April 11, 2022
In 2015, the Ukrainian Evaluation Association joined the Eurasian Alliance of National Evaluation Associations, whose members declared transparency, impartiality and professionalism as their highest values – foundation for maintaining good governance and ensuring the development of a civil society. Evaluation and monitoring specialists claimed responsibility for the informational and analytical support of the development and implementation of state policies in order to prevent negative changes and consequences of the decisions made.
On February 24, 2022, the whole world witnessed Russia's decision that is part of an insidious state policy aimed at destroying the Ukrainian nation in the literal sense, or in Putin's own words, "the final solution to the Ukrainian question". Thousands of dead civilians, hundreds of children killed and wounded, and dozens of cities destroyed are a direct result of the aggression of the Russian troops. Is it only Putin's fault? Or everyone’s whose tacit consent allows it? You, as evaluation experts - who best know the complex cause-and-effect relationships - have to answer this question. After all, the terms "systemic approach", "impact assessment" and "critical thinking" are integral parts of any evaluation process.
Today is the forty-seventh day of the Russian-Ukrainian war. For forty-seven days, Ukrainian children have been hiding in basements from Russian bombs. 177 children have already been killed and 336 injured. Ukrainians cannot bury their loved ones due to constant shelling by enemy artillery. The Russian soldiers rape Ukrainian women in front of their children, torture men and execute them blindfolded and their hands tied behind their backs. In the small town of Bucha with no military infrastructure, 280 locals were found killed in one of the mass graves. In Kramatorsk, the Russians fired a missile at a train station, where 4,000 citizens were waiting to be evacuated. All these people were civilians.
Russia explains its actions by "protection of the Russian-speaking population." You have seen photos of completely destroyed cities - Mariupol, Kharkiv, Sumy – all of these cities are Russian-speaking. Today, we are coerced with violence to surrender all of Ukraine, to subjugate all lands that were once part of the USSR and to submit to the fantasy of one person – Vladimir Putin. The conclusions are yours to make.
The strategy of treaties and agreements will not work. Just as it did not work for Ukraine, when Russia occupied Crimea and parts of Donetsk and Luhansk regions and despite all the agreements, Putin still launched a full-scale war. Today, Ukrainians defend the rights to freedom, democracy and future, not only for the Ukrainian nation, but for the entire civilized world.
Now is the time for every person, organization and country to choose a side: development or degradation, democracy or authoritarianism, future or past.
We, the representatives of the Ukrainian Evaluation Association, choose the future.
Therefore, we ask you to consider this letter as termination of our participation in the Eurasian Alliance of National Evaluation Associations due to the lack of declared principles and values among its members.
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