Last month three national deputies from the Party of Regions, Speaker Volodymyr Lytvyn’s party and the Communist Party registered draft legislation on minority languages in Ukraine. A separate paragraph was devoted to Ukrainian as the state language. A separate paragraph was accorded to the Russian language as well.
All other “regional languages” or “minority languages” were mentioned together in the next paragraph. Russian was listed again at the head of the list of “minority languages” which included the Belorusan, Bulgarian, Armenian, Gagauz, Yiddish, Crimean Tatar, Moldavian, German, New Greek, Polish, Roma, Romanian, Slovak and Hungarian. Specific reference was made to the “European Charter on regional languages or minority languages (Charter).”
Lest there be any ambiguity about the thrust of the current legislative effort, the paragraph devoted exclusively to Russian opened with the following verbiage: “In Ukraine according to the Constitution of Ukraine, the free development, use and protection of the Russian language is guaranteed taking into account, that the Russian language is native, or such, as is used daily by a majority of the citizens of Ukraine, equally accepted together with the Ukrainian language as the language of communication between individuals throughout Ukraine.”
Council of Europe Report: “In respect of Russian, most undertakings chosen by Ukraine under the Charter on which the Committee of Experts has concluded are fulfilled or partly fulfilled.”
Not coincidentally, a Committee of Experts from the Council of Europe had recently done a study of the regional and minority language issue in Ukraine, submitting its report to the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe who then issued their report on July 7, 2010. The findings refer to specific languages with particular emphasis on those that are in danger of becoming extinct. On the Russian language the report reads: “In respect of Russian, most undertakings chosen by Ukraine under the Charter on which the Committee of Experts has concluded are fulfilled or partly fulfilled.”
Committees of language experts from the Council of Europe do not consider historical background. They deal strictly with the now. How certain minorities came to be compactly sizable in particular territory is not addressed and, perhaps, not even of concern. Thus Ukraine’s population demographics such as the results of a colonial policy which resulted in a forced famine of the Ukrainian population and its replacement with Russians or the deportation of Crimean Tatars from Crimea and the ensuing settlement of Russians there, are anathema to both the “experts” and “ministers”.
The question arises whether the status of the Russian language in Ukraine should be a cause for concern by the Council of Europe, and thus, an argument or justification for this recent draft legislation by representatives of the ruling coalition in Ukraine’s parliament or is this an abuse of the Charter? The short answer is “abuse”. As mentioned, the experts found no current problems regarding the Russian language in Ukraine under the Charter and the Russian language is the only non-Ukrainian language mentioned by name for protection under the Constitution.
The more important long term issue is whether, given its special status both under Ukraine’s Constitution and reality, the Russian language in Ukraine should be a concern at all under the Charter. Clearly, the Ukrainian language, despite the fact that it is discriminated against throughout Eastern Ukraine on a daily basis, does not fall within the parameters of the Charter, because of its special status.
The Preamble to the Charter expresses its purpose to which the member states of the Council of Europe signatory thereto have agreed “to achieve a greater unity between its members, particularly for the purpose of safeguarding and realizing the ideals and principles which are their common heritage; considering that the protection of the historical regional or minority languages of Europe, some of which are in danger of eventual extinction, contributes to the maintenance and development of Europe’s cultural wealth and traditions; considering that the right to use a regional or minority language in private and public life is an inalienable right…; realizing that the protection and promotion of regional or minority languages in the different countries and regions of Europe represent an important contribution to the building of a Europe based on the principles of democracy and cultural diversity within the framework of national sovereignty and territorial integrity.”
The Ukrainian language cannot survive a competition with the Russian language which was promoted by czars and commissars for three hundred and fifty years in Ukraine and even today by Russian governmental media networks.
The Russian language is not in danger of eventually becoming extinct, Russian speaking individuals in Ukraine are free to use it in private and public life as further evidenced by the Committee’s findings noted above and Russian permeates not only the vast time zones of the Russian Federation but many of its former colonies, Belarus, Kazakhstan etc. as well. Simply put, Russian heritage is entrenched in both Europe and Asia. It should be noted that Russia, while a member of the Council of Europe, has not ratified the Charter. Ukraine is both member and signatory.
Besides securing “the framework of national sovereignty and territorial integrity” there is one other caveat in the Preamble: “Stressing the value of interculturalism and multilingualism and considering that the protection and encouragement of regional or minority languages should not be to the detriment of the official languages and the need to learn them…”
The draft legislation provides a ten percent minimum for a territorial population speaking a particular language to elevate that language regionally, essentially, to the level of the state language. In every region of Ukraine at least ten percent of the population speaks Russian. Given Ukraine’s history where the Ukrainian language was forbidden by both czars and commissars, the Ukrainian language cannot survive a competition with the Russian language which was promoted by czars and commissars for three hundred and fifty years in Ukraine and even today by Russian governmental media networks. The draft legislation is directly to the detriment of the Ukrainian language and the need to learn it. Furthermore, its enactment will result in political unrest and social upheaval threatening sovereignty and territorial integrity with “big brother” Russia promoting it and lurking in the wings as it inspires political turmoil.
The chair of the Russian “minority” community structure in Ukraine which purports to be a human rights monitor, Vadym Kolesnichenko, who is a parliament deputy of Ukraine from the pro-presidential Party of Regions and a member of the Crimean Parliament spoke at a conference at United Nations headquarters in New York in the beginning of this year. The conference was organized by the Russian Federation. Among other historically suspect assertions which he made, he stated that Russians are the indigenous people of several regions of Ukraine, Crimea and others. A tinge of separatism permeated his remarks. Kolesnichenko is a moving force behind the subject language legislative effort attempting to exploit the Council of Europe Charter for his purposes.
Kolesnichenko was last seen trying to disrupt the Haydamaky Festival in Irpin near Kyiv, a patriotic celebration of Ukrainian music and song.
