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4 No.48 SEPTEMBER 27, 2018 TOPIC OF THE DAY WWW.DAY.KIEV.UA By Oleksii SAVYTSKYI Ukraine has placed second among the countries that achieved the greatest progress over the past four years in the field of information disclosure. Meanwhile, this country holds the 17th position overall out of the 30 countries that have joined the International Open Data Charter. Within Ukraine, Drohobych has been the leader in data disclosure this year. Recently, this 100,000-strong city won the national competition Open Data Awards 2018. Drohobych can offer the rest of the country a real master class in making routine and uninteresting bureaucratic documentation useful to the community as it creates new services and even makes money. Even as recently as two years ago, most decisions, reports, or routine statistics remained confined to the internal servers of the city council or even old paper journals. However, local officials then began to publish the entire information about the city’s life: from real estate registers to tender procedures and the number of patients admitted by the outpatient hospital. All these data are now made available to residents at the city’s website, which can be accessed from any Internet-capable gadget. “You can see a whole picture after just three or four clicks, whether it concerns finances, alliances, and conflicts involving local councilors, or decisions they make,” local civic activist, editorin-chief of the Media Drohobychchyny newspaper Mariia Kulchytska shared her impressions. According to her, the work of local journalists has become much simpler. After all, if earlier one had to submit dozens of requests to get some figure having to do with the city budget or tender procedures, now it is enough to go to the city’s website. Local authorities post all their decisions there of their own accord, without waiting for requests. And these are not just scanned bureaucratic documents, but also analyzed data. How open data improves Ukrainians’ lives A master class from Drohobych Photo by Ruslan KANIUKA, The Day A good example of turning dull statistics into useful services was shown in the case of the local outpatient hospital. The Drohobych hospital was among the first in Ukraine to open its registry data for citizens, enabling them to schedule a doctor’s appointment online. In just 20 days of this September, over 9,000 citizens did so through the e-registry. “We save both patients’ and doctors’ time. There are no queues at the doctor’s cabinet’s door anymore. Everything is scheduled hour by hour, everything is scheduled online,” acting chief doctor of the Drohobych City Outpatient Hospital Yuliia Honcharenko told us. Moreover, local patients have their own electronic medical records. People can access them, too, using their own smartphones, if need be, and doctors can do the same: a patient may well need urgent advice or be in some kind of emergency. “We had a case when a person had become unconscious, so the doctors saw in his electronic declaration that he had diabetes, and already knew how to proceed further, how to help him.” This kind of healthcare reform has also been of interest to residents of the district and neighboring towns. According to Drohobych officials, electronic innovations have attracted hundreds of so-called medical tourists to the city. People go to Drohobych to take advantage of the quick and convenient services offered by the city’s doctors. The city’s mayor is happy: this project has been a success not only in terms of reputation, but also economically. After all, more data makes for better analytics, and hence better decisions. The city’s money is spent wisely. “Now we can fund priority projects. For example, we did thermo-modernization of a kindergarten. We have been saving on heating bills due to it. Also, we have replaced the mains pipes, taps and have been saving on water bills. Such seeming trifles have a very big impact when it is done on a city scale, believe me,” asserted Taras Kuchma, the mayor of Drohobych. As a result, investors have grown more interested in Drohobych, and the city’s advertising revenues have doubled. While they stood at 176,000 hryvnias in 2016, then in 2017 the figure was already 350,000 hryvnias. This was because the newly created service, based on open data, allowed the city to detect all illegal advertising boards, and the field work was done by citizens themselves. “You look at the address, go to the corresponding web service, look whether the board is registered, and if it is not, you submit a report to that effect and this illegal advertisement gets removed. Why is this important? Because it increases the local budget’s revenues,” Kulchytska said. Manager of the Drohobych Smart City program explained that the success came from data presentation. The website offers not just a set of dry figures filling endless spreadsheets, but readyfor-use analytics as well. “You wanted the information, and it is already here. We have 240 unique sets of data. But if we say to residents, ‘here is an Excel spreadsheet, now look for yourselves,’ it will come to nothing. We have presented it in such a way that it is interesting to residents,” said Stanislav Haider, head of the department of information technology and analytics of the Drohobych City Council. “Four illegal billboards were found within a month after this project started, all thanks to our citizens. We have opened the data and visualized it for people.” It should be added that such a project of open data was cheap and paid for itself within its first year of operation. And now it brings increasing benefits every day. In particular, it helps the formation of civil society. “By default, data, just like the city’s budget, belong to its residents. And it is important for us that both the residents and the authorities understand it, that the residents act as citizens, not guests of their city,” Haider concluded. The next stage of the local Smart City program will involve the blockchain technology applied to municipal projects. For example, the queue for children’s entry to kindergarten will be monitored with the help of modern means in the educational sector. Should some official try to change some child’s place in the queue manually, the blockchain technology will record it. It is hoped that the new approach will minimize most corruption risks. By Olesia SHUTKEVYCH, The Day, Vinnytsia region Aunique Cossack-era wooden church has been rebuilt in the village of Mala Rostivka, Orativ raion. According to the extant data, the shrine was built back in 1776, restored in the 1830s, and closed a century ago, sometime after 1917. The locals say, however, that the mass was still clandestinely celebrated in the church until 1943, and then the structure was used to house first a club, and later a collective farm storage facility. The neglect ultimately resulted in only wooden walls of the once majestic shrine still standing, which began to overgrow first with weeds, and then with trees. The local farmer Mykola Motuziuk and his oncologist son Ihor resolved to revive the shrine. At first, they were looking for and studying the documents about the church; they say that they had covered half of Ukraine while searching for a similar structure, but had not found one. Therefore, they resolved, with the support of historians, restorers, and the village community, to restore this shrine of the extraordinary architecture. The restoration lasted two years and has now entered its final stage. The church already hosts divine services on major feast days. The farmer refuses to reveal how much money he has spent on this unique building, saying only that money has no memory, while the preserved church will last for many years. “I came to Orativ raion in the 1980s. Each time I visited Mala Rostivka, the destroyed church on the “If our ancestors built it, we have to preserve it” In Vinnytsia region, a local farmer has restored a Cossack-era church at his own expense, with only interior repairs still to be done hill unnerved me. The church was decaying, in fact rotting, and it pained me. The village mayor sent letters to the authorities, even went to the Exhibition of Achievements of National Economy in Kyiv requesting that they take away the church, but since the shrine was not a monument of architecture, nobody responded. Meanwhile, people (if they deserve to be called this name) ripped up the floor, since it was made of solid oak boards, and carried them to their farmsteads. Over the years, the shrine decayed until there were only ruins left... Photo courtesy of the author THE NEGLECT ULTIMATELY RESULTED IN ONLY WOODEN WALLS OF THE ONCE MAJESTIC SHRINE STILL STANDING, WHICH BEGAN TO OVERGROW FIRST WITH WEEDS, AND THEN WITH TREES. IT WAS THE LOCAL FARMER MYKOLA MOTUZIUK AND HIS SON IHOR WHO REVIVED THE SHRINE MYKOLA MOTUZIUK “My son and I sought data on the church and found that the construction of the Church of the Intercession in the village of Mala Rostivka was completed in 1776. It was built to a unique design, namely a wooden tetraconch with an attached bell tower. Such shrines were often built by the Cossacks, and therefore the village church is known as a Cossack one. When we took to farming, we first intended to demolish it and build a new shrine from scratch. However, we then realized that if our ancestors had built it, we had to preserve it. Having saved a little money, we began restoration work in the summer of 2016, just after the harvest ended. “There was no red tape to combat, because the church was not listed as a monument of architecture. Still, we could not do it without the help of experts. We had to know how reliable the beams were. An expert examination helped. The experts examined a piece of timber from the framework that we brought to them for testing, and found that timber making up the walls of the church was about 300 years old. We then left some beams in place, but a lot of them had to be replaced. “We started by bringing there a few cranes, raising the building, putting it on logs, strengthening the foundation, putting oak weights in, laying wooden flooring so that the acoustics were good during divine services, and roofing the structure. All the walls were treated with antiseptic to keep insects out. We have restored the domes and erected a bell tower. Now the church is exactly like it once was. All that remains is to make an iconostasis and do landscaping work outside. We are in the final stage of our effort. A priest from the neighboring village of Chahiv celebrates the mass on feast days. People do attend, but there are not that many of them. The village is small, with 150 to 200 residents only, but we see kids at every divine service, and we like it.” Mala Rostivka is located in the middle of nowhere, 20 kilometers from the raion center, so tourists are rare there. It is a pity, really, because apart from the Cossack church, the magnificent palace of General Zabotin is located in the village. It has been finely preserved to this day, even though it stands empty in the foothills.
WWW.DAY.KIEV.UA SOCIE T Y No.48 SEPTEMBER 27, 2018 5 By Valentyn TORBA, The Day The war has issued new challenges – for journalists too. And it would be wrong to think that only the military fight at the front. There are also other fronts which have nothing to do with propaganda but are directly relevant to seeking the truth. It is the front of journalism. Ostap DROZDOV, a Ukrainian writer, journalist, host of the talk shows “DROZDOV” and “Straight Up Front” on the Ukrainian ZIK TV channel, sometimes assumes rather a rough tone in his programs. He may turn out a guest and demands that participants speak Ukrainian only. But it is wrong to say that Drozdov is bent on behaving shockingly, as Russian talk-show hosts are. Just the contrary. Ukrainian television is perhaps short of a sincere dialog on sore points. This is the subject of our conversation with Drozdov. ● “JOURNALISTS SHOULD BE MORE PARTICULAR ABOUT WHO THEY INVITE TO SPEAK” Mr. Drozdov, a new political season begins. Are you planning to find some new formats on television? “Frankly speaking, I am very conservative in this. I don’t think we should change the train that runs very well. My program ‘Straight Up Front’ has been on the air for 12 years. I have already tested a lot of approaches, but I Onbiasedjournalism Photo courtesy of the ZIK TV channel Ostap DROZDOV: “We are paying the price for our unwillingness to make decisions” still remain fixated on my own manner of interpreting political reality. Whatever you do, yours is the work of an author, and I classify my program as authorial. In other words, it has no format at all. You can see a talkfest anywhere, on any channels. I regard my program as a piece of biased journalism. I’ve always had an inclination for this. I always say that I don’t recognize impartiality as a notion. Moreover, I reject the concept of the so-called unbiased journalism. I don’t think we should allow the two sides to speak. Journalists should be more particulate about who they invite to speak. The so-called hybridism is being foisted on us under the guise of impartiality. We are forced to devote 50 percent of the broadcast time to outright evil disguised as balance of opinions. I have never played in this. I can say I am a manipulating journalist in the finest sense of the word. For example, it is written ‘manipulations’ [procedure room – Ed.] on the door of a Ukrainian outpatient hospital. It is the room where you are made healthy by hand. And a journalist does it at his own risk on newspaper pages or on television, for the audience is a very severe phenomenon. It forgives nothing. But it is much more interesting to do so than to hide behind the image of a dried-up moderator.” After all, the spectator “scans” the host and can subconsciously feel sincerity or, on the contrary, manipulation in the worst sense of the word. “Yes, the spectator feels all this. One can always feel falsity.” Read more on our website By Nataliia PUSHKARUK, The Day Recently, a video appeared online that caused outrage in Ukraine and once again brought to the forefront the issue of our neighboring countries issuing their passports to Ukrainian citizens in western regions. The record, released by YouTube user Konstantin, clearly shows a few people, apparently Ukrainians, obtaining Hungarian passports, after which they swear an oath of allegiance to Hungary and perform the national anthem of that country. And most importantly, as the ceremony comes to an end, consular employees can be heard asking these people “to hide from Ukraine’s government bodies the fact of obtaining Hungarian citizenship.” According to media reports, this video was recorded at the Hungarian Consulate in Berehove. “Now Hungary has two options: either to prove that the video of passport issuance ceremony at the Hungarian Consulate General in Berehove is a fake, or to take action right now. I think that only the second one is realistic,” Foreign Minister of Ukraine Pavlo Klimkin tweeted. In addition, he said that during the coming session of the UN General Assembly in New York, he would meet with Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto. “If the video of Ukrainians being issued Hungarian passports in Berehove is not a fake, I think the diplomat responsible will have to switch to issuing Hungarian passports in Budapest. And not to Ukrainian citizens. It is more convenient that way,” he added. “The Ukrainian state should move from gentle persuasion to taking decisive action to prevent the Russian scenario of ‘Donbasization’ from unfolding in Zakarpattia. Firstly, we need to put an end to the subversion being spread by Hungarian and Russian emissaries. The foreign provocateurs should be sent home, and their local assistants brought to justice,” wrote Hanna Hopko, chairperson of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Foreign Affairs. “Secondly, we have to deal with illegal dual citizenship. Thirdly, Ukraine must strengthen its security presence in Zakarpattia, including through re-garrisoning Berehove and other cities with military units and deploying units of the National Guard there. But the main thing to do is to change the leadership of the region and decisively purge the executive bodies and I swear allegiance... to Hungary How should Ukraine react to a neighboring country engaging in systemic violations of Ukrainian law? law-enforcement structures in Zakarpattia,” she stressed. It should be noted that Ukrainian legislation does not criminalize dual citizenship. So, The Day asked experts to comment on this situation and to tell us what response the Ukrainian authorities should offer to the actions of the Hungarian government in this case. ● “BLACKMAILING UKRAINE AND PRESENTING ILLEGITIMATE DEMANDS WILL NEVER MEET A FAVORABLE RESPONSE OF ANY KIND” Volodymyr VASYLENKO, Doctor of Law, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Ukraine: “First of all, we should send a note of protest in response to these actions by the Hungarian side. Secondly, I would close this consulate because it engages in activities that are contrary to both Ukrainian and international law. In addition, the Law ‘On the Citizenship of Ukraine’ should be amended and enhanced with sanctions for the acquisition of dual citizenship without prior renunciation of one’s Ukrainian citizenship, in contravention of the Constitution and the laws of Ukraine.” Why does the Ukrainian government do nothing in response to such actions on Hungary’s part? “Obviously, it does not want to exacerbate relations with the neighboring country, hoping that it will be resolved somehow all by itself. However, nothing will get resolved by itself, because the Hungarian side, unfortunately, has taken an irreconcilable position towards Ukraine, interfering THE INFAMOUS VIDEO... THE INSCRIPTION READS: “I SWEAR THAT I CONSIDER HUNGARY TO BE MY HOMELAND” with our internal affairs and trying to impose a model of behavior that would suit Hungary alone to the detriment of Ukraine’s national interests. It is unacceptable and in the end it is necessary to take a firm stand, to make it clear both verbally and by actions that blackmailing Ukraine and presenting illegitimate demands will never meet a favorable response of any kind.” ● “WE NEED TO GET INTO GOOD ORDER UKRAINIAN LEGISLATION” Dmytro TUZHANSKYI, a political analyst and expert on Ukrainian-Hungarian relations: “Issuance of Hungarian passports to Ukrainian citizens in the region of Zakarpattia is not a new story. This has been happening since 2011. In 2010, one of the first decisions of the new Hungarian parliament and the then ruling majority party, headed by Viktor Orban, was amending the law on citizenship, in particular by introducing a simplified procedure for the acquisition of citizenship, which entered in force on January 1, 2011. Since then, all countries of the so-called Carpathian Basin – Slovakia, Romania, Serbia, Croatia, and Ukraine – have seen Hungarian citizenship being issued to ethnic Hungarian citizens under a simplified procedure. “This procedure is openly described on the web resources of virtually all Hungarian diplomatic missions abroad: the applicant must collect a set of documents confirming that they are an ethnic Hungarian or their relatives are ethnic Hungarians or had Hungarian citizenship (for example, as citizens of the Austro-Hungarian Empire until 1920 or in the Czechoslovak period in Zakarpattia, etc.), know the Hungarian language, fill out a questionnaire, and submit these documents. “Regarding the response of Ukraine: our government did respond and, according to my information, it has repeatedly requested that Hungary respect Ukrainian law and not issue Hungarian passports to Ukrainian citizens. It was mainly done along diplomatic lines, not publicly. This video has made this question a public one. Until now, it was a taboo, was not discussed, and the problem accumulated and worsened, especially in the face of Russia’s aggression in Crimea and the Donbas, where the Russian passport played a key role. “One cannot call Ukraine’s response a harsh one, but at the same time it cannot be described as insufficient, Klimkin said that the consulate’s employees who got recorded on the video were at risk of becoming non grata persons in Ukraine. However, this is not the harshest response possible. “Declaring people non grata or sending protests will not solve the problem. Ukrainian citizens have obtained over 100,000 Hungarian passports. One can only imagine how many Romanian passports are held by Ukrainians in Bukovyna. In addition, Ukrainians hold passports of other countries as well. That is, the problem is not only between Ukraine and Hungary, as citizenship, and especially the issue of dual citizenship, is a serious major Ukrainian problem. “We need a systemic, properly bureaucratic effort; we need to get into good order Ukrainian legislation as well. But again, this is a very risky pursuit to engage in on the eve of an election. It is necessary to start a dialog with all neighbors, because Hungary was doing it unilaterally: Ukraine was protesting, while the other party kept issuing passports. This is not a healthy situation, as diplomats and lawyers should sit down and seek a solution at a shared table. This problem had to emerge sooner or later. There must be discussions, debates and this question is definitely not a matter to be dealt with in a year. “I think that this video was on the one hand accidental, and on the other, not really accidental. At the same time, I would not like to engage in conspiracy theories: who planned, or did not plan, it all. The bottom line is that this problem exists, people have long been aware of it, both on the Ukrainian and Hungarian sides, they know about the procedure and the oaths. And now everyone saw it on a video and there was a scandal. For a few hundred thousand Ukrainian citizens, this video is not a sensation, it brings back memories because they were undergoing the same procedure at some point.”
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