The scandal over the illegal seizure of land in the Crimea on the territory of the Artek International Children’s Center and the Young Guard Ukrainian Children’s Center, which The Day highlighted recently, seems to be on the way out. The directors of both health centers say everything will be OK if the law is obeyed.
In February 2009 the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine passed the law “On the Government Support for and the Special Status of the Children’s Centers Artek and Young Guard” and the resolution “On Urgent Measures to Provide State Support to the Artek International Children’s Center and the Young Guard State-Run Center.” A few days earlier another resolution aimed at protecting this state-run property was adopted.
From now on, the property owned by the two children’s camps is not subject to seizure and their land is part of the national government-run natural preserves. According to the Artek and Young Guard directors, they had their tax arrears written off and, therefore, the camps are exempt from paying the profit tax. Besides, the utility, gas, and heating tariffs have been set at the same level as for the population. The main thing is that the state will now be buying out 90 and 100 percent of the Artek and Young Guard tours, respectively, on an annual basis. Moreover, the two camps are scheduled to be shortly transferred to the Ministry for Youth, Family and Sport.
Yurii Pavlenko, Minister for Youth, Family and Sport, said that the Cabinet of Ministers had allotted 35 million hryvnias from the reserve fund for urgent measures. Besides, a special commission has been formed to monitor the fulfillment of the pledges made.
“I think we will begin taking the most urgent measures in a week’s time to make sure that Artek and Young Guard are functioninn and developing. Accordingly, the revised 2009 budget provides for an additional 60 million hryvnias for the recreation of children in these camps. In 2009 28,000 children will improve their health there, including 8,000 at Young Guard, while 5,000 tours will be on free sale,” Pavlenko said.
The two health centers will soon see accident-prevention work and extensive repairs of the sewerage and purification system, as well as water, heat, and power supply networks. It is planned to fully replace the centers’ auto transport and renovate the medical treatment and diagnostics facilities within two years. In particular, according to the minister, it is projected to build a new up-to-date medical center and renovate the in-patient hospital in the Lazurny camp. In addition, the next few years will see reconstruction of sports facilities in Artek and Young Guard and establishment of cultural and education centers, while Artek will have its own tennis-training infrastructure for children. There will also be a renovation of the school and heavy repairs of the dormitory in Young Guard. According to the Young Guard director-general Eduard Lebedynsky, a few years ago, when the camp functioned in the summer only, 120 employees had 7- to-8-month wage arrears. One of the crucial fields of work in Artek is anti-slide measures. Experts say this should have been done long ago – in the Soviet era.
According to Minister Pavlenko, Artek and Young Guard will be able to receive the first shift of vacationers as early as February 23 and March 1, respectively. What is more, the directors of these health centers and the Cabinet want to make these facilities operate all year round. Lebedynsky noted that present-day children need more comfortable amenities and new diagnostic centers.
“We are grateful to dozens of thousands of people from all over the world, who have been writing letters to support us all this time,” Artek director-general Borys Novozhylov says. “You just can’t imagine what exotic countries we have received letters came from! I am also thanking journalists. This should perhaps have been done about two years ago, when this disorder was only beginning. But it is too early to say that we have won. The reason is that there were resolutions in support of Artek and Young Guard as long ago as 1998 and 2005, and there was a presidential decree in 2008. But all these laws were not enforced. Now we must roll up our sleeves and get down to business, i.e., knock at the same office doors and defend our rights. We hope it will be impossible not to obey the laws protecting Artek and Young Guard. I also want to remind you that the law ‘On the Improvement of Children’s Health’ entered into force on January 1. I really wish bureaucrats would not forget about it.”
In Novozhylov’s view, The Day of Artek, which is annually marked on June 16, will be very special this year, after a “war” for the right to children’s recreation. The directors of these children’s health establishments promise to do their best to make sure that the camps work in the best possible way. This will also be facilitated by the newly-established Civic Board of Trustees. Artek and Young Guars are already beginning to work out development plans and devise interesting educational programs. Everyone who has good ideas is invited to participate.
