Global InformationLanguage policy in Ukraine information
Language policy in Ukraine is based on its Constitution, international treaties and on domestic legislation. According to article 10 of the Constitution, Ukrainian is the official language of Ukraine, and the state shall ensure the comprehensive development and functioning of the Ukrainian language in all spheres of social life throughout the entire territory of the country. Some minority languages (such as Russian and Belarusian) have significantly less protection, and have restrictions on their public usage.
The 2012 law On the principles of the State language policy granted regional language status to Russian and other minority languages. It allowed the use of minority languages in courts, schools and other government institutions in areas of Ukraine where the national minorities exceed 10% of the population.[1][2] The 2012 law was supported by the governing Party of Regions and opposed by the opposition parties, who argued that the law undermined the role of the Ukrainian language, violated Article 10 of the Constitution,[2][3][4] and was adopted with an irregular procedure.[5][6] Immediately after the 2014 Ukrainian revolution, on 23 February 2014, the Ukrainian Parliament voted to repeal the law. This decision was vetoed by the acting President Turchynov.[7][8] In October 2014, the Constitutional Court started reviewing the constitutionality of the 2012 law[9] and declared it unconstitutional on 28 February 2018.[10]
In April 2019, the Ukrainian parliament voted a new law, the law "On supporting the functioning of the Ukrainian language as the State language". The law made the use of Ukrainian compulsory (totally or within quotas) in more than 30 spheres of public life, including public administration, electoral process, education, science, culture, media, economic and social life, health and care institutions, and activities of political parties. The law did not regulate private communication. Some exemptions were provided for the official languages of the European Union and for minority languages, with the exclusion of Russian, Belarusian and Yiddish.[11][12] The Venice Commission and Human Rights Watch expressed concern about the 2019 law's failure to protect the language rights of Ukrainian minorities.[12][13] On 8 December 2023, the Ukrainian parliament passed a bill that claimed to have fixed this issues and was adopted in order to meet one of the European Commission’s criteria for the opening of Ukrainian European Union membership negotiations.[14]
Following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, on 19 June the Ukrainian parliament passed two laws which placed restrictions on Russian books and music. The new laws ban Russian citizens from printing books unless they take Ukrainian citizenship, prohibit the import of books printed in Russia, Belarus and the occupied Ukrainian territories, and prohibit the reproduction in the media and public transport of music performed or created by post-1991 Russian citizens, unless the musicians are included in a "white list" of artists who have publicly condemned Russian aggression against Ukraine.[15][16][17]
In June 2023, a bill for a new law (No. 9432) on the use of English as one of Ukraine's languages for international communication was introduced by president Zelenskyy.[18] Among other things, the bill encourages use of Ukrainian subtitles rather than dubbing for imported English-language movies.
- ^ "Lytvyn: Program for development of Ukrainian language should be adopted before elections". KyivPost. Interfax-Ukraine. 24 August 2012.
- ^ a b Elder, Miriam (4 July 2012). "Ukrainians protest against Russian language law". theguardian.com.
- ^ "Науковці оцінюють закон про засади мовної політики". day.kyiv.ua. 13 June 2012.
- ^ Riabchuk, Mykola (28 June 2012). "Playing with ambiguities: Ukraine's language law". openDemocracy. Retrieved 6 May 2019.
- ^ Опозиція вирішила боротись з "бандитським" законом про мови голодуванням. ТСН.ua (in Ukrainian). 3 July 2012. Retrieved 8 May 2019.
- ^ Мовний законопроект ухвалений із порушенням процедури - стенограма. Українська правда (in Ukrainian). Retrieved 8 May 2019.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
lenta223was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ "Ukraine's parliament-appointed acting president says language law to stay effective". ITAR-TASS. 1 March 2014.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
KSU10117was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ "Constitutional Court declares unconstitutional language law of Kivalov-Kolesnichenko". Ukrinform. 28 February 2018. Retrieved 4 May 2019.
- ^ "Кому варто боятися закону про мову?" [Who should be afraid of the language law?]. language-policy.info. 17 May 2019.
- ^ a b European Commission for Democracy through Law (Venice Commission), Ukraine - Opinion on the Law on Supporting the Functioning of the Ukrainian Language as the State Language, adopted by the Venice Commission at its 121st Plenary Session (Venice, 6–7 December 2019), CDL-AD(2019)032.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
:11was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Cite error: The named reference
7432248LPUwas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Hunder, Max (19 June 2022). "Ukraine to restrict Russian books, music in latest cultural break from Moscow". Reuters. Retrieved 18 November 2022.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
:13was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ "Ukraine to ban music by some Russians in media and public spaces". BBC News. 19 June 2022. Retrieved 18 November 2022.
- ^ "English to be Recognized as the Language of International Communication in Ukraine?". Kyiv Post. 29 June 2023. Retrieved 4 July 2023.