“Language” speculations of the government,

While answering the questions of the US Atlantic Council the President of Ukraine Viktor Yanukovych said: “Not only Ukrainian and Russian are spoken in Ukraine. Hungarian, Romanian, Bulgarian, Greek, Jewish (sic) and other languages are also spoken. Ukraine is a very multinational state and we are creating equal living conditions for all people who live here and have Ukrainian citizenship. […] The implementation of the European language charter in Ukraine is on the agenda. We are dealing with it at present.”

Advocates of making Russian a second state language in Ukraine argue that this would simply be a proper implementation of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. Not many people have read the text of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. So what is this document, which has provoked so many discussions in both political and intellectual circles in Ukraine, about?

On November 5, 1992, in Strasbourg the Council of Europe adopted this Charter. Since then the Council of Europe has been pushing for each of its member states to sign and ratify it.

Ukraine undertook the obligation to join the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages when it joined the Council of Europe, what was fixed in the conclusion of its Parliamentary Assembly No. 190, on September 26, 1995. The charter was signed by Ukraine on May 2, 1996. Despite this fact, the process of its ratification lasted for a few years, being accompanied by severe political confrontation and gross violations of the Constitution of Ukraine and Ukrainian legislation.

According to the official information available on the website of the Council of Europe, as of today the following countries have not yet signed the Charter: Albania, Andorra, Belgium, Bulgaria, Estonia, Georgia, Greece, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Monaco, Portugal, San Marino, and Turkey. The following states signed but did not ratify it: Azerbaijan, Iceland, Italy, Malta, Moldova, RUSSIA (where several dozen languages need protection), and Macedonia.

First of all, an analysis of the original texts of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages showed that the basic term “regional or minority languages” (English), “langues regionales ou minoritaires” (French), was incorrectly translated into Ukrainian as “regionalni movy abo movy menshyn,” since it was translated not from the original version (English or French), as it was supposed to be, but from the Russian one, which is a gross violation. “Regionalni abo minorytarni movy” is the correct Ukrainian translation, and the title the Charter should be “Yevropeiska khartia regionalnykh abo minorytarnykh mov.”

In the main term of the English text of the Charter the word “minority” does not mean an “ethnic minority” but “few,” and it is used to denote a smaller number of people speaking one or another language, but not to denote an ethnic unit. Thus, the word “minority” should be used in the quantitative not ethnic sense.

As Part 11 of the Explanatory Report states: “The charter sets out to protect and promote regional or minority languages (“regionalni movy abo movy menshyn” according to the official translation), not linguistic minorities.”

That is why Article 1 of the Charter, where the term “the territory in which the regional or minority language is used” deals not with the language of some national minority, but with the language which is the mode of expression of a number of people:

“…and is traditionally used within a given territory of a State by nationals of that State who form a group numerically smaller than the rest of the State’s population.”

The correctness of this interpretation follows from the content of the Charter, the object of which is above all languages, which can disappear from the language map of Europe, which need support and special protection. Part three of the Charter’s Preamble states:

“The member States of the Council of Europe signatory hereto, 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.”

Thus the object of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages is preserving the languages which are in danger of extinction as an ethno-cultural phenomenon, but not the language rights of national minorities which live in certain regions of Ukraine. Certainly, a regional or minority language is at the same time the language of ethnic minority, but these terms are not identical. The protection of language rights of European minorities is regulated by another document, namely by the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities. Enabling member states to independently determine languages and protection policy is an important feature of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. Articles of the Charter contain numerous versions of specific and special protection in such spheres as education, legal procedure, functioning of administrative bodies on the regional and local levels, mass media, cultural activities, and the use of cultural institutions, economic and social life.

“The role of the states,” the Charter’s Explanatory Report states, “will be, not to choose arbitrarily between these alternatives, but to seek for each regional or minority language the wording which best fits the characteristics and state of development of that language.”

So, what languages did Ukraine decide to protect? Do they correspond to the spirit of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages? How was the Charter ratified?

At first the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages was ratified by the Law of Ukraine dated on December 24, 1999 No. 1350-XIV “On the Ratification of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages, 1992.”

This law was invalidated because it was recognized to be inconsistent with the Constitution of Ukraine by decision of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine dated July 12, 2000, No. 9/2000.

After this on September 12, 2001, the then Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma submitted to the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine a bill which was identical in its conceptual fallibility, “On the Ratification of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages,” but it was not supported by a sufficient number of votes.

One can say that the ratification process of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages became a part of the plan of the Russian Federation, whose main goal is expanding the influence of Russian in Ukraine. That is why the Russian mass media, which were present in the Ukrainian information sphere, unanimously agitated for the ratification of the Charter by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine. Officials got actively involved in this campaign as well. Being in Kyiv, the head of the State Duma of the Russian Federation Gennadiy Seleznyov on December 16, 2002, openly insisted that Ukraine should ratify the Charter. It should be mentioned once again that Russia did not do this until now.

On October 28, 2002, Leonid Kuchma suggested the Parliament to ratify it again. Under explicit pressure on May 15, 2003, the Verkhovna Rada did adopt the Law of Ukraine No. 804-IV “On the Ratification of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages.”

Article 2 of the Law presupposes giving protection precisely to the languages of national minorities: “2. Provisions of the Charter (994 014) are applied to the languages of the following national minorities of Ukraine…”

This directly contradicts the goal and object of the Charter itself, as seen earlier. The report of the Committee of Experts of the Council of Europe about the application of the Charter by Ukraine also mentions this: “62. The ratification instrument of Ukraine indicates that the approach followed by the Ukrainian authorities is based on numerical criteria using the results of the 2001 census. This means that only the most numerous national minorities are covered. The Committee of Experts recalls that the Charter targets languages as an expression of cultural wealth and does not target minority groups as such.”

The Law of Ukraine “On the Ratification of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages” presupposes the protection of the following languages: Belarusian, Bulgarian, Greek (which does not exist) [the problem being that it is unclear what kind of Greek is being referred to, modern, classical or some local dialect. – Ed.], Jewish (even though such a language does not exist, though Yiddish and Hebrew are spoken), Moldavian, German, Polish, Russian, Romanian, Slovak and Hungarian. All these languages are official, except for Greek and Jewish – which do not exist, in corresponding states and, in view of their status, possess the necessary state protection and are not threatened by extinction. Only Belarusian stands out: though it is official, it is on the verge of extinction. In addition, on the territory of Ukraine there are no obstacles for the use of these languages by representatives of corresponding national minorities in the places of their residence. The only two languages of Ukraine whose protection corresponds to the spirit of the Charter are Gagauz and Crimean Tatar.

The Law of Ukraine “On the ratification of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages” does not presuppose a protective regime in Ukraine for the languages which really need it, particularly Yiddish, Karaite, Krymchak, Roma, Urum, and Assyrian.

This is a result of the fact that Ukraine’s ratification of the Charter was not preceded by a thorough examination of this document, relevant translation, a deep analysis of the state of languages in Ukraine, and professional justification for the necessity of protecting a given language.

It is quite obvious that the Russian language in no way falls within the definition of a regional or minority language, since it is used throughout Ukraine in numerous spheres, but not in one geographic area. Thus it doesn’t need a special protective regime because of the threat of its extinction; on the contrary, in many regions of Ukraine it dominates, and thus threatens other languages, including Ukrainian, with extinction. The Report of the Committee of Experts states:“61. The Russian language is considered by many persons belonging to national minorities and by some ethnic Ukrainians as their mother tongue. It is therefore not in the same position as other regional or minority languages. However, in the instrument of ratification, Russian is placed at the same level as other languages, which does not correspond to the Charter’s philosophy.”

On August 29, 2006, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine produced an official translation of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages from English into Ukrainian, with the title “Yevropeiska khartia regionalnykh abo minorytarnykh mov.”

On September 15, 2008, the then Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko submitted to the Verkhovna Rada the bill “On Amending the Law of Ukraine ‘On the Ratification of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages,’” with the official translation of the Charter. However, the bill does not mention any languages which really need protection, while the languages, which were included there by mistake, are mentioned once again. For two years this bill wasn’t included in the agenda of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, and on The Day of his inauguration Yanukovych recalled it from the parliament so as to continue language speculations.

On April 30, 2010, the then Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine for Social Issues Volodymyr Semynozhenko held a working meeting on the problems of implementing state policy regarding regional or minorities languages. Participants of the meeting pointed out the insufficient efficiency of the legislation in this sphere, in particular, the Law of Ukraine “On the Ratification of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages.” Based on the conclusions of the meeting, it was decided that, by the end of May, they should suggest a new bill on the ratification of the Charter with its official translation. In two months Semynozhenko was dismissed by the resolution of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, supported by the Party of Regions votes as well. The resolution of that meeting has not been acted upon since then. Returning to the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages and the Russian language, one should pay attention to the fact that the Charter’s preamble states: the protection and promotion of regional or minority languages should not be to the detriment of the official language(s) and the need to learn them. What situation do we see today in Ukraine? Since independence the Ukrainian language is struggling and even falling into disuse in many regions. As a result, ethnic Ukrainians, who constitute 77.8 percent of the population of Ukraine, according to the All-Ukrainian census of 2001, became a discriminated national minority in their own country.

The study “Language Balance-2,” which was published in 2010 under the authorship of Oleh Medvedev, includes the following findings:

THE PRESS: the annual circulation of newspapers in Ukrainian – 31.8 percent, in Russian – 68.1 percent; the annual circulation of magazines in Ukrainian – 10.6 percent, in Russian – 89.4 percent – based on information from the Book Chamber (2009).

BOOK PUBLISHING: the amount of books published on the Ukrainian market in Ukrainian – 13 percent, in Russian – 87 percent (expert assessment of the Association of Book Publishers and Book Traders, 2008). This means that nine out of ten books published in Ukraine are not in the national language!

CINEMA: the language of films shown on major television channels in Ukrainian – 45 percent, in Russian – 55 percent, based on the information of the National Council for Television and Radio (2009-2010). Because the order of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of Ukraine, dated from January 18, 2008, “On Dubbing or Subtitling Foreign Movies in the State Language” was suspended, the number of movies in Ukrainian will fall even further. The stated facts are self-explanatory: the Ukrainian language needs protection in its own country.

Referring to the Recommendation of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe on the application of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages (July 7, 2010), one can read: “…in Ukraine the feeling of the necessity of fortifying the positions of the state language are widespread.”

Ivan Dziuba made a witty comment on this situation: “To tell the truth, today Ukrainian-speaking Ukrainians are the most endangered national minority needing protection in Ukraine.”

Ivan Franko’s words provide a fitting summary: “We also know that people will never reach full social happiness, a paradise on earth. But this cannot be a reason for us to fold our hands and observe indifferently how the strong suppress the weak, how the wealthy offend and extort the poor, how single persons hurt and ruin hundreds and thousands of people. Whether there will be a paradise on earth or not, we should struggle with each single mischief, each single injustice, and at the same time strive not only for overcoming it in that one case, but also for the possibility to stop the source of such mischief in the future as well.”