Ukraine/ 4.2 Recent policy issues and debates  

4.2.2 Language issues and policies

According to the Constitution of the Ukraine (Article 10), the official language is Ukrainian. The same Article guarantees the free development, use and protection of Russian and other languages of national minorities.

The Law on Languages in the Ukrainian SSR, adopted in 1989, remains the main legislative document regulating language policies in the Ukraine. The Fundamentals of the Legislation on Culture and other laws in the cultural and educational sphere (e.g. on Education, Information, Television and Radio Broadcasting, and Advertising) are based upon its provisions. The Presidential Edict on Improving State Management in Information, of 26 September 2005, (№1338/2005) entrusted the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of Ukraine with the task of developing a state language policy. A special subdivision was established in the Ministry of Culture and Tourism to develop a language policy for Ukraine. The first steps of the Ministry were 1) the procurement of Ukrainian-language literature for public libraries in 2005, in the amount of UAH 20 million (USD 4 million), and in 2006, in the amount of UAH 5.1 million; and 2) adopting the governmental resolution Some Issues Concerning the Order of Film Distribution and Exhibition (2006), which determines quotas in the dubbing and subtitling of foreign films.

In 2006, the Working Group completed the Draft Concept of State Language Policy of Ukraine, which was presented in the media for public discussion. During 2006, more than 20 special cultural actions were organised by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism to support the Ukrainian language. At the same time, non-governmental organisations and artists carried out a promotional campaign "Let's speak Ukrainian!" supported by central information agencies and TV.

According to the 2001 census, 67.5% of the population of the Ukraine consider Ukrainian their native language and 29.6% name Russian as their native language. According to social monitoring studies undertaken by the Institute of Sociology of the National Academy of Sciences, the Ukrainian language is used in daily communication by 42% of families, Russian by 36%, and both languages by 21%. The ratification of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages by the Ukrainian Parliament on 15 May 2003 revived the debate on language policies and emphasised the need for a new basic law. The debates on the status of the official language for both Ukrainian and Russian broke out especially on the eve of the presidential election in October 2004 and again during the Parliament elections in 2006. According to data complied from a social monitoring survey, 34.4% of the population rejected the necessity to give the Russian language official status, 48.6% supported this move and 16.9% stated that they were unsure.

The Law on Education grants Ukrainian families (parents and their children) a right to choose their native language for schools and studies. In 2001, there were 21 226 secondary schools in Ukraine, including 16 757 schools teaching in Ukrainian, 1 935 in Russian, 98 in Romanian, 68 in Hungarian, 11 in Crimean Tatar, 9 in Moldavian, 3 in Polish, etc. The network of educational establishments is formed according to the national composition of a territory.

169 periodicals for national minorities were registered in the Ukraine in February 2002; 46 of them were published in the language of a national minority: Russian, Polish, Crimean Tatar, Bulgarian, Romanian, Byelorussian, German, and Turkish (see  chapter 4.2.1). 123 periodicals are bilingual or trilingual, for example: Russian and Crimean Tatar, Ukrainian and Hungarian, Ukrainian and Russian, etc.  

Table 2:     Share of different language periodicals distributed in the Ukraine, 2005

Source:      State Committee of Ukraine on Information Policy, Television and Radio Broadcasting, 2006.

National TV and radio stations provide special programmes in the languages of national minorities: Russian, Crimean Tatar, German, Greek, Bulgarian, Armenian, Hungarian, and Romanian (see  chapter 5.1.9, Table 5).