The Venice Commission Recommended Kyiv to Review the Law on the Ukrainian Language

Ukraine should prepare a Law on National Minorities, Council of Europe experts say. Otherwise, the Venice Commission concludes that the State Language Law creates grounds for discrimination against national minorities. The Law of Ukraine “On ensuring the functioning of the Ukrainian language as the state language” fails to strike balance between strengthening Ukrainian and safeguarding minorities’ linguistic rights, says Venice Commission. The Council of Europe experts call on Ukraine to prepare without any unnecessary delay the Law on Minorities and to consider postponing until adoption of this Law the implementation of the State Language Law provisions which are already in force. Cooperation with representatives of national minorities The experts acknowledge that the language policy is an extremely complex, sensitive and highly politicized issue in Ukraine. In view of the particular place of the Russian language in Ukraine, as well as the oppression of the Ukrainian language in the past, the Venice Commission fully understands the need to promote the use of Ukrainian as the State language. The Venice Commission also welcomes that in several areas the State Language Law provides for the use of minority languages in parallel with the State language by referring to the anticipated Law on Minorities. However, the Minorities Law has not been prepared yet, even though it should have been drafted simultaneously with the State Language Law to secure the needed balance from the outset. The authorities are invited to revise the State Language Law and to prepare the Law on Minorities in consultation with all interested parties, especially representatives of national minorities and indigenous peoples. Call off sanctions The Venice Commission specifically recommends reconsidering the provisions of the Law providing for a differentiated treatment between the languages of indigenous peoples, the languages of national minorities which are official EU languages, and the languages of national minorities which are not official languages of the EU. The authorities should consider repealing the mechanism of complaint and sanctions set forth in the Law or at least to limit it strictly to the public sphere and for the most extreme cases. The article establishing liability for deliberate distortion of the Ukrainian language in official documents and texts should also be removed. The Law of Ukraine “On ensuring the functioning of the Ukrainian language as the state language” entered into force on July 16, 2019. He assigns the status of the only state language to Ukrainian, which is mandatory for public authorities and public spheres throughout the state. Separately, the document notes that the law does not apply to personal communication and the language of religious rites. DW