Russian no longer protected language in Ukraine: Rada removes it from text of European Charter on Languages
The Verkhovna Rada has removed the Russian language from the text of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages.
This is stated in the bill card for draft law No. 14120 on the parliament’s website, Censor.NET reports.
The bill was passed with 264 votes in favour.
What this means
The law brings certain provisions of Ukrainian legislation into line with the updated official translation of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages (hereinafter the Charter).
As noted in the explanatory note to the bill, excluding the Russian language does not breach Ukraine’s obligations under the Charter and is in line with its Preamble, which states that the protection and promotion of regional or minority languages must not be to the detriment of official languages and the need for their study.
The document states that, as a result of its dominance over several centuries, Russian remains the most widely used language of national minorities in Ukraine today, and there are no grounds to consider it endangered.
Which languages were added
According to the updated official translation, the correct name of the Charter is the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. It has also been established that in Ukraine, the provisions of the Charter will apply to the following languages:
- Belarusian;
- Bulgarian;
- Gagauz;
- Crimean Tatar;
- Modern Greek;
- German;
- Polish;
- Romanian;
- Slovak;
- Hungarian;
- Czech;
- Hebrew.
