Charges on humanitarian aid criticised

AN Irish protest has been lodged with the Ukrainian government over its decision to impose duties of between 20 and 30 per cent…

AN Irish protest has been lodged with the Ukrainian government over its decision to impose duties of between 20 and 30 per cent on humanitarian aid supplies, Patrick Smyth writes from Brussels.

The taxes have resulted in the diversion of a convoy of five Irish trucks and 60 tons of medical supplies for the Chernobyl region to Moldova and Bulgaria in the two days by the charity responsible for sending them. The Fermanagh based Humanitarian Aid for Eastern Europe says it simply cannot afford the duties.

The Minister of State for European Affairs, Mr Gay Mitchell, told Ukraine's Foreign Minister, Mr Hennady Udarenko, of the Government's concern when they met yesterday in The Hague for an EU troika Ukraine meeting.

Charities from the US, the Netherlands, Germany and Britain have also been affected by the decision, with one US charity's supply of 1 1/2 million pairs of boots stranded on the border. A Dutch charity is understood to have been charged $60,000 on one consignment.