In a statement, the Transcarpathian Hungarian Cultural Association (KMKSZ) criticized the shortcomings of the draft law on the national communities of Ukraine, also objecting to the fact that Hungarian interest protection organizations were not involved in the discussion of the draft.
In a statement published on the KMKSZ website on Tuesday, they point out that the draft law is practically the same as the version published a year ago, however, while "the previous goal was to guarantee minority rights, the current one only aims to define the specifics of social relations related to minority rights". The draft
"instead of the concept of national minorities accepted in international law, he uses the concept of national communities that completely lack a legal environment"
says the statement.
KMKSZ assesses that the draft law
"represents a significant narrowing of rights compared to the norms laid down in the Constitution and other international agreements, as well as compared to the previous practice, and it means strengthening the restrictions codified in the recently adopted Education and Language Act on language, education, media, etc. in the field of rights".
In addition, the draft legislation does not ensure the free use of national symbols,
"it makes it difficult to preserve compact ethnic settlement areas, it makes it difficult to support minority organizations, it makes it impossible for the media working in the minority language to work, and it also omits the prohibition of forced assimilation".
The draft interprets minority rights as individually exercisable rights of persons belonging to national communities, which deprives national minorities of "the enforcement of any institutionally exercisable political, educational, or linguistic right, and thus the possibility of influencing their own destiny."
"The adoption of the draft would lead to further deterioration of the legal situation of minorities"
- stated the KMKSZ in the statement.
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