Document #1193704
IRB – Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (Author)
In telephone interviews on 3 and 4 October
1995, a research analyst who specializes in Ukrainian domestic
issues at Prague's Open Media Research Institute (OMRI), a research
enterprise dedicated to the study of the former Soviet Union and
east-central and south-eastern Europe, provided the following
information; the data is valid from 1992 to the present. Several
funds have been established to aid the victims of the Chernobyl
nuclear disaster. The United Nations Trust Fund for Chernobyl
relies on United Nations members to provide funding. The Children
of Chernobyl Relief Fund based in Short Hills, New Jersey, is
administered by Ukrainian Americans and receives money from
individuals, corporations and other organizations.
The research analyst stated that the
Kiev-based Chernobyl Fund, although not a government body, utilizes
government staff and services to carry out its functions. The
government allots the Chernobyl Fund between four and five per cent
of the annual government budget, and this amount is financed by a
twelve per cent payroll surcharge that is borne by employers. State
enterprises, whose industrial output continues to exceed that of
the private sector, contribute the major portion. The research
analyst did not know if there are other financial contributors to
the fund.
The research analyst could not provide
information on whether the Ukrainian government was involved in the
selection of children who benefited from the Chernobyl Fund in
1992, nor could this information be found among the other sources
consulted by the DIRB.
For additional information on the Chernobyl
Relief Fund and other organizations established to aid the
Chernobyl victims, please consult Response to Information Request
UKR16162.E of 21 January 1994.
For information on business payments to the
Chernobyl Fund, please consult the first two paragraphs on the
second page of The Washington Times article. For a reference
to the Ukraine-Chernobyl Fund raising money internationally, please
consult the Defense Cleanup attachment. For information on
funding of the UN Chernobyl Fund, please consult the Pravda
attachment. For information on North American families contributing
to a "Chernobyl fund," please consult the News Tribune
attachment.
This Response was prepared after
researching publicly accessible information currently available to
the DIRB within time constraints. This Response is not, and does
not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular
claim to refugee status or asylum. Please find below the list of
sources consulted in researching this Information Request.
Open Media Research Institute (OMRI),
Prague. 4 October 1995. Telephone interview with research
analyst.
_____. 3 October 1995. Telephone
interview with research analyst.
Defense Cleanup []. 4 September
1992. "LATA GETS Chernobyl Cleanup." (NEXIS)
News Tribune [Woodbridge, NJ]. 9
September 1994. South King County Edition. Marc Powell. "Children
of Chernobyl Get Holiday From Poison." (NEXIS)
Pravda [Moscow, in Russian]. 27
September 1991. V. Linnik. "Money Was Given, But 100 Times Less
Than Expected." (Russian Press Digest 27 Sept. 1991/NEXIS)
The Washington Times. 20 June
1994. Final Edition. Lesia Rudakewych. "Ukraine Inflation, Taxes
Suffocate Firms at Birth." (NEXIS)
DIRB country file on Ukraine.
Foreign Broadcast Information Service
(FBIS) Reports. Daily.
News from Helsinki Watch [New
York]. Monthly.
Other oral sources.
RFE/RL Research Reports [Munich].
Weekly.