The new law on minorities "proposes" to amend many of Ukraine's laws affecting minority rights.
The Ukrainian parliament adopted a new law on the rights of national minorities on Friday night, which, according to the Ukrainian government, takes into account the expert opinion of the Council of Europe and its bodies and restores the previous rights of minorities in many areas, except for Russian-speaking ones.
The Supreme Council (parliament) adopted two anti-corruption laws and the lobbying law on Friday,
in the opinion of Prime Minister Denisz Smihal, these together enable accession negotiations with the European Union to begin
- reported the Ukrinform news agency. He added that the legislation had already been signed by President Volodymyr Zelensky.
According to Ukrinform's report, the new law on minorities "recommends" the amendment of several laws of Ukraine affecting the rights of minorities: the law on local governments, higher education, public education, the state language, and the media.
Privately owned schools and universities can teach in any of the EU's official languages, providing the learning of the Ukrainian language as a separate subject. Schoolchildren who started their studies by September 1, 2018 can study according to the rules prior to the adoption of the law on the state language of Ukraine until they obtain their secondary school education.
The law also provides that election propaganda materials can be published in the languages of Ukraine's indigenous peoples and minorities in addition to Ukrainian, and it abolished the provision that at least half of the books must be in Ukrainian.
Hungarian interest protection organizations in Ukraine have previously criticized the new law on Ukraine's national minorities (communities), adopted in December 2022, and its planned amendments on several occasions.
Regarding the language of secondary school and vocational education, the law stipulates that, in addition to the Ukrainian language and literature, a subject called Defense of Ukraine, which teaches the history of Ukraine and knowledge of national defense, must also be taught in the state language. In addition, any educational institution can expand the list of subjects taught in the Ukrainian language within its own authority.
The mandatory Ukrainian-language quota for television broadcasting is established by law at at least 30 percent instead of the currently effective 75 percent.
The new law on national minorities (communities) was adopted by the Supreme Council based on the draft submitted by the government, with amendments by the parliamentary factions.
(MTI)
Featured image: MTI/EPA/Serhiy Dolzhenko
