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.
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
