On November 9, members and founders of the famous Ukrainian Helsinki Group met with the President of Ukraine, Petro Poroshenko. The meeting was held in honor of the 40th anniversary of this human rights group, which was founded as the “Ukrainian Public Group to Promote the Implementation of the Helsinki Accords on Human Rights” and fought for human rights in the Soviet Union despite being threatened with imprisonment, forced psychiatric treatment, concentration camps, and death.

The Group’s members presented the President with a list of possible improvements on the system of patriotic rearing of youth - one which would be worthy of the memory of Ukrainian defenders of human rights, - on the rehabilitation of those who fought for Ukraine’s freedom but were unable to get the acknowledgement they deserve because of accidents of history, on the strengthening of the role of civil society, and of reform for the political system.

The Ukrainian head of state expressed his support for changes proposed by the activists to the study programs of various institutions of learning with the goal to “fully and truthfully illuminate the role of Ukrainian human rights activists in restoring Ukrainian independence.” He also assured the present parties that he is prepared to initiate the necessary changes, both at the level of the Ukrainan Cabinet of Ministers and at the level of local state administrations, to provide a higher buget for material aid (the Presidential Stipend) for the Ukrainian dissidents and the proper evaluation of their role in the history of independent Ukraine.

President Poroshenko added: “I would like to deeply thank you, from the very bottom of my heart. In my eyes, the participants of the Helsinki Group were and remain true heroes. I truly believe that it is incredibly important that your contribution to the restoration of Ukrainian independence be recognized and remembered.”

Over the course of its existence (from November 9, 1976, and until the dissolution of the Soviet Union) there were 41 members in the Ukrainian Helsinki Group. 24 of them spend 170 years total in Soviet concentration camps, jails, and psychiatric clinic. The sum of the groups members’ sentences was 550 years in total. Five human rights activists paid for their participation in the Ukrainian Helsinki Group with their lives.