Statement Of Polish International Solidarity Fund In Connection With Media Reports On Financing Charter-97

On the support of the Charter-97 portal.

The International Solidarity Fund has not made decisions regarding the financing of Charter-97 in 2019, and even more so regarding the amount of funding, and has not reported any decisions to the portal management. On the contrary, the Fund has declared its readiness to provide further support to the portal and tried to start a dialogue with Charter-97 on possible forms and principles of cooperation this year in accordance with current legislation and the means available.

The Information on the amount of possible financing of Charter-97 for 2019, distributed by Ms. Natallia Radzina, is incorrect. The final amount of support depends on the form of the project, the Fund’s capabilities and willingness to cooperate with Charter, including procedures applicable to all partners of the International Solidarity Fund. The discussion caused by Ms. Radzina is an attempt to exert pressure on the Fund during the cooperation talks this year and will make it difficult to reach an agreement.

Continuing work with Belarusian partners, the International Solidarity Fund is looking for mutually beneficial forms of cooperation. The Fund wants them to be effective and responding to the challenging conditions in which independent local communities operate, and at the same time – to comply with the law. The support of Charter 97 should be considered from this point of view.

The Fund supports a lot of independent Belarusian institutions. Most of them have diversified sources of funding, which greatly facilitates their functioning and helps to avoid mutual adverse effects between the donor and the beneficiary. In recent years, the Charter-97 portal has lost the support of other donors and has not managed to get any other external resources. Despite the reluctant approach of other donors to Charter-97, the International Solidarity Fund offered to the portal management to help diversify sources of funding this year. However, this proposal was rejected by Charter-97.

Despite the previously unconstructive position of the Charter-97 editorial board and public discussions on its financing, the Fund is still open for further dialogue with the portal in order to determine possible forms and amounts of support this year.

Yours respectfully,

Maciej Falkowski

President of the Board of the International Solidarity Fund