World Congress of Rusyns IV

From 29 May to 1 June, 1997 the Fourth World Congress of Rusyns was held in Budapest, Hungary. Delegates to this gathering accepted the following report:

1. The World Congress of Rusyns declares that the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, the Republic of Hungary, the Republic of Poland, and the Slovak Republic have acknowledged Rusyns as an distinct nationality. We regretfully state that Ukraine has not taken this step, which violates the Framework Convention on the Protection of National Minorities and the Constitution of their own state,
2. The World Congress of Rusyns appeals to the state organs of Ukraine and its representatives to recognize Rusyns as a distinct minority and to respect the result of the popular referendum from the year 1991 held in Subcarpathian Rus' / the Transcarpathian Oblast of Ukraine,
3. The World Congress of Rusyns calls upon representatives of the United Nations and the Council of Europe to use their authority and address the respect of human rights of Rusyns in accordance with the European standard at the end of the 20th century,
4. The World Congress of Rusyns calls upon the parliaments of states on whose territories Rusyns live, to prepare relevant legislation which will enable at least one of their parliament members to have the right to represent their nationality in parliament "according to the law", as understood with respect to the practice of the parliaments of the various states,
5. The World Congress of Rusyns calls upon the clergy of the Greek Catholic and Orthodox Churches, that they will become, according to the example of the 19th century national awakeners, bearers of the spiritual renewal of Rusyns, that by their own example they would strive to eliminate the negative artificially imported problems between these two confessions, which are damaging to Rusyns. "Spiritual fathers, commit yourselves to the preservation of the Old Slavonic liturgy and the Cyrillic alphabet, as the primary identifying marks of our people",
6. The World Congress of Rusyns solemnly commemorates the 50th anniversary of the tragedy of Rusyns (Lemkos) carried out under the name "Akcja Wisla", in order that this sad jubilee will serve as a memorial for the present and future generations of Rusyns. We are turning to the state organs of the Republic of Poland and its representatives, that they would not only acknowledge "Akcja Wisla" as an act of injustice, but will undertake steps toward compensation for the moral and material injustices which occurred as a result of it,
7. The World Congress of Rusyns declares its reverence for the suffering of extreme violence inflicted against Rusyns and other native inhabitants of Subcarpathian Rus' in concentration camps in Rachov in 1938, and in Svaljava in 1945, the World Congress of Rusyns at the same time condemns the signing of the Fierlinger-Molotov pact, as an act in violation of international law,
8. The World Congress of Rusyns has approved that the Fifth World Congress of Rusyns will be held in 1999 in Ukraine, in the geographic territory of Subcarpathian Rus'.

Resolutions of the Fourth World Congress of Rusyns

1. The Congress assigns the Interregional Committee of the World Council of Rusyns to arrange meetings with representatives of the governments of Ukraine, Slovakia, Hungary, Yugoslavia and the Czech Republic with the goal of discussing and solving the problems of Rusyns in those states,
2. the Congress assigns to the chief representatives of Rusyn nationality organizations which are members of the World Council of Rusyns, that in every country where Rusyns live, that they achieve recognition of Rusyns as a distinct national minority with the right of every Rusyn to freely identify oneself as Rusyn, and that in the next census of population there will be on the census forms the category "Rusyn",
3. the Congress assigns the Interregional Committee of the World Council of Rusyns: to guarantee, by the time of the Fifth World Congress of Rusyns, the publishing of an anthology of Rusyn prose and a concise encyclopedia of Rusyn history and culture; and to begin, on the part of scholars, the preparation of a universal history of Rusyns,
4. the Congress assigns the Interregional Committee of the World Council of Rusyns and the chief representatives of Rusyn national cultural-social organizations to set up and support the teaching of Rusyn language and culture in schools,
5. the Congress assigns the Interregional Committee of the World Council of Rusyns to create the financial fund of the World Council of Rusyns.