FOCUS ON UKRAINE

Ukraine - IAFP - "International Association of Funeral Professionals"

Since 2013, FIAT-IFTA National Member for Ukraine: IAFP - the public organization "International Association of Funeral Professionals" participates in the annual meetings represented by its delegate IAFP President Alla Landar.

At the 44th FIAT-IFTA I.C.D. meeting of the National Members in Perth – Australia, March 15, 2013, the film presentation of the Ukrainian delegation was warmly welcomed and accepted by the delegates, and the decision to admit the Ukrainian "International Association of Funeral Professionals" (IAFP) as a National Member of the FIAT-IFTA was made unanimously, permanent delegate Alla Landar, President of IAFP.

IAFP presented to the I.C.D. delegates the Practical Guide to Funerals in Ukraine for training specialists in this field. During the four-day meeting the following issues were discussed: - Presentation of the AFDA scholarship (Australian delegation), - Addresses to improve services in different countries, - Initiatives of the FIAT-IFTA Funeral Heritage Committee Steering Committee to cooperate with UNESCO, - Protection of the environment of the seas regarding scattering of ashes and FIAT-IFTA relations to IATA concerning the international repatriation of human remains.

The attention of the Ukrainian delegation and of Alla Landar focused on studying the legislation on private cemeteries and crematoriums, their functioning, as well as studying the experience of ecological green burials and the example of cemeteries near the city of Perth in Australia.

The second participation of the National Member for Ukraine occurred in June 2014 at the 13th FIAT-IFTA International Convention in Düsseldorf, Germany, and the World Funeral Culture Exhibition. The year 2014 had two great successes for FIAT-IFTA: the new status of "Non-Governmental Organization of Consultative Status" at the UN ECOSOC and "Non-Governmental Organization of Consultative Status" at the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage Committee.

In 2015 at the 46th FIAT-IFTA I.C.D. annual in Bologna, Italy, Ukrainian delegation members and Alla Landar studied the Italian legislation on funeral business with the aim to propose changes in the Ukrainian legislation. In the same year 2015 Alla Landar took an active part in studying the European, and French experience during the World Funeral Industry Exhibition in Paris (France). The Ukrainian delegation had several meetings, studied the experiences of funeral business in France and got acquainted with innovations of funeral products.

In 2017, Alla Landar and the Ukrainian delegation participated in Valencia, Spain at the 48th FIAT-IFTA I.C.D. meeting and studied the experience and working conditions of private cemeteries and crematoriums in Spain to amend the Ukrainian legislation on funeral business. In 2018, Alla Landar visited, as the FIAT-IFTA delegate for Ukraine, the Stockholm Forest Cemetery, a UNESCO cultural heritage site, and wrote an extensive study with illustrations and video on the Ukrainian Internet resource.

In 2019, the participation at the 50th FIAT-IFTA I.C.D. meeting in Birmingham, UK and the NFE International Exhibition of Funeral Culture resulted in a new legislative publication of Alla Landar in Ukraine, in the participation in the discussion on Ukrainian television and introduction of new articles in the Law of Ukraine on burial and funeral business. Green ecological burials became an occasion for wide discussion on Ukrainian TV channels.