 RFE/RL Belarus, Ukraine, and Moldova Report 03.06.2009 A review of RFE/RL reporting and analysis about Belarus, Ukraine, and Moldova. For more stories on Eastern Europe, please visit and bookmark our Eastern Europe page . |
| Belarus  Amnesty Warns Of Combined Economic, Repression Effect In its latest report on the state of rights around the world, Amnesty International warns that many governments have failed abysmally to protect human rights, human lives, and livelihoods threatened by the economic downturn. The group also says the term "security" has been misused to undermine rights. More  Failure Sends Moldovan Political Crisis Back To Voters Lawmakers in Moldova have failed for a second time to elect a president to succeed longtime leader Vladimir Voronin. As a result, the deadlocked legislature will be disbanded and new legislative elections scheduled for later this summer or in the autumn. So where does the political standoff between the ruling Communist Party and the opposition go from here? More  Communist Splits Could Tip Moldova's Political Scales The leadership of Moldova's ruling Communist Party faces a crucial split just one day before lawmakers in Chisinau are due to meet for a final attempt to elect a president. Marian Lupu's harsh criticism of the party could shift the balance of power toward the opposition and make new legislative elections inevitable. More Thirty-seven children live in the run-down state orphanage in the Moldovan village of Cupcui. But only one of them is actually an orphan. Many children in Moldovan state institutions have been placed there by their parents, motivated by grinding poverty, alcoholism, or other family problems and encouraged by a paternalistic state. A project spearheaded by UNICEF and the European Union to reunite children with their families, when possible, or place them in foster homes, hopes to change that. More  Effort To Find Moldova's Orphans Homes Resisted Over the last two years, about a quarter of the 12,000 children being raised in Moldovan state institutions have been returned to their families or placed in foster homes. But the internationally sponsored initiative has met considerable resistance in a country with a strong culture of state paternalism. More  Moldova Must Stop Mixing Politics And Prosecutions A poisonous atmosphere in Moldova means repeat elections appear inevitable. Louis O'Neill argues that one way to start the vital process of national reconciliation is to end the selective prosecutions of political opponents. More  Suspects Arrested In Ukrainian Bank Bombing Ukrainian police have arrested two people suspected of setting off the explosions in a bank in the southeastern city of Melitopol, RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service reports. More The lilacs at the Gryshko Botanical Garden in Kyiv are a hallmark of the Ukrainian capital. In mid-May, at the peak of lilac season, hundreds of thousands of people flock to see the flowers in full bloom. More  An Energy Opportunity The EU Seems Determined To Miss The EU must seize the opportunity and set out an unashamedly political external energy strategy that puts its own interests first -- preeminent among them reducing dependence on Russia as a supplier or transit country. More  Ukrainian Security Concerned Over Rusyn Movement The chief of Ukraine's State Security Service (SBU), Valentin Nalivaychenko, says that the separatist movement of the Transcarpathian Rusyns has no chance of success in Ukraine. More What are your options if you are a 66-year-old British woman who wants to have a child? More  New Free-Press Guidelines For Europe In the German city of Hamburg on May 25, 46 journalists and editors in chief from 19 countries signed the "European Charter on Freedom of the Press." The charter establishes basic guidelines for protecting the press from government interference and ensuring journalists access to sources of information. The document's creators hope the charter's adoption will become a condition in future EU accession negotiations. More  Stop The World War II Revision Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has established a commission to protect against "falsification of historical facts," in particular reinterpretations of the Second World War. The move is a reaction to the way history is being used as a political tool to divide people and countries. More |
