visiting Moldova and meeting with the Communist and Democratic parties. In response, European foreign ministers visited in support of Moldova's pro-Western direction and met longer with parties favoring EU integration. The document argues these visits showed the ongoing geopolitical competition for influence in Moldova between Russia and the West.
Freemuse Annual Statistics on Censorship and Attacks on Artistic Freedom in 2015La French Team
Artistic freedom is under extreme pressure in far too many countries. The Freemuse annual report summarises censorship and threats on artistic freedom in 2015 in over 70 countries.
In total, Freemuse registered 469 cases of censorship and attacks on artists and violations of their rights in 2015, making it our worst recorded year yet, nearly doubling the number of cases from 2014 with a 98% increase from the year previous, wherein 237 cases were registered.
While at the UN level there have been positive signs of larger attention being paid to the importance of protecting artistic freedom in 2015, sadly the year was dominated by a 20% increase in registered killings, attacks, abductions, imprisonments and threats, and a staggering 224% increase in acts of censorship.
cultural and social assimilation of immigrants, and systemic solutions – Pol...Przegląd Politologiczny
: The article presents the problem of migration and assimilation of newcomers in the countries
of residence. One of the main reasons for migration are economic and social considerations, this applies
to both non-European arrivals and internal migration. The aim of this study, conducted by scholars from
Norway and Poland, is to compare systemic solutions both within the social legislation and the functioning of the labor market with respect to Poles and Ukrainians, confronting them with existing barriers regarding the possibility of assimilation and obstacles related to the transformation of economic into
settlement migration. The methodological and theoretical basis of the team’s research is comparative
methods, including comparative politics. The research on immigrants was conducted using both quantitative methods – statistical and qualitative data analysis – and research using the in-depth interview
method. Poles and Ukrainians are not at the same stage of formal migration due to the formal plane. According to the analysis, Ukrainians have much greater opportunities for actual assimilation than Poles in
Norway. Smaller cultural differences and linguistic barriers to the Ukrainians in Poland are conducive
to this process. If the state and Polish society take advantage of this situation and enable the settlement
of Ukrainians and make their job offers more attractive, there is a chance that they will fill the emerging
demographic gap. It would be for the benefit of both societies.
Events of August '91 as an Expression of Political Disobedience in the Proces...AnnaJach1
Civil disobedience is the attitude which in the 20th century proved to be the only effective form of resistance to authoritarian regimes. So it was in the case of the events of August '91 when the Soviet society objected to the activities of the State Committee on the State of Emergency. It would not have been possible without the reform programme known as perestroika initiated by the last USSR leader Mikhail Gorbachev. Thanks to perestroika and the accompanying glasnost-transparency of sociopolitical life-the previously apathetic and alienated Soviet society felt responsible for their own life and for the fate of the State. By opposing the rebels through pas sive resistance, the citizens proved to the leaders of their own country, to the world, and above all, to themselves that they were aware of their rights and responsibilities. The process of sociopolitical socialization stimulated the development of civil society in the Soviet Union.
Birgitte Bjerge Poulsen interned at the Royal Danish Embassy in Helsinki from February to July 2016. During her internship, she conducted background research, prepared analyses of Finnish affairs, did daily media monitoring and newsletters, networked with officials, participated in briefings, updated websites and social media, and contributed to other tasks. She worked independently and had strong analytical skills, prioritization abilities, and learned quickly. The recommendation letter states she was a sociable, modest employee who developed networks through collaboration. The embassy warmly recommends her for having satisfactorily completed her tasks.
Politburo 2.0 works as a network structure. It is an informal agency and there is no formalization of its functions, such as general meetings.
Sectoral branches are distributed among its members, who offer their management schemes within their competence.
MAIN TRENDS IN MEDIA COVERAGE OF SOCIOPOLITICAL PROCESSES IN UKRAINE IN 2014-...DonbassFullAccess
The document analyzes trends in media coverage of socio-political events in Ukraine from 2014 to 2017 based on monitoring by NGO Detector Media. It finds that for many years, the political views expressed by private Ukrainian TV channels have been defined by the interests of their oligarchic owners rather than objective journalism. Following Ukraine's 2014 revolution, some channels began transforming into public broadcasters, but oligarchic media groups still dominate the landscape. The monitoring found violations of journalism standards increased in news coverage, especially invited commentary that censored opposing views. Overall the analysis shows oligarchic influence and lack of strong public media have hampered quality coverage of political issues important to Ukrainian society.
In 2009, the Republic of Moldova created an alternative to the communist
leadership. In 2013, the Alliance for European Integration was replaced by the Alliance for Pro-European Governance, which secured two issues: the signing of the Association Agreement between the Republic of Moldova and the European Union, and
the interests of local oligarchs. After the parliamentary elections in 2014, as an alternative to the increasingly powerful Igor Dodon’s Party of Socialists, another coalition,
the Political Alliance for European Moldova was created and ‘sealed’ by embezzling
$ 1 billion from Moldovan banks (12.5% of GDP). The coalition formed in January
2015, was replaced by the re-launched Alliance for European Integration, and then by
another coalition without a definite name in January 2016. This extremely expanded
political activity is a backdrop for the façade of democracy and the subsequent parliamentary elections scheduled for 2018. The pro-European coalitions in the Republic of
Moldova discredited themselves in front of the society as strongly as their predecessors (the communists), causing a state of general disintegration.
The Open Dialogue Foundation is a non-profit organization based in Warsaw, Poland that was established in 2010. In 2017, the Foundation focused on monitoring human rights and supporting reforms in Ukraine, providing humanitarian aid to Ukraine, and defending civil society activists facing persecution. However, the Foundation also had to defend itself against attacks from the Polish government for criticizing changes that weakened the rule of law in Poland. The Minister of Foreign Affairs filed a lawsuit attempting to suspend the Foundation's board for its statement in support of judicial independence.
The Open Dialog Foundation's activities in 2013 included:
1) Organizing election observation missions and trial observations related to human rights cases in Kazakhstan, Spain, Hungary, Bulgaria, France, and Ukraine.
2) Monitoring the mass protests in Ukraine against President Yanukovych for refusing to sign an EU association agreement.
3) Participating in public hearings and meetings in the European Parliament and parliaments of several European countries regarding human rights issues in Kazakhstan and Central Asia.
4) Organizing conferences and events on topics like the situation in Kazakhstan and Central Asia, and the illegal deportation of opposition figures.
Yd1105163 sprawozdanie merytoryczne 2010 eng doneodfoundation
This document summarizes the activities and financial report of the Open Dialog Foundation for 2010. It outlines the Foundation's basic information, goals of supporting democracy and civil society, activities in 2010 such as election monitoring missions and conferences, and financial information showing revenues of PLN 10,600.65 and costs of PLN 20,769.47. The Foundation had no employees or loans and ended 2010 with total assets of PLN 7,436.84 in its bank account.
Samopomich is a Ukrainian political movement founded in 2004 that aims to strengthen communities through mutual aid and collaboration. It promotes Christian morality and values citizen participation in developing Ukraine into a country where people want to live. Samopomich works to support youth, families, the elderly, and active citizens through various social and public initiatives.
This six-point appeal has been signed by 40 Ukrainian civil society
organisations in Kyiv and other cities under siege of the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.
The "ChangeLog" Foundation is a volunteer non-governmental organization in Mykolaiv, Ukraine focused on European integration. It conducts volunteer projects in areas like social services, education, environmental protection, and youth development. The organization aims to promote spiritual and moral values in Ukrainian society through volunteer work. It has received state registration and recognition as a volunteer organization from the Ministry of Social Policy of Ukraine. The foundation also participates in the European Union's Erasmus+ program to coordinate international volunteer projects and exchanges for youth.
Civil society and the crisis in Ukraine. Thematic report DonbassFullAccess
This report aims at providing a preliminary overview on civil society dynamics and activities in relation to the Ukrainian crisis. For the purpose of this report, civil society is considered as a social space outside governmental, business-oriented and family relationships and activities, where individuals voluntarily engage in forms of public participation and action around shared interests, purposes or values.
Maidan is an online community formed in 2000 by Ukrainian activists united to protest the murder of a journalist. It operates a major platform for activism and crowdsources information from volunteers. It played a key role in disseminating information during the 2004 Orange Revolution, handling up to 500,000 visitors per day. Maidan verifies reports and crowdsources books on dissent to promote civic participation and human rights.
This document discusses several initiatives of the organization Free Ukraine, including their goals of achieving freedom and democracy in Ukraine, and raising Ukraine's position in the world. It outlines programs to train a new political elite through educational camps, develop Ukraine's image abroad through public relations and media communications, conduct political polling, and promote Ukrainian culture through projects such as creating a national superhero and charity events. It also discusses priorities around public health, developing physical and mental strength, and stress management programs for Ukrainians.
The "Human World" youth organization was founded in November 2011 in Ukraine. It aims to promote international youth cooperation, harmonious social relations, art and culture, and youth participation in democracy. The organization seeks to achieve this through networking, supporting youth interests and rights, and developing programs in arts, culture, economics, and civic engagement.
The document is a report summarizing the monitoring of political and civil rights and freedoms in Ukraine from 2014-2018. Some key findings include:
- Legislative changes have been introduced to limit freedoms of speech, association, and assembly, including language quotas for Ukrainian on TV and radio, and bans on Russian media.
- Independent media and journalists expressing alternative views face pressure from regulators, law enforcement, and nationalist groups.
- Violations of rights and freedoms of minorities like journalists, religious groups, and opposition parties have occurred, with little accountability.
- Upcoming 2019 elections are an important time to increase attention on the situation of political rights and freedoms in Ukraine.
The Anti-Corruption Action Centre requests that the US Treasury Department designate Andriy Portnov for sanctions. Portnov is a former Ukrainian official who fled to Russia in 2014 and has strong ties to Russian interests. He conspired with sanctioned Russian agent Andriy Derkach to interfere in the 2020 US presidential election and spread their anti-US disinformation campaign. Portnov also continues undermining Ukrainian democratic institutions by disseminating Russian propaganda and using his influence over the judiciary to advance pro-Russian policies. Based on these actions, the organization requests that Portnov be added to the OFAC sanctions list.
The document summarizes the "For Diversity. Against Discrimination" information campaign by the European Commission that aims to inform EU citizens about their rights against discrimination. It describes the goals of the campaign, which include informing society about equal rights regardless of attributes and helping those facing discrimination. Target groups include organizations combating discrimination, those in the employment market, youth, media, and society overall. Various communication channels and activities in Latvia are highlighted, such as participation in community events and a seminar on employee rights. Results noted an increased acknowledgement of discrimination issues in Latvian society and some successful legal cases defending citizens' rights.
The document discusses issues related to regulating the legal status of persons missing during the armed conflict in Ukraine and makes recommendations. It summarizes that over 1,000 people have gone missing during the conflict but current legislation does not define procedures for granting legal status to missing persons or support their relatives. It recommends creating a coordinating commission of government and non-government groups involved in tracing missing persons, as well as an executive body to directly aid applicants and relatives of the missing.
The document summarizes the activities of the International Center for Ukrainian Victory (ICUV) from January to June 2022. It advocates internationally for Ukrainian interests and supports civil society actions for Ukraine's victory against Russian aggression. Key activities included meeting with foreign delegations to advocate for closing Ukrainian airspace, increasing military aid, EU/NATO membership, and humanitarian support. The ICUV also distributed humanitarian aid within Ukraine and coordinated supplies for the Ukrainian military.
Monitoring "What is happening to freedom of speech in Ukraine. State censorship and crackdown on dissent"
In Ukraine, people are judged for dissent.
You can get acquainted with the situation with freedom of speech in Ukraine, state censorship and crackdown on dissent, which was prepared by a human rights group "Uspishna Varta".
The Ukraine Crisis Media Center thanked supporters for their continuous support over the last 5 years. It was created in 2014 to support Ukraine's statehood and promote Ukraine abroad. Its vision is of a free, democratic Ukraine that is part of the West. Its mission is to guide Ukraine's transition following the Revolution of Dignity through strategic communications. It believes this can only be achieved through educational work and cooperation with international partners. The organization values Ukrainian statehood, patriotism, courage, originality and more. It has various departments that carry out its work.
Europe, Ukraine and Russia – perspective 2020uisgda_uisgda
The document discusses the religious mobilization of masses in Ukraine and Donbass during the 2014 events. It notes a surge in public religious displays and activities that helped mobilize groups opposed to the new Ukrainian government.
It also discusses the rise of non-denominational social consolidation around religious ideologies as a form of social protection. Powers use religious mobilization by spreading concepts like "I am Charlie" to different communities.
Three global projects are identified as alternatives to the West - the Russian world project, Chinese core values project, and an Islamic caliphate project - that aim to form supranational religious communities opposed to the West while still using Western methods. These quasi-religious formations secularize traditional religions
This document provides an overview of a project by the European Cultural Foundation and German Marshall Fund to support cultural actors of change in Belarus, Moldova, and Ukraine. It discusses the goals of facilitating networking, cultural cooperation, and empowering local artists. An initial mapping identified outstanding individuals and organizations playing a role in culture and change. Country reports were produced through questionnaires and meetings to understand each country's cultural situation and how culture could support democracy, Europeanization, and modernization. The reflection process aims to develop a 3-year plan and new cultural instruments tailored to local needs in order to empower cultural actors in supporting positive change in the region.
Similar to Odf sprawozdanie merytoryczne_2018_nm_fin_eng (20)
AHMR is an interdisciplinary peer-reviewed online journal created to encourage and facilitate the study of all aspects (socio-economic, political, legislative and developmental) of Human Mobility in Africa. Through the publication of original research, policy discussions and evidence research papers AHMR provides a comprehensive forum devoted exclusively to the analysis of contemporaneous trends, migration patterns and some of the most important migration-related issues.
About Potato, The scientific name of the plant is Solanum tuberosum (L).Christina Parmionova
The potato is a starchy root vegetable native to the Americas that is consumed as a staple food in many parts of the world. Potatoes are tubers of the plant Solanum tuberosum, a perennial in the nightshade family Solanaceae. Wild potato species can be found from the southern United States to southern Chile
Synopsis (short abstract) In December 2023, the UN General Assembly proclaimed 30 May as the International Day of Potato.
Jennifer Schaus and Associates hosts a complimentary webinar series on The FAR in 2024. Join the webinars on Wednesdays and Fridays at noon, eastern.
Recordings are on YouTube and the company website.
https://www.youtube.com/@jenniferschaus/videos
UN WOD 2024 will take us on a journey of discovery through the ocean's vastness, tapping into the wisdom and expertise of global policy-makers, scientists, managers, thought leaders, and artists to awaken new depths of understanding, compassion, collaboration and commitment for the ocean and all it sustains. The program will expand our perspectives and appreciation for our blue planet, build new foundations for our relationship to the ocean, and ignite a wave of action toward necessary change.
RFP for Reno's Community Assistance CenterThis Is Reno
Property appraisals completed in May for downtown Reno’s Community Assistance and Triage Centers (CAC) reveal that repairing the buildings to bring them back into service would cost an estimated $10.1 million—nearly four times the amount previously reported by city staff.
Combined Illegal, Unregulated and Unreported (IUU) Vessel List.Christina Parmionova
The best available, up-to-date information on all fishing and related vessels that appear on the illegal, unregulated, and unreported (IUU) fishing vessel lists published by Regional Fisheries Management Organisations (RFMOs) and related organisations. The aim of the site is to improve the effectiveness of the original IUU lists as a tool for a wide variety of stakeholders to better understand and combat illegal fishing and broader fisheries crime.
To date, the following regional organisations maintain or share lists of vessels that have been found to carry out or support IUU fishing within their own or adjacent convention areas and/or species of competence:
Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR)
Commission for the Conservation of Southern Bluefin Tuna (CCSBT)
General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean (GFCM)
Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission (IATTC)
International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT)
Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC)
Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organisation (NAFO)
North East Atlantic Fisheries Commission (NEAFC)
North Pacific Fisheries Commission (NPFC)
South East Atlantic Fisheries Organisation (SEAFO)
South Pacific Regional Fisheries Management Organisation (SPRFMO)
Southern Indian Ocean Fisheries Agreement (SIOFA)
Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC)
The Combined IUU Fishing Vessel List merges all these sources into one list that provides a single reference point to identify whether a vessel is currently IUU listed. Vessels that have been IUU listed in the past and subsequently delisted (for example because of a change in ownership, or because the vessel is no longer in service) are also retained on the site, so that the site contains a full historic record of IUU listed fishing vessels.
Unlike the IUU lists published on individual RFMO websites, which may update vessel details infrequently or not at all, the Combined IUU Fishing Vessel List is kept up to date with the best available information regarding changes to vessel identity, flag state, ownership, location, and operations.
This report explores the significance of border towns and spaces for strengthening responses to young people on the move. In particular it explores the linkages of young people to local service centres with the aim of further developing service, protection, and support strategies for migrant children in border areas across the region. The report is based on a small-scale fieldwork study in the border towns of Chipata and Katete in Zambia conducted in July 2023. Border towns and spaces provide a rich source of information about issues related to the informal or irregular movement of young people across borders, including smuggling and trafficking. They can help build a picture of the nature and scope of the type of movement young migrants undertake and also the forms of protection available to them. Border towns and spaces also provide a lens through which we can better understand the vulnerabilities of young people on the move and, critically, the strategies they use to navigate challenges and access support.
The findings in this report highlight some of the key factors shaping the experiences and vulnerabilities of young people on the move – particularly their proximity to border spaces and how this affects the risks that they face. The report describes strategies that young people on the move employ to remain below the radar of visibility to state and non-state actors due to fear of arrest, detention, and deportation while also trying to keep themselves safe and access support in border towns. These strategies of (in)visibility provide a way to protect themselves yet at the same time also heighten some of the risks young people face as their vulnerabilities are not always recognised by those who could offer support.
In this report we show that the realities and challenges of life and migration in this region and in Zambia need to be better understood for support to be strengthened and tuned to meet the specific needs of young people on the move. This includes understanding the role of state and non-state stakeholders, the impact of laws and policies and, critically, the experiences of the young people themselves. We provide recommendations for immediate action, recommendations for programming to support young people on the move in the two towns that would reduce risk for young people in this area, and recommendations for longer term policy advocacy.
Monitoring Health for the SDGs - Global Health Statistics 2024 - WHOChristina Parmionova
The 2024 World Health Statistics edition reviews more than 50 health-related indicators from the Sustainable Development Goals and WHO’s Thirteenth General Programme of Work. It also highlights the findings from the Global health estimates 2021, notably the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on life expectancy and healthy life expectancy.
1. Open Dialogue Foundation
11 a Szucha Avenue, office 21
00-580 Warsaw
Poland
facebook.com/ODFoundation | odfoundation@odfoundation.eu | www.odfoundation.eu
Report on the activities of the
Open Dialogue Foundation for the year 2018
1. Basic information about the Foundation:
(a) Name: OPEN DIALOGUE FOUNDATION
(b) Seat, address: 00-580 WARSAW, AL. SZUCHA 11A/21
(c) Date of entry into the National Court Register: 12 April 2010
(d) KRS: 0000353754, REGON: 060615226
(e) Basic information about members of the Board according to the current entry in the court
register:
First name and surname: Lyudmyla Kozlovska - President of the Board
(f) The Foundation's aim is to defend human rights and promote democracy and the rule of law
through:
- efforts aimed at the development of initiatives, movements and civil societies, in particular,
in countries of the former Soviet Union, based on the experience of the systemic
transformation of the Republic of Poland as well as values and standards of public life in
the Member States of the European Union;
- efforts aimed at the forging of partnerships between the Republic of Poland and other
countries, in particular, post-Soviet countries, as well as between the citizens of those
countries;
- measures aimed at cooperation and the integration of initiatives, movements, civil
societies and states, in particular, post-Soviet countries, with other subjects of
international law;
- measures aimed at introducing changes designed to guarantee to residents, particularly
those in post-Soviet countries, equal opportunities in terms of intellectual, professional,
social and cultural development in addition to the opportunity to fully exercise their
citizenship rights, including rights to initiate political activity;
- measures aimed at guaranteeing security and public order, development of self-
governance, education, culture and healthcare, as well as improving access to other public
services and improving the standards of the operation thereof.
2. Rules, forms and scope of statutory activities; implementation of statutory objectives:
2.1. Scope of activities:
1. research and analysis into instances of violations of human rights, especially civil rights and
the right to protection from persecution, as well as social phenomena, based on empirical
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data, their synthesis and collection in databases and their presentation in the form of
studies, reports, presentations, infographics, media studies and other types of studies;
2. dissemination, especially among policy makers, state administrations and local governments,
international organisations and opinion-forming environments, mass media and social
media, in particular in the form of photographs, recordings and broadcasts, videos,
statements, articles and interviews, problems related to the objectives of the Foundation, as
well as knowledge accumulated by the Foundation, especially analytical studies and
achievements of the Foundation within the scope of its statutory objectives;
3. organisation and running of training courses, workshops, seminars and conferences, in
particular, for individuals, businesses, government institutions, student governments,
professional associations, employers' organisations, trade unions, religious organisations,
social movements, political groups and non-governmental organisations within the scope of
the statutory objectives of the Foundation;
4. provision of consultation to individuals, businesses, state institutions and self-governance
bodies, student governments, professional associations, employers' organisations, trade
unions, religious organisations, social movements, political groups and non-governmental
organisations within the scope of the statutory objectives of the Foundation;
5. organisation of public gatherings, including demonstrations, protest actions, charity events,
auctions, exhibitions, openings, happenings, promotional and advertising actions, music
concerts and other events within the scope of the statutory objectives of the Foundation;
6. publishing activities;
7. rendering of financial, material, legal and organisational assistance to enterprises, state
institutions and local government bodies, labour self-governments, employers'
organisations, trade unions, religious associations, social movements, political parties and
non-governmental organisations and individuals, including persons in need of humanitarian
and medical aid, as well as organising medical and first aid training, delivered by qualified
persons, within the scope of and in compliance with applicable law;
8. creating funds and scholarship programmes and funding scholarships for children, young
people and university students who are particularly talented and socially active, for persons
subject to oppression or for persons in a difficult financial situation;
9. organisation of observation missions, including election observation missions and study
visits within the scope of the statutory objectives of the Foundation;
10. purchasing equipment, devices, materials and services to be employed in pursuit of the
Foundation’s objectives as well as their free-of-charge transfer or sharing with individuals
and other subjects within the scope of the statutory objectives of the Foundation.
2.2. Achievement of the objectives in 2018:
Poland/EU–Ukraine relations
The Foundation continued its previous efforts to support Polish–Ukrainian dialogue.
In May 2018, we supported the organisation of the Polish–Ukrainian solidarity day at Piłsudski Square in
Warsaw. Its participants paid homage to the Ukrainian General Marek Bezruczka, the hero of the Polish–
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Bolshevik war in 1920 and his soldiers who were buried in the Orthodox Cemetery in Wola. They also
announced the reactivation of the initiative to establish The Heroes of the Maidan Street in Warsaw
(starting a new collection of signatures under the petition addressed to the city authorities; this street
would appear in the vicinity of Taras Shevchenko Square and the Russian Embassy). The event was
complemented by the performance of the Ukrainian bard Viktor Reka – a seriously wounded participant
of Maidan, who was included in the programme aimed at rendering aid to the wounded, and
hospitalised in Poland, where he subsequently brought his family. On the occasion of the recent
Vyshyvanka Day, Ukrainian folk costumes were also presented, in which children – members of the
school choir of the Ukrainian school “Materynka” in Warsaw – appeared. During the event, we
commemorated the 74th anniversary of Stalinist deportations of Crimean Tatars from Crimea to Central
Asia, the Orange and European Majdan, Russian aggression against Ukraine and the resulting
occupation, and aid actions organised in Poland for Ukraine. The meeting brought together about 200
people – friends of Ukraine and Ukrainians living in Warsaw. During the meeting, speeches were given
by: Jerzy Rejt – the first president of the Union of Ukrainians in Poland; Marcin Święcicki and Michał
Szczerba – members of the Polish Parliament who were the first Polish politicians to appear at the Kiev
Independence Square in November 2013; Bartosz Kramek and Joanna Cuper from the Open Dialogue
Foundation; Kajetan Wróblewski from the Citizens in Solidarity in Action; and a representative of the
Ukrainian Ambassador to Poland, Yuliia Borodiy.
The activity in this area remained difficult due to the escalation of disputes over the historical memory
of both nations that had been developing since 2015. The Foundation opposed the Polish authorities’
exhibition of mainly dark sides of Polish–Ukrainian history and mutual relations. We also pointed to the
threats connected with the destruction of memorial sites in both countries, the nature of which
indicated external (Russian) inspiration.
Support for reforms and protection of human rights in Ukraine
In the reporting year, the Foundation defended harassed social activists subjected to harassment and
opposed abuses of power in their broader sense. The Foundation condemned, among other things, the
use of force to pacify a tent camp near the Supreme Council of Ukraine in Kiev on 3 March 2018. That
day, a long-term civil society protest action aimed at changing the electoral law, abolishing
parliamentary immunity and creating an anti-corruption court was dispersed (with the use of police
forces and the National Guard). As a result of the operation, numerous protesters were injured,
journalists were subjected to violence and over 100 people were arbitrarily arrested. The tent camp was
liquidated unlawfully – the police only had a warrant to search it.
Along with a number of Ukrainian NGOs and individual activists, we raised the subject of the growing
and increasingly drastic attacks on Ukrainian anti-corruption activists. In November 2018, the
Foundation joined the Coalition for the Defence of Civil Society in connection with the murder of
Kherson activist Kateryna Handzyuk. Within its framework, we demanded the resignation of the police
leadership in Kherson, the General Prosecutor of Ukraine Yuriy Lutsenko and the Minister of Internal
Affairs Arsen Avakov (who has been widely criticised for: tolerating corruption; the passivity and
incompetence of his subordinate structures; and even multiple instances of close involvement in attacks
on civic activists). In addition, we demanded an effective investigation into the murder of Kateryna
Handzyuk (and, previously, the Kyiv activist Irina Nozdrovska) and hundreds of other attacks on activists
throughout the country in recent years.
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Similarly, along with a coalition of Ukrainian NGOs, we demanded a public report on the status of
investigation into the murder of journalist Pavel Sheremet in 2016. This was due to this case having
experienced the sad lack of results and progress that is typical of Ukrainian law enforcement agencies,
despite political declarations of full commitment and special supervision over the proceedings (including
by President Petr Poroshenko himself).
As part of the “Human Rights Agenda”, we also opposed legislative plans related to the draft of the so-
called “law on foreign agents” (mirroring the Russian model), which, according to human rights
defenders, could be used to oppress civil society organisations critical of the authorities.
The Foundation continued to monitor the situation of the growing number of political refugees from
other post-Soviet countries in Ukraine (including Russia and Kazakhstan) – with particular regard to the
protection provided to them by the Ukrainian authorities, including ongoing refugee proceedings. We
have also observed with concern the activity of Kazakhstani special services in the territory of Ukraine,
aimed at refugees from that country.
Human rights violations in the Crimea and Ukrainian political prisoners in Russia
Activities continued within the international campaign #LetMyPeopleGo initiated by the Centre for Civil
Liberties/Euromaidan SOS and supported by the Ukrainian Helsinki Human Rights Group, Euromaidan
Press, People in Need, Euromaidan Warsaw, and the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
In July 2018, the story of Ukrainian director and Crimean activist Oleg Sentsov imprisoned by Russia,
which was based on the 2014–2015 reports of the Open Dialogue Foundation, was published in the
Swedish independent publishing house Ariel Förlag, which specialises in popularising contemporary
issues related to Eastern Europe.
In November 2018, along with several other organisations (within the “Human Rights Agenda”
platform), we issued a statement on the persecution of lawyers by the Russian occupation authorities in
Crimea. They mainly concerned Emil Kurbedinov, Edem Semedliayev and Lili Gemedzhi, as well as
Dilyaver Memetov, the coordinator of the NGO “Crimean Solidarity”. They belong to a small group of
local lawyers who consistently work on politically motivated cases defending, among others, the
persecuted Crimean Tatars. The Russian authorities are oppressing not only the Tartar community
opposed to the occupation, but also the lawyers representing them – the most common pretence is
accusations of extremism and terrorism.
A month earlier, in October 2018, the Open Dialogue Foundation and other organisations that are part
of the “Human Rights Agenda”, appealed for permission to leave the Crimea for Mykola Semena in
order to undergo treatment in a hospital. He is a seriously ill Ukrainian journalist cooperating with Radio
Free Europe/Radio Liberty. The occupation authorities have actually prevented him from doing
journalistic work, and then banned him from leaving the country in connection with a court sentence for
“public calls to violate Russian territorial integrity”.
In December 2018, we issued a statement on the use of administrative detention as a method of
oppression against the lawyer Emil Kurbedinov and the Russian activist Lev Ponomariov (on whom this
punishment was imposed for public calls to participate in civil society protests on the Internet). Lev
Ponomariov was also one of the initiators of a letter from Russian human rights defenders who opposed
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the appointment of a Russian representative, Alexander Prokopchuk, to the position of INTERPOL
president.
At the end of the year we also appealed, with a number of Ukrainian organisations, to the UN Security
Council, demanding a response to the escalation of tensions related to the attacks of the Russian fleet
on Ukrainian ships in the Sea of Azov: on 25 November 2018, unprovoked Russian forces opened fire
and captured 23 Ukrainian sailors.
The Foundation closely cooperated in this area with the Ukrainian Association of Prisoner Families of the
Kremlin, lawyers of the imprisoned sailors, the Centre for Civil Liberties, and others.
Human rights defence in Kazakhstan
Through cooperation with the Italian Federation for Human Rights (FIDU) and Ukrainian NGOs, the
mechanism for monitoring the situation in Kazakhstan was re-established after a several-year-long
break in the participation of foreign human rights defenders. To this end, the Foundation supported
missions organised by the Italian Federation for Human Rights from April to the end of December 2018.
These missions were also attended by human rights defenders and politicians interested in the subject,
from Ukraine and EU countries. On 15 May 2018, at the Brussels Press Club in Brussels, the Foundation,
along with the Italian Federation for Human Rights, organised a press conference devoted to the
presentation of the report from the first observation mission in Kazakhstan (14–17 April 2018), attended
by Antonio Stango, President of the Federation, and Polish MP Marcin Święcicki.
As part of this cooperation, in 2018, a total of 11 missions to Kazakhstan financed by the Italian
Federation for Human Rights were organised. The missions were attended by Parliamentarians from
Poland, Italy and Switzerland, and Ukrainian activists and experts associated with organisations such as:
Vostok-SOS, the Kharkiv Institute for Social Research and the Mass Information Institute. Local partners
in Kazakhstan were: the Kazakhstani International Bureau for Human Rights and Rule of Law, the
“Families Against Torture” initiative and the “Ar-Rukh-Hak” organisation.
The missions were primarily aimed at monitoring trials considered as political, and carrying out
meetings with victims of persecution, their families and counsels, as well as representatives of the
authorities. Delegations visited mainly the largest cities in various regions of the country, such as:
Almaty, Aktau, Karaganda, Astana, Uralsk, Szymkent, Ust-Kamienogorsk, Pavlodar.
Members of the mission observed a total of 95 court trials, which concerned the persecution of
participants in protests against the policy of the authorities and demonstrations in defence of human
rights, and the oppression of opposition bloggers, human rights defenders, lawyers defending them and
members of their families.
Mission reports were presented to the international community as part of the Foundation's advocacy
activities. The main cases of human rights violations in Kazakhstan in the reporting year were presented
in the section devoted to the advocacy activities described in this study.
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Defence of the rule of law in Poland
During the year under review, the Foundation continued its activities in the international arena to
defend the rule of law, in particular, the independence of the judiciary and judges, and the defence of
civic activists harassed by the Polish authorities.
In the first half of the reporting year, the Foundation organised, among others, visits of representatives
of the so-called “street opposition” in Poland to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe in
Strasbourg.
In January 2018, the delegation of the Foundation, headed by Lyudmyla Kozlovska, President of the
Board, was made up of activists Robert Hojda (Open Civic Club “Przystań”) and Anna Prus (National
Women's Strike), and Antonio Stango, President of the Italian Federation for Human Rights. Apart from
a series of individual meetings with representatives of diplomatic missions, the office of the
Commissioner for Human Rights of the Council of Europe and national delegates (parliamentarians of
individual member states from Ukraine to Great Britain and Spain), along with Petra De Sutter (Belgian
Senate, Greens) and Frank Schwabe (Bundestag, SPD), we organised an event devoted to the situation in
Poland, entitled “Government Against the Rule of Law, Civil Society and Independent Media in Poland”.
The draft resolution on attacks on civil society organisations and media in Poland, which we had been
striving for at that time, referred, among other things, to earlier documents – including the October
declaration regarding the attacks on the rule of law and NGOs in our country. At that time, a draft
resolution entitled “Civil Liberties in Poland, Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova Must Be Preserved”,
submitted by the British MP Alexander Earl of Dundee, was also adopted. As early as in July 2017, the
Assembly dealt with issues relating to the independence of the judiciary and women's rights in Poland.
Then, on 28 January 2018, during an open meeting in Przystań OKO, Lyudmyla Kozlovska talked with
Robert Hojda about the international activities of the Foundation, the defence of the rule of law in
Poland and abroad, and the functioning of European and international institutions.
On 27 May 2018, during the summit of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly in Warsaw, the Open
Dialogue Foundation, along with the initiative “Solidarity Citizens in Action” (OCA) organised a public
meeting of members of the Dutch delegation to the Assembly with Polish activists engaged in the
defence of the rule of law and representatives of the disabled, who on that day ended their multi-day
protest in the Sejm. The meeting was attended by Dutch deputies from various political groups: Han ten
Broeke (Head of the Delegation), Bastiaan van Apeldoorn, Salima Belhaj, Frank van Kappen, Herman
Schaper and Janny Vlietstra. Civil society activists called on them to support the European Commission's
request to the European Court of Justice to suspend the replacement of many Supreme Court judges
with politically dependent successors.
During the summer session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council (June 2018), Bartosz Kramek,
Chairman of the Foundation’s Management Board and Polish street activists Arkadiusz Szczurek
(Citizens in Solidarity in Action, Citizens of the Republic of Poland) and Julie Walecka (Civic Guard) spoke
about the unconstitutional destruction of democratic institutions and an attack on civil rights in Poland.
During the mission, we appealed for the cessation of the total subordination of Polish courts to the
executive and legislative power, which would be the result of the new Supreme Court law. This would
lead to the retirement of approximately 40% of judges and the appointment of political nominees for
the newly formed vacant posts.
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In talks between national parliamentarians and diplomatic representations of EU countries, we stressed
the need to institute proceedings before the EU Court of Justice on the Supreme Court Act and to
support the procedure provided for in Article 7 of the EU Treaty.
In addition to the conflict with the Polish government that has lasted since mid-2017, an additional
impetus in this area was provided by the recognition of Lyudmyla Kozlovska as a person threatening
national security and her inclusion in the national list of undesirable persons and in the Schengen
Information System (SIS) on 31 July 2018. This resulted in her short-term expulsion from the EU territory
to Ukraine, which was subsequently overcome by a number of visas being granted to Lyudmyla
Kozlovska and the right to enter European countries other than Poland, namely: Germany, Belgium,
France, Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and Switzerland.
These decisions were motivated by the political nature of the Polish authorities’ activities (as well as the
potential violation of EU law) and enabled the continuation of the Foundation's activities on the
international forum. They also caused a significant increase in interest in the Foundation's activities and
the situation in Poland in the second half of 2018. To this end, we used numerous invitations to
participate in events devoted to the crisis of liberal democracy, populism, nationalism and attacks on
European values, democracy and the rule of law in Poland and Hungary.
On 13 September 2018, Lyudmyla Kozlovska took part in a parliamentary debate on the crisis of the rule
of law in Poland, held in the German Bundestag in Berlin.
On 26 September 2018, at the invitation of the President of the ALDE Group in the European Parliament,
Guy Verhofstadt, Lyudmyla Kozlovska delivered a speech at an open session of the ALDE Group at the
European Parliament's premises in Brussels.
Between 4 and 6 October 2018 Lyudmyla Kozlovska held a series of meetings with the media, and with
Polish activists associated in the organisation KOD UK and in expert and academic circles in London.
On 8 October 2018, Lyudmyla Kozlovska took part in two debates at the Parliamentary Assembly of the
Council of Europe in Strasbourg, France. They were devoted to the attacks on human rights defenders
and the threat to the protection of human rights posed by the dismantling of the rule of law in Poland.
On 12 October, 31 members of the Parliamentary Assembly submitted a motion for a resolution entitled
“Misuse of the Schengen system by Council of Europe member States as a politically motivated
sanction”.
On 22 November 2018, Lyudmyla Kozlovska, along with Prof. Marcin Matczak from the University of
Warsaw and Dr. Gabor Scheiring from the University of Cambridge, gave a speech at the British House of
Commons in London in the parliamentary debate on the situation in Poland and Hungary. The debate,
moderated by member of the House of Commons, Alex Sobel, was organised by the Foreign Policy
Centre.
On 23 November 2018, during the UN Forum on Human Rights, Democracy and the Rule of Law at the
UN headquarters in Geneva, Lyudmyla Kozlovska led a discussion panel entitled “Changing role of
parliaments in defending human rights and the rule of law”.
Lyudmyla Kozlovska's expulsion resulted in protests in the Polish and European social, media and
political space. Street protests against the expulsion were held on 23 August 2018 in several Polish and
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European cities. Speakers in this matter included Ukrainian parliamentarians and human rights
defenders, ALDE and S&D groups in the European Parliament, Ombudsman, Helsinki Foundation for
Human Rights and President Lech Wałęsa, who initiated an open letter and a petition signed by several
dozen public figures and over 30,000 Internet users.
The Polish government's counteraction and diplomatic protests aimed at preventing Lyudmyla
Kozlovskaya's return to the EU were widely publicised, but remained ineffective. In October 2018,
Lyudmyla Kozlovska applied for a permanent right of residence in Belgium.
As regards the dispute with the Minister of Foreign Affairs, lasting from August 2017, on 17 April 2018,
the District Court for the Capital City of Warsaw decided to dismiss the complaint of the Head of the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs against the previous decision of the court (of 7 December 2017) concerning
the refusal to appoint a forced administration board in our organisation. This ruling became final and
binding in the following weeks, finally ending the court dispute that had begun with a text written by
the Chairman of the Council of the Foundation, Bartosz Kramek, on 21 July 2017. In this article, Bartosz
Kramek presented methods of civil disobedience that could be applied in the face of an attack on
constitutional order in Poland by the parliamentary majority, the government and the president. The
court fully shared the position of the Foundation, pointing out, among other things, the facts that:
• the Minister of Foreign Affairs had indicated no particular violations of the law on the part of the
Foundation’s Board;
• the journalistic activity of the Chairman of the Management Board is not a violation of the law;
• the Constitution of the Republic of Poland guarantees freedom of speech, including the right to
manifest one's views, as well as the right to assembly and association (i.e., inter alia, the
freedom of activity of non-governmental organisations).
Throughout 2018, we also co-organised regular meetings connecting Polish civil activist circles
defending the Constitution with representatives of the diplomatic corps in Warsaw.
Analytical and information activities
The main topics of the Foundation's reports and other studies in 2018 included:
1. Human rights violations in Kazakhstan (with emphasis on the situation of political prisoners
and the persecution of peaceful anti-government protesters);
2. The use of INTERPOL mechanisms by authoritarian states to prosecute individuals identified
by them as political opponents, or associated persons inconvenient to undemocratic
authorities;
3. The #LetMyPeopleGo campaign – the situation of Ukrainian political prisoners in Russia and
Crimea and the oppression of Crimean Tatars;
4. Attacks on Ukrainian civil society activists and political activists who, due to their anti-
corruption activities, have been subjected to attacks by political and oligarchic structures in
the state law-enforcement bodies and security services.
5. The persecution of human rights defenders and other representatives of civil society, as well
as opposition politicians, independent journalists and participants in anti-government
protests in Moldova;
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6. The protection of lawyers involved in political affairs (including defenders of torture victims
and political prisoners) in undemocratic countries and occupied territories;
7. The introduction of personal sanctions based on the European Magnitsky Law against Russian
and foreign high-level officials as a method of counteracting impunity for human rights
violations in the world;
8. The state of the rule of law and attacks on civil society in Poland in the face of protests in
defence of the Constitution of the Republic of Poland that have been violated by the
parliamentary majority, the government and the President of the Republic of Poland from the
Law and Justice party.
The Foundation's studies were presented and discussed within the framework of the lobbying activity,
presented below.
All reports and studies are available on the Foundation's website: http://odfoundation.eu/ (website in
Polish, English, Russian and Ukrainian).
The Foundation also carried out intensive communication in Polish and foreign media and social media,
in which it uses its official accounts on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ODFoundation/,
https://www.facebook.com/ODFUKR/ (the account designed for the Eastern reader) and Twitter:
https://twitter.com/ODFoundation.
Lobbying activity (advocacy)
As in previous years, these activities were coordinated by the Foundation's offices in Brussels and – with
regard to the situation in Poland in particular – in Warsaw. Its instruments were, to the greatest extent,
cooperation with parliamentarians from EU countries and Members of the European Parliament. The
Foundation also had intensive relations with a number of EU institutions, other international
organisations, and diplomatic missions.
Representatives of the Foundation participated in the most important sessions and meetings of a
number of international institutions in Brussels/Strasbourg (European Parliament), Strasbourg
(Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe), Vienna (Parliamentary Assembly of the Organization
for Security and Co-operation in Europe) and Geneva (UN – as part of the Human Rights Council
session), as well as national parliaments of European countries.
In the reporting year, one of the main topics of the Foundation's advocacy activity became (even more
significantly than in the previous year) the rule of law in Poland (presented in more detail in the section
entitled “Defending the rule of law in Poland” in this report). It was related both to the need to defend
the Foundation itself – as the Foundation was attacked by the Polish authorities along with the
authoritarian government in Kazakhstan and the oligarchic regime in Moldova, as well as the need to
continue to work for other groups and people persecuted in Poland. In connection with numerous
propaganda attacks, we were also forced to constantly clarify circumstances and refute numerous
allegations based on false and manipulated information aimed at undermining the reputation of the
Foundation and its affiliated persons.
This activity also led to a real expansion of the scope of the Foundation's activities, which began to
operate, in addition to human rights activities in the former USSR, in areas concerning problems within
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the EU and the Western world in general. These areas include, primarily, the crisis of liberal democracy
connected with challenges posed by the revival of sorts in populist and nationalist forces in the West,
i.e. its internal problems.
Speaking on the defence of the rule of law in Poland, we also named specific organisations and
individuals affected and harassed for political reasons, such as: the movement of the Citizens of Poland;
the activist of the Warsaw Women's Strike, Justyna Butrymowicz; Judges Igor Tuleya, Waldemar Żurek
and Dominik Czeszkiewicz; opposition politicians Józef Pinior and Stanisław Gawłowski; and a Belarusian
collaborator of the state-owned Polish TV channel Biełsat, Ivan Shyla.
The Foundation continued to monitor the situation and carry out its advocacy activities at the European
and international level in order to draw public attention to systemic problems of human rights violations
and individual cases of such violations. In connection with the situation in Kazakhstan, these included
cases of imprisoned activists (Maks Bokayev, Aron Atabek, Sanat Bukenov, Yedige Batyrov, Makhambet
Abzhan, Yerzhan Orazalinov, Vadim Kuramshin), people accused of links to the opposition leader
Mukhtar Ablyazov (Mukhtar Dzhakishev, Muratkhan Tokmadi, Iskander Yerimbetov), the victims of so-
called “repressive psychiatry” (Ardak Ashim, Natalia Ulasik), members and supporters of the opposition
movement Democratic Choice of Kazakhstan (Aset Nurzhaubay, Kenzhebek Abishev, Almat
Zhumagulov), journalists (Aset Matayev, Yaroslav Golyshkin), trade unionists (Amin Eleusinov, Nurbek
Kushakbayev) and social media users (Sanat Dosov, Ruslan Ginatullin, Igor Chuprina and Igor Sychev).
We created and updated the list of political prisoners on several occasions, and then presented it to EU
institutions, the UN, the OSCE, the Council of Europe and national parliaments, demanding that pressure
be exerted on the government in Kazakhstan to release them. In the same way, we have sought to
defend the rights of victims of torture.
In cooperation with the Italian Federation for Human Rights, the Foundation continued its activities
supporting human rights and the rule of law in Moldova, continuing to defend, among others, lawyers
Ana Ursachi and Eduard Rudenco, businessman and philanthropist Alexandru Machedon, activist
Grigore Petrenca, judges Domnika Manole, Dorin Munteanu and Marina Anton, the driver transporting
audio equipment to the anti-government protest Alexei Alexeev, postal officer and whistleblower
Serghei Cebotari, journalist Ghenadiy Bregi, the Jurnal TV television channel, and other people and
initiatives critical of the regime (which, in fact, had the power over the country at that time) of the
richest Moldovan and leader of the Democratic Party, Vlad Plahotniuc. In 2018, we also defended anti-
government protesters (Alexander Raichuk, Gheorghe Petic, Ruslan Verbitchi), lawyers (Veaceslav
Turcan, Maxim Belinschi, Ion Cretu, Alexandru Bernaz) and Judge Gheorghe Balan.
In the period 26–28 July 2018, a joint monitoring mission to Moldova was held by the Foundation and
the Italian Federation for Human Rights. During the mission, we reviewed the situation regarding:
political pluralism and controversial reform of the electoral law, freedom of speech, the persecution of
judges and lawyers inconvenient to the authorities, the abuse of arbitrary detention, the treatment of
detainees, and cases of death in detention centres and prisons.
Involvement in the activity supporting the rule of law and European standards of public life in Moldova
(including in previous years) resulted in the official accusation, by pro-European opposition leaders, of
the illegal foreign financing of political parties and of the Foundation’s involvement in this practice, with
the Foundation being accused of interfering in the internal affairs of the country. This was provoked by
an event co-organised by the Foundation in May 2017 in the European Parliament called “Moldova at
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the Crossroads”, which was attended by the most committed social and political activists from Moldova,
namely: opposition leaders Andrei Nastase and Maia Sandu, journalist Natalia Morari, Alexandru
Machedon, and Ana Ursachi.
This led to the establishment of a special parliamentary committee of inquiry, which prepared a report
on the subject, which was subsequently widely used for internal political purposes (to fight the
opposition), as well as for propaganda abroad (to fight the Open Dialogue Foundation). This case was
widely recognised as political abuse, and the content of the report itself was assessed negatively for the
false information and manipulation it contained. However, this did not prevent it from being used by the
Polish authorities and their associated propaganda and media circles to attack the Foundation.
Along with Moldovan civil society and the pro-European opposition, we carried out an effective
campaign (initiated in 2017) to make financial assistance from the EU and the International Monetary
Fund dependent on the state of respect for human rights and the rule of law in this country. We have
also sought sanctions against Vladimir Plahotniuc as the de facto ruler of the country.
One of the priority directions of our activity was the use of INTERPOL mechanisms by authoritarian
states, including outside the post-Soviet area (such as in China and Turkey). In November 2018, along
with other civil society organisations (mostly Ukrainian), we initiated and conducted the
#InterpolNotForPutin campaign, aimed at blocking the candidacy of Russian Police General Alexander
Prokopchuk for the Presidency of INTERPOL. A joint statement was issued on this matter on 19
November 2018. Finally, a South Korean representative Kim Jong Yang became the new President of
INTERPOL.
A very important and consistently implemented area of the Foundation's activity was the efforts made
to establish a common EU-wide legal mechanism “which would allow the introduction of personal
sanctions against persons involved in gross human rights violations in various countries around the
world, and that would be an important tool to punish human rights violators and a preventive
mechanism that wouldn’t allow such violations. In addition, sanctions under the Magnitsky Law could be
imposed on officials of individual states (usually undemocratic) that ignore ECtHR decisions and UN
recommendations. This dangerous trend is becoming more and more common and eliminates the
existing achievements in the field of human rights protection,” reads the joint statement by our
organisation and the Civil Liberties Centre issued on 5 December 2018.
As part of this statement, we called on “the governments of the European Union to immediately start
working on a European equivalent of the Magnitsky Law. The persons involved in human rights
violations, including murder, torture, enforced disappearance and politically motivated criminal
prosecution, should be held accountable for their criminal activities.”
In addition to our actions at the EU forum, we convinced parliamentarians in individual EU countries,
including Italy, to adopt national mechanisms to enable the introduction of Magnitsky sanctions.
As part of our activities in the Council of Europe, especially in the Parliamentary Assembly, we lobbied
for the maintenance of the Council’s and Assembly’s sanctions against Russia that had been imposed on
Russia due to its aggression against Ukraine and the annexation of Crimea in 2014.
The most important events organised by the Foundation in 2018 included:
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1. 23 January 2018, Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE): Government Against
the Rule of Law, Civil Society and Independent Media in Poland; the event was co-organised with
MPs Petr De Sutter (Belgium; SOC) and Frank Schwabe (Germany; SOC);
2. 20 February 2018, European Parliament: Persecution of Lawyers: Selected Cases from Moldova,
Azerbaijan, Ukraine, Russia and Kazakhstan; the event was co-organised with MEPs Julie Ward
(Great Britain, S&D) and Jaromír Štětina (Czech Republic, EPP);
3. 23 February 2018, OSCE PA: Persecution of Lawyers: Selected Cases from Moldova, Azerbaijan,
Turkey, Ukraine, Russia and Kazakhstan; the event was co-organised with MP Josè Ignacio
Sanchez Amor (Spain, S&D);
4. 15 May 2018; Press Club Brussels: Press conference presenting the report of the monitoring
mission on human rights violations in Kazakhstan (14–17 April 2018); co-organised with the
Italian Federation for Human Rights;
5. 26 June 2018; 38th Session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva: Persecution of Lawyers
and International Instruments for their Protection; the event was co-organised with the Italian
Federation for Human Rights, in cooperation with the Nonviolent Radical Party, Transnational
and Transparty;
6. 19 July 2018, Senate of the Italian Republic: In Defence of Civil Liberties. Testimonies from Russia,
Moldova and Kazakhstan; the event was co-organised with Italian Senator Roberto Rampi;
7. 11 September 2018, Human Dimension Implementation Meeting OSCE/ODIHR: Defence for the
Defenders: Lawyers and Attorneys under Attack for Participation in Politically Motivated Cases in
the post-Soviet Area and Turkey;
8. 23 November 2018, UN Forum on Human Rights, Democracy and the Rule of Law Second Session
in Geneva: Changing Role of Parliaments in Promoting Human Rights, Democracy and the Rule
of Law in a Challenging Political Landscape.
The main partners of the Foundation in the aforementioned activities included the Italian Federation for
Human Rights and the Ukrainian Centre for Civil Liberties in Kiev. We also cooperated closely with the
Council of Bars and Law Societies of Europe (CCBE) based in Brussels and the Turkish initiative “The
Arrested Lawyers”.
Summary
In 2018, the activities of the Foundation expanded and intensified significantly due to negative
developments related to the crisis in rule of law in Poland and the related attacks on the Foundation and
its managers (in particular, in the second half of the year).
At the same time, however, activities related to the protection of human rights in post-Soviet countries
were also carried out. Due to the cooperation with the Italian Federation for Human Rights (FIDU), we
also significantly intensified our activities relating to Kazakhstan in order to tackle the new wave of
persecution in that country. In the reporting year, we faced, for the first time, a massive campaign
against the Foundation due to its involvement in human rights activities in Moldova. Questions also
arose about possible cooperation between Moldova and the Polish authorities with regard to the
coordination of activities directed against the Open Dialogue Foundation.
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As Lyudmyla Kozlovska, the President of the Board of the Foundation, could not return to Poland, the
Brussels office of the Foundation gained in importance, while activities in Poland were maintained –
managed from the Warsaw headquarters. Despite numerous disputes with the government and its
subordinate bodies, the Foundation managed to maintain its independence and develop its activities in
numerous directions.
Detailed information on the Foundation's activities was published on the following website:
www.odfoundation.eu
2.3. Legal events with financial consequences: did not occur.
3. Information on the conducted business activity according to the entry in the Register of
Entrepreneurs of the National Court Register: the Foundation did not conduct any business activity in
the reporting year.
4. Resolutions of the Board of the Foundation: in 2018, the Board adopted 1 resolution – Attachment 1.
5. Information on the amount of income earned:
Total income: PLN 1,299,873.04, including:
a) Financial means from:
- subsidies: PLN 0.00
- donations: PLN 1,299,861.38
b) Financial income: PLN 11.66
c) Other income (including gifts in kind): PLN 0.00
d) Other income: PLN 0.00
e) Paid statutory activity: PLN 0.00
f) Economic activity: PLN 0.00
6. Information on costs incurred:
Total costs: PLN 1,239,768.07, including:
a) Costs of statutory activity (cash benefits): PLN 1,128,009.08
b) Administrative expenses PLN 110,865.28
Consumption of materials and energy: PLN 3,583.54
Third-party services: PLN 107,031.74
Taxes and fees: PLN 250.00
Remuneration and social security: PLN 0.00
Other costs (increase in costs by the result of the previous year): PLN 0.00
Financial costs: PLN 465.03
Other costs: PLN 428.68
7. Data on the Foundation's activities in the field of:
a) number of employees: in the reporting year, the Foundation employed 1 person:
Lyudmyla Kozlovska, Coordinator of Eastern Projects;
b) the total amount of basic salaries paid by the Foundation: PLN 29,245.57
c) the amount of total annual remuneration paid in to the members of the Board
and other bodies of the Foundation: PLN 0.00;
d) expenditure on remuneration under civil law contracts: PLN 119,530.86;
e) cash loans, granted by the Foundation: none;
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f) amounts deposited in bank accounts: the Foundation did not have bank deposits, the
balances of current accounts as of 31 December was:
Raiffeisen Bank: PLN 60.08, $ 0.00 and € 54.48,
mBank: PLN 816.56, $25.27 and €8,847.40;
g) the value of bonds purchased and the amount of share equity or shares acquired: the
Foundation did not acquire any bonds and did not have any share equity or shares in
commercial companies;
h) acquired property: the Foundation did not acquire any real estate;
i) other acquired assets: the Foundation did not acquire any assets;
j) total assets at the end of the year equal to the Foundation’s total liabilities and
amounted to PLN 85,239.18;
k) information about the Foundation’s settlement of incumbent tax liabilities: as of 31
December, 2018, the Foundation was liable to pay the tax office: physical person
income tax (PIT-4) in the amount of PLN 1,434.00, corporate income tax (CIT-8) in the
amount of PLN 70.00, tax on goods and services (VAT-9M) in the amount of PLN 0.00
and social insurance contributions in the amount of PLN 9,691.66
l) the Foundation submitted the following statements: CIT-8, VAT-9M, VAT-8, IFT-2R,
PCC-3, PIT-4R, NIP-2.
8. In the reporting period, the Foundation did not execute any orders for state or local government
entities.
9. In the reporting period, the customs and fiscal inspections concerning “the reliability of the declared
tax bases and the correctness of calculation and payment of corporate income tax for 2014, 2015 and
2016”, extended several times, were continued by the Customs and Tax Office in Łódź in the
Foundation.
As we stated last year, the inspection was a result of a request made by the Minister-Special Services
Coordinator Mariusz Kamiński, to the then-Minister of Foreign Affairs, Witold Waszczykowski, after
which the Head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs addressed the Chamber of Fiscal Administration in
Warsaw with a request to “initiate a comprehensive tax inspection” at the Open Dialogue
Foundation.
In the Foundation's opinion, the control activities carried out were another element of a series of
politically motivated oppression of the organisation by the Polish authorities after July 2017.
Signature of the President of the Board:
………………………… Brussels, 10 December 2019