---
title: "Ukraine's parliament passes law protecting minority rights"
url: https://radiomoldova.md/p/26577/ukraine-s-parliament-passes-law-protecting-minority-rights
published: 2023-12-08T18:59:46Z
language: en
author: "Bogdan Nigai"
section: "International"
source: radiomoldova.md
---

# Ukraine's parliament passes law protecting minority rights

> On December 8th, the Ukrainian parliament, the Verkhovna Rada, adopted a new law aimed at protecting the rights of national minorities within the country.

On December 8th, the Ukrainian parliament, the Verkhovna Rada, adopted a new law aimed at protecting the rights of national minorities within the country.

![](https://storage.radiomoldova.md/images/6b3ea623-5985-48e6-aa4c-c859e45cd827.jpg)

The law, which passed with the support of 317 lawmakers, incorporates recommendations from the Venice Commission, a Council of Europe advisory body on constitutional law.

Ukrainian lawmaker Iaroslav Jelezniak described the bill as *"a modified version of the draft law, to which all parliamentary groups contributed."* He emphasised the importance of the law for Ukraine's continued European integration, a process that has gained momentum since the country received candidate status in June 2022.

The law outlines several key provisions:

* **Minority languages can be used in political advertising, private schools and universities, minority language classes, and the media, alongside Ukrainian and other EU languages.**
* **Advertising messages must be dubbed in Ukrainian.**
* **Learning Ukrainian as the state language remains mandatory in all educational institutions.**

Irina Herashenko, another Ukrainian lawmaker, highlighted the role of parliamentarians in shaping the final version of the law. She stated that *"respecting the recommendations of the Venice Commission, we have protected society from a potential decline in the role of the Ukrainian language in education, the media, and book publishing, as well as from the threat of Russification of the country."*

However, Herashenko also noted a key difference between the adopted law and the government's initial proposal. While the government's draft limited the use of minority languages for a period of five years after the end of the war with Russia, the final law removed this restriction, allowing the use of minority languages indefinitely.

This move reflects a balancing act between protecting the rights of minority groups and ensuring the dominance of Ukrainian language and culture within the country.

Translation by **Iurie Tataru**