Language Research

1. Legislation: Legislation dealing with the use of languages

The Constitution of Ukraine, adopted on June 28, 1996

The Constitution of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, adopted on October 21, 1998

Law on Development and Use of Languages in Ukraine

In November 1991, the Supreme Council of the Ukraine adopted a Declaration on National Minorities guaranteeing to every ethnic and nationality group the right to equal political, economic, social and cultural development, as well as the right to use the native language in every field of social life. The Law on National Minorities adopted in June 1992 guarantees minorities the use of their native language, the right to native-language education, to establish a system of cultural institutions, and to national-cultural autonomy. The law makes it possible to establish minority interest-protection organizations, to use national symbols, to use names in accordance with the rules of the native-language, and to maintain contacts beyond the borders with their mother country.

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Updated (April 2002)

As far as current legislation is concerned, the Constitution is the main guarantee of the linguistic rights of persons belonging to national minorities.

According to the OSCE (Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe) Report from January 12, 2001 the current legislation (the Law on National Minorities (1992) and the Law on Language (1989)) is in conformity with international standards.

In the Law on Language Article 25 is especially relevant saying, “the free choice of language for learning shall be the integral right of the citizens of the Ukrainian SSR”. If a group of 8 to 10 ethnic Russian citizens of Ukraine wants creation of a separate Russian class in a Ukrainian language school, such a class will be created, just as a separate class will be created in a Russian language school if a similar number of Ukrainian parents ask for it. This Article, however, was withdrawn from the draft of a new Language Law.

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Updated (June 2004)

THE END OF RUSSIAN-LANGUAGE BROADCASTING IN UKRAINE?

On April 14, 2004 the Ukrainian National Council for Television and Radio (NRPTR) adopted an unexpected resolution that obliges all national and “interregional”¹ broadcasters broadcast only in Ukrainian as of April 19, 2004.

Broadcasts in other languages will be allowed only at regional and local level, in the areas with the significant minority population and with the NRPTR's approval of a relevant application from the ethnic community concerned.

Moreover, even local and regional broadcasters are obliged to produce not less than 50 percent of their programs in Ukrainian.

The NRPTR has eight members: four delegated by the Verkhovna Rada and the other four by the President. This body is responsible for issuing broadcasting licenses, usually granted for a five-year period. However, the NRPTR does not have a legal instrument to revoke a license, this can only be done by the court. Therefore, the NRPTR also signaled that it is going to request the Verkhovna Rada to give it the right to cancel broadcast licenses after three official warnings issued to a broadcaster.²

The April 14 resolution also calls for a month-long monitoring of Ukrainian broadcasters to examine how they meet these requirements. In addition it requires that all licenses issued by the NRPTR after April 18 will stipulate that nationwide and interregional broadcasters use only Ukrainian in their programs.

Although language is one of the most sensitive and controversial public issues in Ukraine, the resolution came without any previous announcements or public consultations.

According to the 2001 Census, 67.5 percent of 48,5 million people living in Ukraine declared Ukrainian as their mother tongue. However, according to the estimates, at least 50 percent of the Ukrainian citizens, notably those from the east and south of the country, prefer speaking Russian.

Moreover, the conditions of existing broadcast licenses, which routinely stipulate that programs in Ukrainian should account for 50 or 75 percent of the entire programming, have so far been ignored by many broadcasters without any legal or other consequences.

The resolution reportedly has not caused any immediate changes in the proportion of Ukrainian and Russian-language programs on television and radio channels. It seems that most Ukrainian broadcasters do not believe the resolution is serious and are treating it more as a recommendation rather than an order.

The language activists argue that Ukraine is a state losing its indigenous language, which is being pushed out by the official languages of other states. It is true that the Ukrainian language needs help from the state to become a full-fledged means of communication. However, according to the others, the publication of J. K. Rowling's “Harry Potter” in Ukrainian would be a far better contribution to the promotion of Ukrainian than any ban on using Russian.

It is hardly imaginable that the resolution will be applied immediately, firstly because in a presidential election year, such an administrative tool in the hands of a state body could easily be misused for the politically motivated closures of media outlets. Second, a rekindled stir around the language issue could hurt both government-supported and opposition presidential candidates rather than boost their election chances, although it is difficult to say at the moment who would be the biggest loser.

The problem is that many people in Ukraine, both Ukrainian and Russian speakers, are very fond of some programs imported from Russia and could become very angry if they were to give them up.

Source: RFE/RL Media Matters Vol. 4, No. 8, April 23, 2004, by Jan Maksymiuk, http://lists.delfi.lv/pipermail/minelres/2004-May/003337.html

¹ Covering at least half of Ukraine's 25 regions

² Currently the NRPTR can penalize broadcasters only by refusing to extend their licenses when they expire.

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Updated (May 2006)

RUSSIAN LANGUAGE OFFICIAL STATUS OPPOSED BY UKRANIAN GOVERNMENT

Even though Ukrainian became the country's sole official language after Ukraine declared independence in 1991, two local administrations¹ with a predominantly Russian-speaking population have tried to elevate the status of Russian. The pro-Moscow Party of Regions, which won in last month's parliamentary election, had promised to make Russian a second state language.

The Ukrainian President, Viktor Yuschenko, stated that the above-mentioned administrations have overstepped their authority by reinstating Russian as an official language. Similarly, Anatoliy Matviyenko² said that these moves breach the Ukrainian Constitution, which determines the status of Ukrainian as the only official state language.

Meanwhile, the Chairman of the State Duma Committee for CIS Affairs and Relations with Compatriots in Russia, Andrey Kokoshin, said that the pronouncements by Ukrainian officials on the Russian language status fail to meet the international commitments of the state. He proclaimed that the regional status of Russian corresponds to the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages, which Ukraine has already ratified.

On the other hand, according to some analysts such as Stephen Velychenko, granting the Russian language an official status in Ukraine would reinforce the old imperial Russian tie and would impede the creation of new ties with the European Union and the rest of the world, which speaks English.

Source: Mercator News, May 2006

http://www.ciemen.org/mercator/index-gb.htm

1. The eastern region of Luhansk and the city of Sevastopol in the Crimea

2. A. Matviyenko is a former Yuschenko's Deputy Chief of Staff. He was dismissed on 16 May 2006 from his post as a coordinator of regional policies after he had been recently elected to the Verkhovna Rada.

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Updated (July 2006)

DRAFT LAW ON GRANTING OFFICIAL STATUS TO RUSSIAN LANGUAGE REGISTERED AT SUPREME RADA

On 11 July 2006, a draft law on granting official status to the Russian language in Ukraine was registered at the Ukrainian Supreme Rada. The draft law consists of 12 articles, which fully regulate usage of Russian in all social spheres.

In the explanatory note it is stated that the law is mainly aimed at granting official status to the Russian language. It is proposed to introduce free usage of Russian along with the state language in compliance with the Ukrainian Constitution in order to prevent national minorities' rights from violation and interethnic conflicts, as well as to preserve Ukraine's sovereignty.

Moreover, it reads: "It has historically turned out that international communication is carried out in Ukraine in Russian. Total and forceful introduction of Ukrainian causes humiliation, disrespect, and intended distortion of each language. 32.8% of Ukrainians consider Russian to be their native language; 70% of them use Russian for their communication. There are two and more official, state languages in Finland, Canada, Belgium, Switzerland and other countries in the world, which are native languages for much less percentage of these countries' population (more than 60 countries have two or more state or official languages). National minorities' linguistic rights and rights of language minorities are protected in every civilized state."

Source: www.regnum.ru/english/671984.html

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Updated (June 2008)

UKRAINE PLANS TO REVISE THE LAW ON THE RATIFICATION OF THE ECRML

Deputy Justice Minister, Valeria Lutkovskaya, has announced that Ukraine is planning to revise its Law on the Ratification of the European Charter passed in 2003.

At the meeting with representatives of the Committee of Experts of the ECRML, she said that Ukraine plans to correct linguistic mistakes in the current law, particularly, regarding the names of languages mentioned in the Charter. They want to resolve the problem of imperfect translation of the Charter and thus to avoid problems that can appear due to the incorrect interpretation of the document in Ukrainian.

Some experts say that the true aim of revising the law on the ratification of the Charter is to prevent treating Russian as a regional or minority language because there are such provisions which grant Russian the status of a regional language in southwestern Ukraine and make it possible to use the language to full extent alongside the state language.

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