Per Unckel, who chairs the EHU steering group, talked about how unique the university is and about the importance of supporting its activities. Support has been forthcoming from various countries and organisations, e.g. after the meeting of foreign ministers and donors in Warsaw in February, which expressed strong solidarity with EHU and generated more than €4 million in donations, including a donation from the United Kingdom for the first time.

“We are now seeking to increase the number of private donors, both to create a balance between private and state funding and to guarantee continuity,” Unckel explains.

A fundraising campaign has been launched to target private donors. “Encouraging private donors to provide the sums needed will be a major challenge but we believe it is possible using a range of approaches, including personal meetings,” says Darius Udrys, who is heading the campaign.

The political relevance of EHU in the region has been enhanced in the last year, mainly due to President Lukashenko’s re-election and the subsequent campaign of state brutality, which included the arrest of large numbers of EHU staff and students after the election on December 19. The Nordic Council of Ministers and the Nordic Council condemned the brutality and the Secretary General of the Council of Ministers, Halldór Asgrimsson, addressed a letter to the Belarusian foreign minister demanding the release of the arrested students. No reply was received.

Interest is studying at EHU has grown at a time when the economic crisis in Belarus is making it harder for students to afford, so a fund has been set up for acute cases that will allow students expelled from universities in Belarus to study at in Vilnius. The economic crisis has made it difficult for EHU students to pay their own way in general.

European Humanities University (EHU) was founded in 1992 in Minsk, the capital of Belarus. Shut down by the government in 2004, it was forced into exile in Vilnius, Lithuania. EHU’s activities help promote democracy throughout the region, particularly in Belarus.

The university is dependent on funding from donors and the international community. It currently receives money from the EU, a number of European governments, the U.S. government, the Nordic Council of Ministers and private foundations. The EHU Trust Fund is administered by the Nordic Council of Ministers, which run sit in a transparent manner so that donors know it is safe to donate money..

Mads Meinert Jensen
Phone +45 33 96 02 11
Email mame@norden.org