Nadiya Kostyuk
Ukraine
Berezne District Central Administration
Overall, Ukrainian laws reflect the good intentions of the government to help the victims and liquidators of the catastrophe of Chernobyl. Those laws, however, became impracticable and impossible to fulfill by Ukraine after the collapse of the USSR as the county became “overloaded with social payments and compensations.” An annual budget of the Chernobyl fund was only seventy percent of what was originally called for in the law. By 2008, the percentage of funding for the Chernobyl program was only seven percent of the required amount. Specifically, medicine received only two and a half million hryvnias instead of forty-two million. In particular, The 1991 Chernobyl Law entitles most Berezne residents to receive free medicine with a special identification card Chernobyl’s’ke posvidchennia. In practice, however, these victims are forced to purchase their own medicine, since the government cannot afford to transfer money to the Chernobyl fund. The lack of financial resources in the country forced the government to knowingly violate its laws.
A liquidator, the third category disabled and the first category CND liquidator, aged 55, who was “forced to work during the liquidation period… otherwise [he] would be sent to prison,” mentioned that “free medicine is only on paper… most procedures effective for my treatment are expensive, as they involve special equipment.” Similar complaints were received from Berezne residents who mentioned, “We receive nothing from the government, which completely forgot about us.” The local population highlighted that it is common for children of Berezne to be born with thyroid diseases and no one cares “as long as it does not bother them.”
Another liquidator, of category A, disabled as a result of the CND, aged 58, who spent about six months in the third radioactive zone in Gomel, Belarus, commented on the access to free medicine: “The Constitutional Court of Ukraine used the judgment of the European Court of Justice by fulfilling their national laws according to the financial possibilities of the country…otherwise, they will be bankrupt.” Nikolai Isayev commented on this lack of funds in the state budget as “when we are told that the State has no money, we answer that there is money in the state, only their officials ‘choose’ for himself.’”
Both liquidators share a common view on the vacation packages, which are officially documented in Articles 20-24 of the main Chernobyl law, but only “twelve percent of the liquidators receive them, and ‘khto dorvetsia, tomy i dadut’ (‘those who are fighting for them will receive them’).” Their comrade, aged 59, who spent six months in the first and second radioactive zones, continues, “In order to receive them, a person can either bribe the officials, have ‘needed’ connections, or go to a court and win the case.”
A violation of the rights of the Chernobiltsi (liquidators and victims of he CND) for an adequate standard of living is documented in Article 58 of the Law on the budget, which sets the living wages, and does not take into account the quadrupled prices for food, public transportation, and utilities during at least last ten years. Most of the Chernobyl victims and liquidators were promised to receive an adequate housing or a piece of land to start building a new house after the disaster (Article 20 of “On the Status and Social Protection of Citizens Affected by the Chernobyl Disaster”) but were forced to eventually return to their old homes, left right after the nuclear explosion . The third category Chernobyl liquidator shared that he had been waiting for over twenty years for an apartment in Ternopil, Ukraine, and has not received anything yet: “I was number 987 in a line for the apartment, but moved only fifty numbers down during this period [more than twenty years]… no money in the state budget for new constructions, but there was for the Eurocup.”
Despite the many efforts to provide the population of Ukraine with safe living conditions, the residents of Berezne still live on contaminated territories, where the level of radionuclides in food products is “a few times higher than the internationally accepted level.” Those interviewed mentioned that “no one checks the level of radiation in water, land, or food,” as there are more important problems in the country than the lingering effects of Chernobyl. The victims and liquidators of the nuclear disaster are remembered only at politically important times, such as election season and before the Chernobyl anniversary. The government and media will start talking about new remedies and up coming changes, such as “the need to improve pensions of Chernobyl victims.” For instance, pension was increased by 120 hryvnias right before the 2010 elections. But as soon as a politician is elected or right after the Chernobyl anniversary in May, “he [or she] totally forgets about the made promises,” new problems occur and “Chernobyl is forgotten – until the next anniversary or election.”
Thus, most benefits for the Chrnobiltsi are recorded in laws and remain there. The Ukrainian legislation system dealing with Chernobyl is imperfect because of a high level of corruption in the country, leading to the lack of funding, and, thus, to the violation of the rights to life, adequate standard of living, the enjoyment of the highest attainable standards of physical and mental health .
International Assistance to Solve Chernobyl Problem
A major solution for the Chernobyl problem of the Berezne region residents and the rest of the world might be arriving soon. The creation of a new safety cover, which will cost approximately 980 million Euros and ensure the safety of the reactor for about a hundred years, should be completed by 2015 by French Novarka Consortium. Some experts, however, feel that the Chernobyl problem will not be solved with a new sarcophagus, as the radioactive materials will remain under it, creating a potential danger for the population and violating their right to life.
International support, which was so encouraging and essential during the first decade after the disaster, is significantly reduced now. One of the liquidators mentions that “when Ukraine was shutting down the fourth Chernobyl radiator, the European states and the U.S. were guarantees of a new sarcophagus… the European countries gave a little bit of money for that, but nothing came from the U.S… it stays quiet.” Also, the UN action plan Vision for 2016 assumes that the national budgetary support “for contaminated regions [will be] substantially reduced” and falsely assumes that the problem is mostly solved. Aid from foreign donors, such as €110 million from the EU in April 2011, is often criticized as an effort to “alleviate the Chernobyl situation in the eyes of many commentators and decision makers.” Despite the fact that the international community is forgetting about Chernobyl, the problem still exists and needs an immediate solution.
Recommendations: How to Fill the Gap
There are various views for the best solution, coming from the local, national, and international level. Most interviewees believe that a new revision of laws are needed, which should reflect the financial possibilities and budget of Ukraine and recent radiation measurements, twenty-six years after the disaster . Others see a necessity to bring these human rights violations to the European Court of Human Rights. The representatives of the NGO Independent WHO [World Health Organization], however, feel that the only possible solution for resolving the Chernobyl problem is only within WHO, which should
- “assume its responsibilities, as set out in its Constitution, in total independence from the IAEA, and cease to be an accomplice to the disinformation on the health consequences of nuclear power in general;
- support independent scientists who have struggled to provide assistance to contaminated populations since April 1986;
- take the initiative in research and prevention in relation to internal, low dose radiation, the effects of which continue for period varying from decades to thousands of years.”
Another liquidator views the whole world as responsible for the consequences of Chernobyl, since the whole world uses nuclear energy, the cheapest and the most useful kind of energy. The cooperation and significant financial expenditures from every nation affected by Chernobyl is needed and should be implemented immediately as thousands of people continue to die every year in Ukraine, Russia, and Belarus. There are multiple Chernobyl projects currently devoted to capacity building but these programs are not concrete. The international community should be more precise in its actions, having a clear plan and always meeting set deadlines.
