International solidarity

The Chernobyl disaster triggered an impressive international solidarity movement. Organisations in many European countries offered partnership and help, from technical or medical aid to support for recuperating children and coaching on environmental safety.

The task: Our task was to choose and describe one local organisation (non-governmental or governmental) in our country that took part in the international solidarity movement after the accident. We contacted humanitarian organisations; some of us


went to their offices or visited their websites. We also included material like flyers, descriptions of concrete programs or photos.

The results:
Reading the contributions from many different European countries, we realized that the humanitarian help was not only impressive in its scale, but also in its variety.

There are organizations which committed themselves to helping children or to protecting the legitimate interests of disabled persons and their families who suffered from the Chernobyl accident. Informing people about the impact of the disaster and underlining the importance of remembrance of Chernobyl and awareness of risks linked to nuclear energy is the purpose of some organizations. Other organisations monitor the radioactivity to which foodstuffs and inhabitants of the Chernobyl region are exposed. Closely associated with this aim is the development of measures for maintenance of radiation safety and protection of the population. The diversity of the solidarity movement with Chernobyl is, however, much greater, as you will see.

The authors of this introductory text are Clara Müller (Switzerland), Darya Tchoumakova (Belarus) and Vojtech Pojar (Czech Republic)