The first batch of humanitarian aid was delivered on December 30th 2013 to the “Centre for civil freedoms” (Centr Grazhdanskih Svobod) community organisation with the aim of supporting the works of the “Ozon” public monitoring group and the “Evromaydan SOS” hotline.
The Open Dialogue Foundation took the initiative to provide humanitarian assistance to Euromaidan activists based on the conclusions of its own observation mission, which has been conducted in Kiev since the early days of the civil protest, which began in late November 2013.
Throughout the course of the mission, assistance was given in the organisation of three visits by the Polish Seym (Lower chamber of Parliament) members as well as members of human rights organisations and journalists with the aim learning more about the course of the peaceful protests and the observation of human rights of demonstration participants.
The first recipient of the humanitarian assistance was the “Centre for civil freedoms” community organisation, being the initiator of the foundation of “Ozon” public monitoring group and the Evromaydan SOS initiative. The organisers issued open letters to the Open Dialogue Foundation with a request for assistance to be provided to the best of the latter’s abilities and capacities.
Summary of organisations to whom assistance is being provided:
“Evromaydan SOS” initiative, founded in order to provide legal assistance to the victims of the tragic Euromaydan events of November 29th to 30th, when the law enforcement officers violently dispersed a peaceful student protest on the Independence Maydan in Kiev.
“Evromaydan SOS” united the human rights and civil activists, lawyers, journalists and other people from various walks of life, all of them joined by their refusal to stand idle in the face of injustice. The goal of the Euromaydan SOS activity is to operatively provide legal assistance to the victim-participants of the Kiev Euromaydan and parallel events throughout the country, to collect and analyse information in order to protect the participants of the peaceful protests, as well as to develop interim assessments of the situation’s developments.
The initiative provides three 24-hour hotlines, fielding telephone calls from victims, their friends and relatives, journalists, eye witnesses and so forth. During the period of November 30th to December 11th, the hotline of Evromaydan SOS received around one hundred telephone calls a day on average.
As of today, the main Evromaydan SOS initiative activities are directed as follows:
1. Body injuries suffered as a result of the activities of law enforcement officers aimed at the limitation of constitutional rights of the citizens to freedom of peaceful assembly;
2. Lawless detainments of peaceful assemblies participants;
3. Defending participants of peaceful assemblies should administrative or criminal cases be instigated against them;
4. Search for missing participants of peaceful assemblies after gatherings have been forcefully dispersed;
5. others (pressure exerted on the students from their respective university authorities, attempting to prevent access to the Maydan and so forth).
“OZON” public monitoring group provides public monitoring of the authorities’ executive branch activity during the time of peaceful assemblies and legal trials of the cases of demonstration participants.
The OZON members record violations of the law during peaceful events, assist in the establishment of civilised exchanges between law enforcement and the protesters; record violations during legal trials. The results of observations are then used to formulate conclusions and recommendations; the OZON members subsequently institute legal actions with the aim of resolving the systemic problems discovered.
Open Dialogue Foundation humanitarian assistance
In order to support the activities of “Evromaydan SOS” and “OZON” initiatives, the Open Dialogue Foundation, acting on the request received from the “Centre for Civil Freedoms”, provided assistance in the form of a non-returnable material support, including a shipment of camcorders for recording mass events and sessions of court, equipment which ensures rapid communication and coordination of the work of civil observers during rallies, as well as other office equipment required for hotline operation.
Open Dialogue Foundation continues to monitor the situation in Ukraine as well as to collect data on the current needs of human rights and civil activists as well as journalists. In providing the humanitarian assistance, the Foundation implemented the principle of targeted assistance for the key groups of Ukraine civil society.
We extend our offer of cooperation to all those who do not wish to remain idle in the processes of forming Ukraine’s civil society and wish to support the observation of civil and human rights in the country.
