Volodymyr Horbulin elected head of SBU Public Council
Volodymyr Horbulin, academician of Ukraine’s National Academy of Sciences and head of the Institute for National Security Problems attached to Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council (RNBO), was unanimously elected head of the Public Council attached to the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) at a recent meeting of this body, reports the SBU press service. This was done in compliance with regulations pertaining to this advisory body, which is carrying out its activity as being independent of government agencies and political parties.
For the first time the meeting was attended by the new members of the Public Council — Larysa Ivshyna, editor in chief of Den/The Day; Yurii Yakymenko, head of the political and legal programs at the Razumkov Center; and Oleksandr Vlasiuk, head of the National Institute for International Security attached to the RNBO of Ukraine.
“I was among those who supported the need to establish and reinforce the SBU as a statehood institute since the first days of Ukraine’s independence. Hopefully, the Public Council will get involved in setting, first and foremost, the strategic vectors in the activity of the Security Service and will secure the democratic character of resolving questions addressed to the SBU by the public,” said Horbulin.
SBU Head Valentyn Nalyvaichenko, who was invited to the session of the Public Council, told the audience about the measures the SBU is undertaking to secure legal, democratic, open, and transparent election process, as well as cooperation with the citizens so as to prevent violations of their constitutional rights to free expression. “We expect constructive criticism and remarks from all the members of the Public Council, and we are ready to provide immediate response to them. This meeting has gathered those who love Ukraine and are ready to defend it,” Nalyvaichenko emphasized.
Kyiv volunteers initiate project Mercy Bus for homeless people
According to unofficial data, there are from 5,000 to 10,000 people without a permanent place of residence in Kyiv. The situation became critical for homeless people when severe frosts hit Kyiv.
Today when it is so freezing cold in the country people without homes are in danger of not only getting frostbite but even dying. The social patrol, which was created in Kyiv by the City State Administration, provides extra help to homeless people. However, it does not solve the main problem: Where can a homeless person find shelter for a night to hide from frosts in the city center?
Recently there have been reports in the mass media about how the city administrations of major Ukrainian cities from Donetsk, Dnipropetrovsk, and Kharkiv to Lviv, Lutsk, and Odesa react to this problem. Their experience could be extremely useful for Kyiv with its multimillion population. Military tents set in city centers and near train stations can and actually do help over a 100 people a day to get hot food, medical aid, warm clothes, advice from social workers, and a possibility to spend a night at a heated place.
It is important to spread word about such tents, above all, among the homeless. To make it work, we suggest initiating the project Mercy Bus. It will be a bus that will go along a certain route, for example, Podil–Center–Train Station, offering homeless people food, warm clothes, and a chance to spend a night in such a military tent. It is also important to let homeless people hide from frosts in metro underpasses and on the territory of train stations. It has also been proved by the experience of many European cities that these measures help save people’s lives from injuries and death caused by exposure to cold.
Iryna DROBOT, volunteer of Friends of Saint Giles Community
