The Richness of Difference in Bosnia and Herzegovina - Capital and Investment for Com-mon European Future (European Unit in Bosnia and Herzegovina), Why I am Going to Vote in the Coming Elections (MOZAIK Foundation), Half-Way House (Cantonal Centre for Social Work), Let Us Make Their Dreams Come True (Women Association Viktorija 99), Happy Gipsy Fair with A Few Tears and Rain Drops (City Library), International Fes-tival of Folk Music and Dance (KUD Kolovit), Communication Bonton (“Education Builds Bosnia and Herzegovina” Association).
Cuba
Cuba was not included in the list of countries that can benefit from Slovakia’s ODA, so when implementing projects of democracy assistance in Cuba, Slovak NGOs have to rely exclusively on their own resources or financial support from their international Human Rights in 2006. The goal of the project was to contribute to the transformation
of society via the creation of a community of young experts using the method of virtual discussion forum and uncensored analysis.
Bosnia and Herzegovina
The region of the Western Balkans is one of the priority areas of Slovakia’s foreign policy.
The importance of the Western Balkans to Slovakia’s diplomacy ensues from the fact that the situation in this region has an “essential impact on the stability and future development of Central Europe” and that there are historical ties between Slovakia and this region that take many forms, including the form of “traditionally good bilateral relations”. Accord-ing to Orientation of Foreign Policy for 2007, the Slovak Republic intends to support the
“Euro-Atlantic ambitions of Western Balkan [countries]”.
The main beneficiary of Slovakia’s development assistance in the region has been Ser-bia and Montenegro (and the two successor states), which was defined as the so-called
“programme” country to which development assistance was channelled via a special institution, namely the Bratislava-Belgrade Fund.
Western Balkans countries defined as so-called “project” countries for Slovakia’s develop-ment assistance include Bosnia and Herzegovina, along with Macedonia and Albania.
The Orientation of Foreign Policy for 2007 declares that “the Slovak Republic shall con-tinue to support the integration ambitions of Bosnia and Herzegovina with respect to the EU, whose fulfilment depends on adopting constitutional changes and other reforms”. Acc-ording to the document, “the main goal of supporting the integration ambitions of Bosnia and Herzegovina is the stability of the entire Western Balkans region where Bosnia and Herzegovina will play a pivotal role once a major step towards solving the Kosovo issue is taken… Slovak diplomacy shall continue to co-operate with the non-governmental sector [in the country] in order to strengthen democratic institutions in Bosnia and Herzegovina which, in combination with diplomatic stabilisation efforts, provides a significant guaran-tee of the European development of Bosnia and Herzegovina”.
Overall, eight projects were carried out in Bosnia and Herzegovina within the framework of Slovakia’s ODA; one of them can be described as a democracy assistance project (another project related to Bosnia and Herzegovina was a joint project covering several countries). Besides, the Slovak Republic’s Embassy in Bosnia and Herzegovina supported 12 projects through micro-grants channelled via the Slovak Fund for Local Initiatives in Bosnia and Herzegovina; nine of them fit the description of democracy assistance projects, i.e. democratisation, Euro-Atlantic integration.
Part I Democracy Assistance Policies - Trends and Approaches Slovakia: Exporting Democracy (not only Democracy...) - Grigorij Mesežnikov with the regime’s official propaganda, the Cuban Ambassador accused Slovak NGOs of subversive activities that are allegedly a part of “the American war against Cuba” and fin-anced from US funds. He argued that the Cuban authorities “would extradite from Cuba any person who comes to Cuba to introduce American interests regardless of whether [Minister of Foreign Affairs] Mr Kubiš will like it or not”.
People in Peril Association released its own statement in which it refused any accusation of being a tool of US foreign policy and mentioned that the revenues of the organisation are predominantly domestic (78% of all funds, comprising 28% from citizens and 50%
from Slovak ODA), while 6% came from the EU and 11% from USA (NED and Center for a Free Cuba). In a joint statement, Pontis Foundation and People in Peril Association condemned the participation of Prime Minister Fico at the Cuban reception, labelling it as offensive to the democracy activities of Slovak NGOs in Cuba and disrespectful of the solidarity displayed by Slovak citizens with persecuted individuals in Cuba.
In Slovakia, there are two NGOs that specifically focus on projects and activities in Cuba, namely People in Peril Association and Pontis Foundation.
Projects and activities implemented by People in Peril Association
Since 2002, People in Peril Association (PIPA) has pursued various activities aimed at supporting political prisoners and independent intellectuals in Cuba. Its projects focus on supporting families of political prisoners, distributing books to independent libraries, and circulating expert materials on Slovakia’s transformation among independent intellect-uals. PIPA sends out journalists and transformation experts to Cuba, and co-operates with independent Cuban teachers, economists, and informal educational centres. Donors supp-orting PIPA’s activities in Cuba include the Center for a Free Cuba, a US-based NGO.
Distribution of humanitarian aid, prisoners of conscience adoptions, politicians’ trips to Cuba
Between 2003 and the end of May 2006, PIPA sent 20 representatives and external coll aborators to distribute financial aid raised during public collections to help families of prisoners of conscience. A total of 27 families have been supported financially through the distribution of more than SKK 430,000 (data at the beginning of January 2007 showed that more than 30 families had been supported to the tune of SKK 734,000 coll-ected in co-operation with Pontis Foundation).
During each journey, representatives of PIPA collected information about the health and physical condition of the arrested persons, as well as the situation of their families. They also observed the work and needs of opp osition groups - outlawed political parties and movements, independent unions, libraries, and journalist organisations. These groups were supported materially with professional literature and technical equipment.
partners. Between 2002 and 2006, Slovakia’s top officials (including former parliament chairman Pavol Hrušovský, former chairman of the Parliamentary Committee for Human Rights László Nagy and others), as well as representatives of the MFA, frequently criticised the situation in the field of human rights protection in Cuba and condemned repressive measures adopted by the Cuban regime with respect to civil rights activists and political dissidents. During this period, Slovakia was visited by a number of leading Cuban diss-idents at the invitation of Slovak NGOs.
Generally speaking, Slovak NGOs specialising on Cuba could rely on a very friendly political environment for their activities between 2002 and 2006; many of them contrib-uted to creating such an environment by demanding that the Slovak government adopt a stricter stance with respect to the undemocratic regime in Havana. For the Slovak Repub-lic’s unambiguously negative position on human rights violations in Cuba and maintaining contacts with Cuban dissidents, Cuban officials “punished” the Slovak Republic’s Embassy in Havana by reducing the level of diplomatic contacts.
After the incumbent administration’s inauguration in July 2006, some Slovak constitutional officials apparently began to deviate from the previously pursued foreign policy line of unambiguously criticising the undemocratic practices of the Cuban regime. First, Prime Minister Robert Fico attended a reception at the Cuban embassy in Bratislava on the oc-casion of the Revolution Day anniversary; later, President Ivan Gašparovič rec eived the Cuban Ambassador despite the fact that the Slovak Republic’s Ambassador in Hav ana is virtually ignored by the Cuban Ministry of Foreign Affairs as well as by top Cuban of-ficials.
These measures were openly condemned by representatives of NGOs that specialise in democracy assistance to Cuba. Although the Slovak government has not adopted any measures designed to prevent the activities of Slovak NGOs in Cuba, the politically friendly environment from the period of 2002-2006 is gone.
This trend was confirmed by developments in 2007. Prime Minister Fico and Minister of Culture, Marek Maďarič, accepted the invitation of the Cuban Ambassador in Bratislava to a reception on the occasion of the Day of Cuban Revolution. This took place just a few days after two activists from Slovak NGOs - People in Peril Association and Civic Eye - were prevented from visiting Cuba (one of them was detained, and one was not allowed to leave Havana airport after arrival and was sent back to Europe). The Slovak MFA criti-cised the Cuban authorities, but the Prime Minister nevertheless accepted the invitation, rejecting the argument that by his personal presence at the reception he was supporting the undemocratic regime of Fidel Castro.
The attendance of high Slovak officials at the Cuban reception then encouraged the Cuban Ambassador to make extremely aggressive statements about the two above-mentioned cases, as well as generally about the activities of Slovak NGOs in Cuba. Fully in keeping
Activities of Pontis Foundation
The activities of the Pontis Foundation in Cuba are aimed at supporting the dissident move-ment and helping the families of imprisoned dissidents. The foundation closely co-operates with PIPA. It supplies forbidden literature and material aid to dissidents and organises coll-ections in Slovakia to support civic activists and political prisoners’ wives, particularly in the poorest regions of Cuba. The foundation initiated protest letters addressed to Cuban officials, co-organised visits of Cuban dissidents to Slovakia, and organised various events and happenings in support of persecuted dissidents. In 2005, it joined an international campaign in Europe and Latin America for democracy in Cuba. Owing to concerns about the safety of those concerned, the Pontis Foundation refuses to publish certain information on its activities in Cuba. In October 2007, Pontis announced that it collected (in operation with PIPA) SKK 704,000 for the support of political prisoners’ families.
Leading Slovak NGOs Operating in the Field of Democracy Assistance Pontis Foundation
• People in Peril Association (PIPA)
• Institute for Public Affairs (IVO)
• Občianske oko (Civic Eye) Civic Association
• Slovak Foreign Policy Association (SFPA)
•
INEKO (Institute for Economic and Social Reforms)
• MESA10 - Center for Economic and Social Analyses
•
Endnotes
1 The Slovak Republic was the only Visegrad country that had to undergo a new struggle for democracy and over the fundamental character of its political regime after the collapse in 1989 of communist rule.
Due to its troubled domestic development between 1994 and 1998, Slovakia failed to comply with political criteria for EU membership and was excluded from the first tier (the so-called Luxembourg group) of EU candidate countries. In Slovakia, the fundamental issue became the struggle for the character of the political regime. This struggle was characterised by the strong conflict between top state institutions, fierce confrontation between the governing coalition and the opposition, preparation, adoption and implementation of legislative and administrative initiatives designed to create an environment amenable to the concentration of political power in the hands of dominant political forces, the aggravation of conflicts between state institutions and civil society, tensions between official state power and ethnic minorities, and the abuse of organs of state power for the benefit of party interests and goals. It was not a standard political struggle between government and opposition conducted in compliance with generally accepted principles, but a struggle over the very nature of these principles. In 1994-1998, the EU several times warned the Slovak government that the country had demonstrated serious violations of the rule of law and signs of institutional instability as a result of practical steps by the cabinet and the ruling majority in the parliament. These steps included undemocratic methods in the creation of parliamentary organs, the abduction of the president’s son, and the failed investigation of the state organs’ involvement in the Since the beginning of 2005, PIPA - in co-operation with Pontis Foundation - has launched
a programme of adoption of prisoners of conscience and their families by Slovak politi-cians, firms, organisations or individuals. The families have been supported regularly by symbolic sums of money and essential medications. The health conditions of imprisoned dissidents have been monitored, as well as the way they are treated in prison. PIPA and Pontis Foundation have in this manner supported ten prisoners of conscience and their families.
Since 2004, PIPA has co-ordinated the visits of Slovak politicians to Cuba. Slovak visitors have met with representatives of Cuban dissident groups and independent democratic activists, expressing their support to them.
Supporting Cuba’s independent expert community
In 2005, PIPA carried out a project called Supporting Representatives of Independent Think-Tanks in Cuba. The project’s goal was to support the development of non-ideological research teams, stimulate critical thinking, create space for an open dialogue and free exchange of opinions, and initiate transfer of know-how from post-socialist Slovakia to socialist Cuba. As part of the project, two research groups - educational and economic - were formed; during weekend meetings with people from around the country that showed interest in specific areas, they collected views on issues defined in advance. The most tang ible output of these meetings was the elaboration of two papers that featured propos-als for changes in the field of education and economy. Commentaries on both papers were written by Slovak experts specialising in education and economy.
In 2006, PIPA implemented a project called the Preparation of Independent Think-Tanks’
Representatives for Cuba’s Future Transition. The project’s main goal was to provide a platform for direct interaction between independent Cuban teachers and economists and Slovak experts in these areas. As part of the project, two Slovak experts in the field of education and economy travelled to Cuba where they lectured groups of independent intellectuals on the transformation of the education system and economy in Slovakia after 1989. Upon their return to Slovakia, the experts wrote studies on the current conditions in Cuba’s education system and economy. Overall, 15 Cuban teachers and nine Cuban economists took part in the project. The outputs of their co-operation were published in the MONITOR Internet magazine.
In 2007, PIPA planned to prepare and distribute to informal educational centres and in-dependent libraries in Cuba an educational publication called Let’s Discuss Global Issues!
The handbook that was designed primarily for independent Cuban teachers presented six universal issues: Poverty, Education, Health, Human Rights, Media, and the Environment.
The goal of the project is to strengthen informal education in Cuba, broaden knowledge of young Cubans and, most importantly, support and encourage their capacity to think critically.
Part I Democracy Assistance Policies - Trends and Approaches Slovakia: Exporting Democracy (not only Democracy...) - Grigorij Mesežnikov crime, the expulsion of deputies from parliament, the obstruction of a referendum on direct presidential
elections, disregard for rulings of the Constitutional Court, and the granting of amnesties (when the prime minister assumed the powers of the president due to the failure of parliament to elect a new president) for perpetrators of criminal acts politically connected to the government, etc.
2 Mutual relations between the current administration and the third sector began to deteriorate in autumn 2006 due to an attempt by the ruling three-party coalition to abolish the mechanism of tax assignation that allowed individuals as well as corporations to assign 2% of their income tax to NGOs of their choice. In reaction, Slovak NGOs launched a massive campaign called People to People. Eventually, the tax assignation mechanism as such was not abolished; however, NGOs specialising in human rights protection were excluded from the mechanism and then, under the continuing pressure of civil society actors, included again into the list of eligible NGOs by an amendment of the same law in November 2007.
3 In its project documentation, the BBF presented financial data in Slovak crowns (SKK), therefore in this report data about the projects financed by the BBF are mentioned in SKK. The exchange rate of SKK toward the Euro in 2004-2007 varied from ca. 33.00 to 41.00 SKK/EUR.
4 These projects included activities in different sectors. Besides democracy assistance projects, there were projects in building infrastructure (including road and bridge construction), running water and sewerage, gas equipment installation, alternative energy systems, agriculture, forestry, scientific research, education, etc.
5 According to official data, two sets of figures exist, one in US dollars and one in Slovak crowns, which need to be combined to reach the total figure. The amount of ODA allocated to Ukraine via the MFA in 2004-2007 amounted to US$ 490,000 out of US$ 11.05m plus SKK 6.143m out of SKK 352.135m.
6 According to official data, two sets of figures exist, one in US dollars and one in Slovak crowns, which need to be combined to reach the total figure. The amount of ODA allocated to Belarus via the MFA in 2004-2007 amounted to US$ 222,783 out of US$ 11.05m plus SKK 7.953m of a total SKK 352.135m.
7 According to official data, two sets of figures exist, one in US dollars and one in Slovak crowns, which need to be combined to reach the total figure. The amount of ODA allocated to Bosnia and Herzegovina via the MFA in 2004-2007 amounted to US$ 505,509 out of US$ 11.05m plus SKK 3.368m of a total SKK 352.135m.