Remember Chernobyl? Remember Chernobyl!

In advance of the 20th anniversary of the Chernobyl catastrophe (26 April), the Greens/EFA in the European Parliament launched several public and parliamentary initiatives among which:

• "The Other Report on CHernobyl" (TORCH)
  6 April - The report by two leading UK scientists which was commissioned by German Green MEP Rebecca Harms was presented in a press conference on the devastating legacy of Chernobyl and the current moves towards a nuclear revival in Europe. TORCH, a new independent study on the ongoing impact of Chernobyl, sets out the continuing and predicted future noxious effects of Chernobyl worldwide. It has been prepared to counteract recent public claims made by the IAEA, which grossly underestimated the effects of Chernobyl.  
  [See executive summary - text of the report pdf]
  
  
• Exhibition "Certificate N°000358- The human cost of the catastrophe"
  18-21 April - Together with GreenPeace, the Greens/EFA organised a photo exhibition in the European Parliament on the Chernobyl nuclear disaster. Photographer Robert Knoch and reporter Antoinette de Jong have documented the impact of nuclear radiation in the regions of Mayak, Semipalatinsk, Chernobyl and Tomsk-7 since 1999. The photographs are testimony to the continuing medical, economic and social consequences of the thriving nuclear industry in Eastern Europe.
  [See pictures of the exhibition]
  
  
• Written questions addressed to the European Commission on Chernobyl
  The written questions to the Commission seek to ascertain, among other things: How many people have died either directly or indirectly as a result of the accident in the three most affected countries of Ukraine, Belarus and Russia and how many citizens of the European Union? What support has the EU provided to the victims, and does it still provide support? How high does the Commission estimate the overall dose of radioactivity for the population of the EU and Europe? What restrictions are in place today for agriculture within the EU? What are the costs for Ukraine, Belarus, Russia and the EU? [See text of written questions]
  
  
• International conference "Chernobyl+20 - Remembrance for the future"
  23-25 April - The Greens/EFA in the European Parliament are one of the co-organisers of this three-day international conference taking place in Kiev (Ukraine), which brings together independent scientists, environmentalists, non-governmental organizations and sustainable energy experts from all over the world. [More about the conference]
  On the eve of the conference, Green MEPs went to the exclusion zone around Chernobyl: reactor 4, cemetery for contaminated machines, ghost city Pribyat,... [see report of the visit]
  
  
• Where have you been ? Statements of our Members about Chernobyl
  Greens/EFA MEP give a testimony about their experience, their remembrance of the accident and their action. [See text of the statements]
  
  
• "20 years after Chernobyl : lessons for the future" - Debate in the European Parliament
  26 April - On the initiative of the Greens/EFA group in the European Parliament, the EU Commission is to make a declaration on Wednesday, 26 April, on the disaster at Chernobyl during the plenary session. Greens/EFA Members will take a symbolic action in the hemicycle.
  [See press information]