Ukraine’s new law on national minorities offers guarantees in line with international standards, but to ensure full compliance with these standards, some provisions of the law need to be revised, the Venice Commission – European Commission for Democracy through Law assessed in an opinion on Monday. which noted the fact that the significant decrease in teaching in minority languages ​​in Ukraine endangers the linguistic identity of these minorities, Agerpres notes.

Among the recommendations thus formulated by the group of experts of the Council of Europe, we find the proper provision of the right of access to mass media in minority languages, as well as the revision of the provisions of other laws that limit the freedom of use of minority languages ​​or that provide for differential treatment of minority languages.

Other recommendations include extending the right to organize events in minority languages ​​to all persons, abolishing the obligation to provide Ukrainian translation at public events at the request of visitors or spectators (or at least revise it taking into account the principle of proportionality), as well as increasing certainty from a legal point of view regarding the possibility of ordering the translation of official and general information into the language of the minority.

In a preliminary opinion released in 2017, the Venice Commission raised several concerns and formulated a number of recommendations for Ukraine to meet European and international standards regarding the rights of minorities in education.

In this conclusion, the Commission did not comprehensively review the current general situation with the protection of minority languages ​​in the educational sector in Ukraine. In particular, the Venice Commission did not consider the Law on Comprehensive General Secondary Education adopted by the Kyiv Parliament in March 2020, which contains comprehensive educational models for national minorities.

“Different treatment of minority languages ​​between languages ​​spoken in EU countries and other languages ​​outside the EU is discrimination”

Taking into account the decision of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine dated October 2, 2019, in which it assesses that by adopting the Law on Education, the Ukrainian state created conditions for full observance of the rights of national minorities, the Venice Commission considers it appropriate to recall the main concerns and recommendations expressed in the conclusion of 5 September 2017.

Yes, she talks about the lack of qualified teachers, appropriate school textbooks and pedagogical methods of teaching the Ukrainian language. At the same time, a significant reduction in teaching in minority languages ​​endangers the survival of schools teaching in minority languages, the level of knowledge of minority languages, and including the linguistic identity of minorities. On the other hand, different treatment of minority languages ​​between languages ​​spoken in EU countries and minority languages ​​that are not official languages ​​of the EU is, in the absence of a convincing justification, discrimination.

These concerns and recommendations remain because they are not adequately addressed in subsequent special laws.

The Venice Commission also notes that the Ukrainian legislator postponed until September 1, 2023 the full implementation of the reform, which provides for the gradual transformation of the education system in the languages ​​of national minorities into the education system in the state language. After the COVID-19 pandemic and Russian military aggression, as well as the impact of the latter on the budget, appear to have affected the full implementation of the reform, the Venice Commission recommends that Ukraine further delay its implementation and do so clearly in the law, while revising to take into account the recommendations that contained in the conclusion issued in 2017.

“The law stipulates the obligation of the Ukrainian state to provide textbooks and educational materials in the languages ​​of national minorities”

Also with reference to the new law on national minorities, the Venice Commission recommends that in order to ensure full compliance with the article of the law, which directly mentions access to school textbooks, the regulatory act should be supplemented with the obligation of the Ukrainian state to provide textbooks and educational materials in minority languages.

Another article of the law stipulates that private general education institutions can choose the language of instruction, except for those that receive state funds, and the latter are obliged to ensure that students master the state language according to the standards of the Ukrainian state, an article about which the Commission in Venice declares that it is only partially corresponds to the recommendations of the opinion issued in 2017.

On the other hand, the text of the law gives the impression that the choice of language of instruction does not apply to primary or higher education, but the Ukrainian authorities clarified to the Venice Commission that what is defined in the law as “secondary education” “includes what we usually call primary education, and there is separate legislation for higher education.

The Venice Commission also recommends that the Law on Minorities guarantee both the right of persons belonging to national minorities to be educated in their mother tongue and their linguistic rights throughout the educational process, as reasonably required by the application of international standards, such as, for example, in territories, which are not traditionally inhabited by persons belonging to national minorities, or not inhabited significantly by them, but there is sufficient demand.