www.ukrweekly.com 1NS1DE: - Farewells to Ukraine's diplomats in the United States - page 4. ^ Ukrainians in the Chicago area: a statistical profile - pages 5-7. - A look at the sport of rock climbing - page 10. THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY Published by the Ukrainian National Association inc., a fraternal non-profit association vol. LXVIII NO. 2 THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY SUNDAY, JANUARY 9,2000 si .25732 in Ukraine Court orders ban Kuchma approves appointment of reformist Cabinet by Roman Woronowycz transportation; vasyl Kremen, minister of sent with them," said Mr. Lytvyn. on death penalty Kyiv Press Bureau education; Bohdan Stupka, minister of cul- Earlier Mr. Yuschenko dispelled rumors ture. that he had little input regarding the by Roman Woronowycz KYiv - in the first serious effort to form The president also confirmed the re- appointments to his Cabinet. After a meet- Kyiv Press Bureau a reform-minded government, President appointment of Yurii Kravchenko as minis- ing of the Collegium of the Ministry of Leonid Kuchma has approved the appoint- ter of internal affairs; Borys Tarasyuk, min- Defense, the prime minister told reporters KYiv - Ukraine's Constitutional Court, ment of three new vice-prime ministers and ister of foreign affairs; Suzanna Stanik, that he was in charge of forming the gov- ruling on a petition from 51 national 11 ministers as proposed by his newly con- minister of justice; ihor Mitiukov, minister ernment. "it will be my government," said deputies, decided on December 30, 1999, firmed prime minister, viktor Yuschenko. of finance; and Oleksander Kuzmuk, min- Mr. Yuschenko, according to lnterfax- that the country's death penalty is unconsti- President Kuchma, recently re-elected to ister of defense Ukraine. tutional and told the Parliament to pass laws a second term, had promised in his inaugu- Several of the new appointees, mostly The most unexpected appointment was to ban the practice. ration speech that Ukraine would begin to those retained by the new prime minister, that of Ms. Tymoshenko as vice prime min- it ordered that capital punishment be move aggressively on economic reforms, ister of energy affairs. Ms. Tymoshenko, a stricken from the Criminal Code of Ukraine and that he would appoint a prime minister previously served in governments that waf- and for laws to be enacted specifying its and a government ready to make the diffi- fled on reforms during President Kuchma's national deputy who chairs the Parliament's illegality. cult decisions to bring the economy to life. first term, but individually they are widely Budget Committee, is also the owner of United Energy Systems, once a huge gas The Constitutional Court, the country's His appointment of Mr. Yuschenko on considered mainstream reformers. highest judicial body, stated in its ruling that December 22 - considered internationally Political experts are calling at least one and oil distributor closely associated with appointment controversial, however. the Constitution of Ukraine clearly outlaws and domestically as perhaps the person (Continued on page 3) the death penalty. "The Constitution of most able and willing to make the needed Several days before the appointments Ukraine contains no provision for the use of changes - has brought with it a sense of Mr. Yuschenko gave strong evidence that capital punishment as an exception to the optimism and a feeling that change is at he was serious about streamlining the provision of part one of Article 27 of hand, in turn, the prime minister's appoint- bloated bureaucracy of the Cabinet of Slavefforced labor Ukraine's Constitution, which is the ment of a Cabinet composed of an eclectic Ministers when he named two close aides inalienable right of each human being to mix of veteran administrators, dedicated to oversee the government's administrative life," states the court's decision. reformers and unexpected newcomers has arms. On December 26 he announced that settlement reached The court also cited Article 28 of the continued that mood, even as political Oleh Ryabchuk, formerly internal relations by Myroslaw Smorodsky fundamental law, which states that "no per- experts expressed surprise at some of the director at the National Bank of Ukraine, son shall be subject to tortures, or cruel, appointments. would run the prime minister's office and BERL1N - "І pay tribute to all those inhuman, humiliating tortures or punish- On December 30, 1999, President viktor Lytvytskyi, the ex-chief advisor of who were subjected to slave and forced ment." Kuchma confirmed via presidential decree the NBU, would head the Cabinet's secre- labor under German rule and, in the The court commented that capital pun- the appointment of Yuri Yekhanurov as the tariat. name of the German people, beg forgive- ishment incontrovertibly contradicts the first vice prime minister; Yulia in announcing the new Cabinet of ness. We will not forget their suffering." Constitution because it impedes on the right Tymoshenko as vice prime minister of Ministers, volodymyr Lytvyn, head of With these words, the federal president of a person to human dignity. energy affairs; Mykola Zhulynskyi as vice the presidential administration said the of Germany, Johannes Rau, on "The inalienable right of every person to prime minister of humanitarian affairs; president fully supports Mr. December 17, 1999, solemnly addressed live is indissolubly linked to that person's Serhii Tulub, minister of fuel and energy; Yuschenko's picks. "The president has the closing negotiation session between right to dignity ... which cannot be either Serhii Tyhypko, minister of the economy; considered the proposals of the prime representatives of forced laborers and limited or abolished," said the court. ivan Sakhan, minister of labor and social minister on the composition of the other victims of World War H and The ruling, which is not subject to policy; Leonid Kostiuchenko, minister of future government and expressed con- German industry at the Presidential appeal, comes after the Parliamentary Palace in Berlin. Assembly of the Council of Europe had During the course of the 10-month brought repeated pressure to bear on negotiations, it was evident that the Ukraine to live up to a promise it had made Scholar, educator, public activist German government desired that an in 1995 upon taking membership that it agreement be reached before year's end would ban capital punishment by 1999. in so that "moral closure could be achieved the last several months PACE had repeated- Solomea Pavlychko dead at 41 for Germany as the bloodiest century in ly warned Ukraine that it faced censure and by Taras Koznarsky ment for independence. She completed Europe's history came to a close. even expulsion at the end of this month if it Special to The Ukrainian Weekly her Ph.D. in American literature at the Earlier in the day, U.S. Secretary of did not finally follow through on the prom- Taras Shevchenko Kyiv State State, Madeleine K. Albright and ise. CAMBR1DGE, Mass. - December University and in 1985 began working Germany's Foreign Minister Joschka Ukraine has had a moratorium in effect 31, the final day of 1999, brought at the institute of Literature of the Fisher, announced the 10 billion DM set- against state execution for capital crimes tlement as they addressed the class shocking news about the untimely Ukrainian Academy of Sciences as a since 1997, imposed by presidential decree, action lawyers and the negotiating teams death of Solomea Pavlychko, 41, as a leading specialist in literary theory. but the verkhovna Rada, which must make from Belarus, the Czech Republic, israel, result of an accident in her home. Since 1992 she has served as the head the legislative changes to outlaw it, has Poland, Russia and Ukraine. Scholar, translator, editor, and educa- of the editorial board of the publishing refused to move on the matter. The settlement package of 10 billion tor, she made enormous contributions house Osnovy in Kyiv. Whether the verkhovna Rada now will to Ukrainian culture, academia and the DM will be paid equally by 60 German She will be remembered as a pio- find the political will to do so is far from public sphere, in characterizing Ms. companies and the German government. neer in Ukraine's nascent women's resolved. A large majority of legislators Pavlychko's role in the intellectual life This overall amount includes all claims movement who articulated and pro- believe that capital punishment is still nec- of contemporary Ukraine, the literary emanating from World War H, including moted feminist ideas in post-Soviet essary in a country that has seen a rapid scholar Tamara Hundorova remarked, loss of property and insurance claims, Ukraine and applied these concepts to escalation of rapes and murders since the "Ukraine was so fortunate to have medical experimentation and other Ukrainian culture and society. Ms. Soviet totalitarian regime was discarded in Solomea. Her impact was such that we claims of wrongs as well as slave and 1991. Better than 60 percent of Ukrainian Pavlychko, both as an intellectual and began to think differently, in 10 years' forced labor claims. citizens believe that the death penalty still is a public figure, in her academic writ- time - and the 1990s were hers - she The settlement amount also includes needed. ings and through interviews and made a breakthrough in our conscious- monies to be allocated for a "Future Yurii Karmazin, head of the verkhovna appearances in the media, made a Fund" the purpose of which is to prevent ness." Rada's Committee on Legal Affairs and great impact on the Ukrainian public a repeat of the atrocities of World War 11. Anti-Organized Crime Measures, was quot- Born in Lviv in 1958, she was the by giving voice to women's issues and However, although an agreement has ed by the Associated Press as saying: "1 daughter of poet Dmytro Pavlychko, a been reached on the overall settlement prominent figure in Ukraine's move- (Continued on page 3) (Continued on page 13) (Continued on page 4) THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY SUNDAY, JANUARY 9,2000 No.