“We are a neutral side”

There are about 20 United Nations agencies and organizations, including the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the International Trade Centre (ITC), the World Trade Organization (WTO), the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), and others. The UN Development Program (UNDP) is also a UN organization, but this agency differs from the others in that its No.1 priority is long-term development. Incidentally, other United Nations entities focus on a concrete subject – children, refugees, health, education, etc.

UNDP was established in 1965 by a UN General Assembly decision. In Ukraine, this program has been working for over 20 years. In this period, the organization has been performing its main function: giving comprehensive and necessary support for governmental reforms, introducing international standards of life, and building civil society.

UNDP has been a partner of the Den International Photo Competition for several years and has a nomination of its own – “Building a New Country Together.” This motto is in fact the best and fullest explanation of the UN Development Program’s goal and activities in Ukraine.

Past week Den’s Summer School of Journalism students visited the Kyiv office of UNDP, where they met Janthomas HIEMSTRA, UNDP Country Director for Ukraine.

Before coming to Kyiv, Mr. Hiemstra worked in Syria for two years. In his words, this allowed him to understand better and assess the nature of the conflict and situation in the Donbas. As soon as Mr. Hiemstra arrived at UNDP’s Kyiv office in the early summer, he began to tackle Ukraine’s most acute social problems.

Janthomas HIEMSTRA, UN Development Program Country Director, spoke with Summer School students about the organization’s work and objectives in helping Ukraine.

“IN UKRAINE, WE WORK IN THREE DIRECTIONS”

“There is only one thing the United Nations demands from Ukraine: it should achieve the goals it has set itself,” Mr. Hiemstra began. “Having signed the UN Charter, your country confirmed that it wants to struggle against discrimination, aspires for peace and for everything that other counties want. Ukraine has signed the Kyoto Protocol and the resolution on the prevention of violence against women. Ukraine has also affixed its signature to a number of international commitments. And we, a local UN representation, are helping you to achieve these goals.

“The UN differs from other organizations in that we are a neutral side. The mission of me and my colleagues is to be managers of a development organization. I am very proud of what I am doing, but I can see that there are a lot of things to be improved. What is unique is the organization’s neutrality and approaches to problems.

“In general, the UN is an all-embracing organization. We consider the development of a country as one integral question. We have drawn up a program, Millennium Development Goals, which embraces many components and aspects of our activities. Yet what brings all our goals together is the question of development. Accordingly, every country has a program of its own.

“In Ukraine, we work in three directions. The first is a program to reform the country and its governance. The second is some measures aimed at resolving the Donbas problems. The third is environmental protection, on which we have been working for many years. I call it a ‘green and clean’ program.”

 Marta FRANCHUK, National University of Kyiv Mohyla Academy:

“The UNDP office in Ukraine has existed for about 20 years. Could you assess the performance of this organization and what projects have been carried out in this period?”

J.H.: “Your country has a problem of environmental protection. This can perhaps be put down to heavy industry and coalmines. If you look out of the window, it seems to you that there is a lot of greenery and trees. But if you look up statistics, Ukraine has a lot of environmental problems. Unfortunately, this phenomenon occurs in many countries. Very many people view environmental protection as a fourth- or fifth-priority issue. Ukraine is now elated over reforms, but it also has an ongoing serious conflict. This is why the problem of environmental protection has receded to the background. This is quite natural, but still it is sad to point this out. In Ukraine, the UN Development Program has been in effect for a long time and has seen both ups and downs. It is not the best time now for UNDP.

“We have done quite a lot in the field of governance and reforms in the past 20 years, but, unfortunately, the situation in Ukraine has been improving rather slowly after the breakup of the USSR in comparison with the neighboring countries. Still, we are not sitting across the table with the government and are not saying that it is bad. We apply different methods. We come up and ask: ‘In what way can we support you? What can we do to help you?’ We believe that Ukraine has set itself at a qualitatively different level after dramatic changes. We are glad to see the enthusiasm of Ukrainians who want to reform parliament and governance. It is important that the Ukrainian leadership show enough political will and strength to carry out the planned reforms.”

Kateryna SADLOVSKA, Ivan Franko Lviv National University:

“There are a lot of people in the occupied territories, who need water and medicines. What steps is the UN taking in this direction and has it established effective cooperation with Ukraine’s authorities as far as humanitarian issues are concerned?”

J.H.: “It is a very appropriate question. The life of an individual on the other side of the conflict line is as valuable as that of any other individual who is sitting in this room. Even the people who are fighting on the other side and are called terrorists are also human beings like all the others.

“One of the UN’s roles is to render humanitarian aid. This is why we deliver humanitarian relief to the Donetsk and Luhansk region areas that are not controlled [by Ukraine]. The deliveries include water, medicines, and plastic films for damaged buildings. This relief is aimed at saving the life and protecting the rights of the ordinary people who are staying on these territories. It is no way aimed at supporting the people called terrorists in Ukraine. This UN work is very hard, complicated, and even dangerous sometimes. We are doing it in Ukraine, Syria, Afghanistan, and South Sudan. We are proud of this work, but it is one of the most difficult assignments of ours.”

Daria DIADENKO, Illia Mechnikov Odesa National University:

“You said UNDP is working in Ukraine in three directions: reformation of the country, the conflict in eastern Ukraine, and environmental protection. How much money is UNDP planning to spend to carry out these programs?”

J.H.: “The UN was founded many years ago, when many donor countries offered funds that went to the headquarters in New York. Then these funds were distributed among the countries. But now it is different. At present, we receive very small funds from the central office. Therefore, we, in Ukraine, have to try to obtain money from international donors in this country.

“The programs UNDP is drawing up now are not the ones that are being funded already – we focus on the ones for which we expect and are trying to find funds. I recently met a Dutch mission in Ukraine. We offered them a program of assistance in the field of access to justice and the rule of law on the occupied territory. We drew up this program after studying the situation in the Donbas, with due account of the current needs and problems in eastern Ukraine.

“It was about earmarking 14 million dollars for this program. On the whole, our budget is about 50 million dollars for implementing all the programs. This seems to be a large amount, but if we look at Ukraine’s size and the scale of this problem, for example, the creation of jobs, then it is very little.”

“WE CANNOT HELP ONE SIDE OF THE CONFLICT ONLY”

Maria VOLOSHYN, Ivan Franko Lviv National University:

“You worked in Syria and Nigeria. Can you draw a comparison and say about the difference between the conflict in Ukraine and those in the countries you lived in previously?”

J.H.: “Although it is bad for any country to experience a war, Ukraine was lucky, so to speak, because the war only touched a part of it, the Donbas. If the flames of war had engulfed the whole country, there would be no question of any reforms.

“Yet the situation remains horrible, for this conflict arose through no fault of Ukraine. We are very sorry that this situation costs a lot of human lives, money, and efforts.”

Viktoria PRYMAK, Ivan Franko Lviv National University:

“In what way is the UN communicating with people from the occupied territories and ATO fighters?”

J.H.: “It is a very interesting question. I discussed this subject with my colleagues before this meeting. It is difficult for me to give an exhaustive answer, but we spoke about human rights. And, from the viewpoint of the UN documents which Ukraine also signed, the life of any individual on one side of the conflict or the other is equally valuable.

“The UN has a worldwide program that helps rehabilitate the people who have fought. But this is only done after peace has been reached. We cannot possibly help one side of the conflict only. It is very difficult to explain all this because it may seem that we value the life of the military on one side more than that on the other. We are now racking our brains over how to do this right.”