“Shocking news” say the Irish about the ban on trips of Belarusian children abroad

The Irish Media reports that the staff of the Irish Embassy to Russia and Belarus based in Moscow are trying to clarify with the Belarusian authorities the reasons and conditions of the ban on such trips.

A well-known civil activist, the Head of the Irish Chernobyl Children’s Project and one of the creators of a film that won an award of the American Cinema Academy in 2004 “Chernobyl Heart”, Edi Rosh, said that those were “shocking news”.

In the beginning of the next week Edi Rosh is planning to discuss the issue with the Minister of Social Affairs Martin Kulen. Recently she called on the government of the country to do everything possible to resume the recuperation trips. Heads of the Irish Chernobyl project are convinced that “the fact of cancellation of trips as well as the lack of will to solve the issue may become a real catastrophe for the ill Belarusian children”.

“This kind of holiday is very important and necessary for them due to their medical and emotional state”, believe representatives of the Irish Chernobyl Children’s Project. “Moreover, such ban may become an insult for thousands of Irish families that receive boys and girls from radioactively contaminated Belarusian territories twice a year”.

The ban on receiving Chernobyl groups was firstly imposed by the Belarusian authorities with regard to the USA, and later on with regard to a number of other Western countries that implement Chernobyl related projects. The only exception is Italy. Relevant international agreements were concluded between this country and Belarus (following the case of  Vika Moroz).

In the Belarusian Department for Humanitarian Cooperation the Radio Liberty was told that the ban on Belarusian children’s groups leaving the country for foreign holidays will be active until relevant international agreements between Belarus and governments of other countries were signed, similar to the one concluded with the government of Italy.

Earlier the Belarusian MFA informed that the “Belarusian side has already forwarded a draft of the mentioned above bilateral agreement to the USA and that similar draft agreements will soon be sent to other countries”.

In accordance with this agreement, the government of the host country has to secure the return of every Belarusian child back home regardless of any significant circumstances, including the term of validity of their guest visas.

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