The Cabinet of Ministers submitted a bill to the Verkhovna Rada that provides for the exclusion of Russian and Moldovan languages from the list of those protected by the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. Instead, it is proposed to add Czech and Hebrew. This is reported by UNN with reference to government bill No. 14120.
Details
According to the bill, it is proposed that Ukraine, in accordance with paragraph 1 of Article 2 of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages, will apply the provisions of part 2 to Belarusian, Bulgarian, Gagauz, Crimean Tatar, Modern Greek, German, Polish, Romanian, Slovak, Hungarian, Czech languages and Hebrew.
Currently, according to the provision, it applies to the languages of the following national minorities of Ukraine: Belarusian, Bulgarian, Gagauz, Greek, Jewish, Crimean Tatar, Moldovan, German, Polish, Russian, Romanian, Slovak, and Hungarian.
That is, the current draft law proposes to remove Russian and Moldovan languages from the list, replace the Jewish language with Hebrew, and add Czech.
Addition
The European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages is a European treaty adopted under the auspices of the Council of Europe in Strasbourg on November 5, 1992, to protect and promote historical regional and minority languages in Europe.
Ukraine ratified the Charter in 2003, and it entered into force in 2006.
In March 2023, Moldova officially made Romanian the state language.
At the same time, the government of Ukraine decided to use the term "Romanian language" in Ukraine instead of "Moldovan language."
The Commissioner for the Protection of the State Language, Olena Ivanivska, called on the People's Deputies of Ukraine to immediately adopt a bill that provides for updating the list of languages that truly need support and special protection.
"Simply put, to remove Russian from the list, which does not need protection, and to deprive Kremlin propaganda of a tool for manipulation," Ivanivska noted.
According to her, the incorrect official translation of the Charter led to the substitution of the object and purpose of the Charter as an international treaty, caused unfounded accusations regarding Ukraine's improper fulfillment of its international obligations, and created conditions for political manipulation aimed at undermining the status of the Ukrainian language as a state language.
"The Constitutional Court back in 2021 obliged the authorities to correct this error. It's time to act - for the sake of justice, for the sake of respect for those languages of national communities and indigenous peoples that truly need support. This is not only a legal issue but also a security one," Ivanivska noted.