Join the initiative to introduce the All-Ukrainian Human Responsibility Day!

In the fall of 2020, the Bohdan Hawrylyshyn Family Foundation launched a campaign to introduce the All-Ukrainian Human Responsibility Day on October 19 annually.

This March, the foundation’s team together with the initiative group submitted a draft Resolution to the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine “On the establishment of the All-Ukrainian Human Responsibility Day” at the state level.

The chosen date is Bohdan Hawrylyshyn date of birth, who proved by his life and achievements that the individual responsibility of everyone is a key value that can change the world around. 

 

Bohdan Hawrylyshyn (1926-2016)

Famous Ukrainian, economist and benefactor.

Director of the IMI Geneva (now International Institute for Management Development)

One of those who agreed on the name of our country, when it got its independence

Advisor to several Presidents of Ukraine, Prime-Ministers, Heads of the Verkhovna Rada

Co-founder of the first World Economic Forum in Davos

Co-founder of the first business school in Ukraine – the International Management Institute (MIM-Kyiv)

“Bohdan Havrylyshyn left an incredibly important legacy ‒ he conceptualized those notions that could not be freely discussed during the Soviet period of Ukrainian history. And he, in fact, enabled us to simplify or reduce some of the transitions that the Ukrainian society is currently making,” said Yevhen Hlibovytsky, a journalist, political scientist, and member of the Nestor Expert Group during an online marathon on Human Responsibility Day in 2020. 

The last months of global transformations related to the pandemic have clearly highlighted that positive change is possible only if we are aware of the personal responsibility of each citizen to himself and society. Also, all the heroic pages of the history of Ukraine are directly related to the responsibility shown by Ukrainians in the most critical moments of their statehood preservation, when the identity, freedom and independence were at stake. The responsibility of Ukrainians was particularly strong during the Revolution of Dignity, the opposition to occupation and armed aggression by the Russian Federation. 

“No matter how active the leaders are, the responsibility and awareness is on each of us,” ‒  Ruslana Lyzhychko, singer, composer, public activist. 

In the early 2010s, working at the global level as a member of the Supervisory Board of the International Academy of Arts and Sciences, Bohdan Hawrylyshyn concluded that one of the prerequisites for the implementation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1948, is awareness and acceptance of individual responsibility at all levels by each member of the society. In 2014, the professor created a meaningful and concise document called the Declaration of Human Responsibilities, in 15 points of which different levels of responsibility were reflected in order to guide people to a more democratic, inclusive and efficient society in terms of humanistic values. 

His Beatitude Sviatoslav Shevchuk, Head of the UGCC:  “I want to declare that I am glad to support the establishment of the All-Ukrainian Day of Human Responsibility. Obviously, not even because we are responsible only one day a year, but, indeed, to cultivate in our people a sense of self-responsibility as an essential condition of human dignity and freedom” 

The introduction of the All-Ukrainian Human Responsibility Day on the 30th anniversary of Ukraine’s Independence will be symbolic, as Ukraine’s recent 30-year history includes the history of how the people have taken the responsibility for the country’s development, its strategic course, preservation of sovereignty, independence and statehood in general. The All-Ukrainian Human Responsibility Day will be the day, when every member of society can see the importance of the above-mentioned component of the sustainable development success as well as honor the memory of the great Ukrainian ‒ Bohdan Dmytrovych Hawrylyshyn, who would turn 95 in 2021. 

“I really want this declaration to become popular among young people, and young people really need it, and we must be wise people, strong, who feel responsible to themselves in order to make our lives meaningful, better, and full of good events,” said  Volodymyr Lavrenchuk, banker and economist, former Chairman of the Board of Raiffeisen Bank Aval. 

Why this year?

  • 30 years of Ukrainian Independence is the period of people’s responsibility for their country’s future, its statehood, preservation of national identity, sovereignty, independence and freedom.
  • 95th Bohdan Hawrylyshyn’s Anniversary. One of the ways to commemorate this outstanding person is to set up the Human Responsibility Day on October 19th, his birthday.
  • International community widely discusses the issue of responsibility, and Ukraine will become the first country to establish such a day.
  • Responsibility is the everyday care for our country, our relatives and ourselves. This year we want to celebrate it.

Let our joint responsibility accelerate positive change in Ukraine!