According to the opinion of the Venice Commission, a body of constitutional experts of the Strasbourg-based Council of Europe, all members of national minorities in Ukraine have the right to free and unhindered private and public oral and written use of their mother tongue.
The experts of the Venice Commission highlighted the following in their statement on the minority law of Ukraine published on Tuesday:
the right of the members of the national minority to self-determination, free association and peaceful assembly, the exercise of freedom of speech, thought, conscience and religion, participation in political, economic and social life, the use of the national language, and they also have the right to mother-tongue education and cultural to preserve identity.
It was announced: Every citizen of Ukraine has the right to freely decide whether to identify himself as a member of a national community. Such a decision or the exercise of related rights may not cause harm to the data subject. Every Ukrainian citizen has the right to use his own name and, if appropriate, the right to restore his surname, they wrote.
National minorities have the right to establish associations and participate in their activities. The participation of members of the minority in a national public association cannot be a reason to limit their rights and freedom, they underlined.
They declared:
state integration policy must refrain from measures aimed at assimilating members of national communities against their will. The state must guarantee the protection of the rights, freedom and legally protected interests of national minorities. Members of national minorities are equal before the law and entitled to equal legal protection
they reminded me.
"Direct or indirect discrimination of members of national communities is prohibited"
they said.
However, it is not considered discrimination if the purpose of the measure is to eliminate existing legal or actual inequalities in the exercise of the rights of members of national minorities, they wrote.
The right of members of national minorities to collect, store, use and disseminate information in the language of their community orally, in writing or in any other way. Those belonging to national minorities have the right to preserve and develop their cultural, linguistic and religious identity, traditions and customs, to use the achievements of their culture, to preserve and increase their cultural heritage, and they have the right to hold events related to their history and culture, they wrote.
The state must help and support the preservation of historical monuments and cultural heritage sites of national communities.
The historical, cultural and religious memories of the national minorities located on the territory of Ukraine are part of the Ukrainian culture, they wrote.
Public events organized and held by national communities - meetings, conferences, assemblies, exhibitions, further training, seminars, workshops, discussions, forums and all other public events - can be held in the given national language.
Announcements, posters and other informational materials about events can be reproduced and published in the language of the given national minority, taking into account the requirements of the law on ensuring the functioning of the Ukrainian language as a state language. At the request of the visitors of the event, the organizer must arrange for a translation into the national language, if a request for this is received no later than 48 hours before the start of the event.
It was announced: the languages of national minorities can be used in the mass media in accordance with the legislation.
Minority communities have the right to establish their own media for the purpose of mass information in accordance with the law.
The provisions of the Ukrainian law do not apply to publications published in the language of national minorities, at the expense of the state or local budget, they wrote. Furthermore, the regulations do not apply to the activities of specialized bookstores either.
At the request of members of the minority, the use of the given national language must be ensured during emergency assistance, if it is understandable to all parties.
In those settlements where people belonging to national minorities traditionally live or where they make up a significant part of the population, the use of the language of national minorities is allowed on the signs of local governments in addition to the official state language inscriptions.
The same applies to general announcements, including offers, signs, signboards and other messages, inscriptions and other publicly published information in the form of text, images or audio messages. Distribution of the election campaign material in the state language and duplicated in the language of the given national minority is also permitted, they wrote.
The state must promote pedagogical and scientific training and continuing education in the languages of national minorities, they said. The expenses necessary to ensure the implementation of measures for the enforcement of the rights and freedom of national minorities must be provided at the expense of the state budget, within the framework of a separate budget program, they emphasized.
They noted: the members of the national minority are obliged to comply with the constitution and laws of Ukraine, to protect the independence and territorial unity of Ukraine, to respect the country's language, culture, traditions, customs, and religious identity. The rights and freedom of the members of the national minority can be restricted in accordance with the law, if necessary, they added.
MTI
