Doc. 9843

23 June 2003

Appeal by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe to the United Nations Organization, the G8 Governments, the European Union and the EBRD

Written Declaration No 346

This written declaration commits only the members who have signed it

Recently, it was the seventeenth anniversary of the technological disaster which occurred at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. This was the largest ever radiological accident of the 20^th century, an incident with consequences for the planet as a whole.

The Chernobyl disaster was a terrible lesson to learn not only for the specific socio-economic system but for humanity as a whole.

The economic and social consequences of this catastrophe are of such an enormous scale that it is impossible for Ukraine to cope with them on its own.

Despite the country’s energy crises, Ukraine complied with the 1995 Ottawa Memorandum preconditions and within the specific time-frame shut down the Chernobyl nuclear power plant.

Nevertheless, for their part the G8 countries and the EBRD failed to honour their commitments stipulated in the same Memorandum.

This gives rise to severe social and economic dangers in Ukraine :

      1. the “Shelter” facility at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant which covers 200 tons of nuclear unmanaged fuel, is being destroyed. This represents an equivalent of 19 million curie with the minimal emission dose of 3.5 thousand R/hour. The “Shelter” is literally “breathing”, and as such is potentially the most dangerous site in Ukraine and in Europe;

      2. the issues pertaining to the storage of 20,000 m³ of radioactive waste remain unresolved;

      3. credits for the completion of energy facilities, to compensate for the units decommissioned after the Chernobyl plant shut-down, have not been allocated;

      4. There is no social protection for Ukrainian citizens who suffered from the effects of the disaster or for the specialists from the Chernobyl plant dismissed following the closure of the plant.

Bearing the above in mind, the undersigned, members of the Assembly, call on the United Nations Organization, the G8 governments, the European Union and the EBRD to seek to secure as a matter of urgency for Ukraine the relevant research, technical and economic assistance in order to eliminate, as rapidly as possible, the effects of the Chernobyl catastrophe.

Signed: ¹

Rakhansky, Ukraine, SOC

Aliyev B., Azerbaijan, SOC

Belohorská, Slovakia, EDG

Chaklein, Russia, UEL

Christodoulides, Cyprus, UEL

Duka-Zólyomi, Slovakia, EPP/CD

Einarsson, Sweden, UEL

Gamzatova, Russia, UEL

Gostev, Russia, UEL

Huseynov A., Azerbaijan, EDG

Kirilov, Bulgaria, SOC

Korobeynikov, Russia, SOC

Kostenko, Ukraine, NR

Maštàlka, Czech Republic, UEL

Neguta, Moldova, UEL

Oliynyk, Ukraine, UEL

Rogozin, Russia, EDG

Shakhtakhtinskaya, Azerbaijan, EDG

Shybko, Ukraine, SOC

Søndergaard, Denmark, UEL

Sudarenkov, Russia, SOC

Tevdoradze, Georgia, EDG

Yarygina, Russia, SOC

__________________________

Total = 23

__________________________

¹       SOC: Socialist group

      EPP/CD: Group of the European People’s Party

      EDG: European Democratic Group

      LDR: Liberal, Democratic and Reformers’ Group

      UEL: Group of the Unified European Left

      NR: not registered in a group