In light of the Russian invasion into Ukraine, EUNIC Global has published the statement below. As the Dutch member of EUNIC Global, we fully support the following statement and stand in solidarity with the people of Ukraine and all those, including in Russia, who resist Putin’s attempt to rewrite history.
As the network of European Union National Institutes for Culture, we collectively condemn the aggression against Ukraine, a blatant and unprovoked attack on democracy. We express our support and solidarity with our colleagues, peers and the people of Ukraine. Our work as a network of cultural relations practitioners strives for an approach of dialogue in the pursuit of trust and a peaceful global order.
Our Ukrainian cultural partners are hugely impacted by the violence, and we stand in solidarity with them. EUNIC’s engagement with, and in Ukraine has been highly active for many years: EUNIC’s Ukraine cluster is composed of 13 EUNIC members and elsewhere in the world Ukrainian embassies and cultural centres are partners in several of EUNIC’s other clusters worldwide. Current and recent major initiatives in Ukraine led by, and collectively with, EUNIC members include House of Europe and Culture Bridges, two multi-annual multi-million euro projects creating deep and varied opportunities for capacity building, professional and cultural exchange between Ukrainian and EU cultural actors.
In its recent work EUNIC has published a study on fragile contexts as well as research on the contribution of cultural relations to building peace and stability. In November 2021 we held a knowledge sharing workshop on artistic freedom of expression together with UNESCO, and this spring we will come together to identify next steps in terms concrete initiatives to support diaspora Afghan cultural workers. We strongly condemn the acts of aggression in Ukraine and as a community of cultural relations organisations, EUNIC and its members will seek to use our resources, influence and shared learning from other fragile contexts to continue to actively support Ukrainian civil society and cultural actors. This will be done by whatever means possible both within Ukraine as well as abroad.
