Ukraine/ 4.2 Specific policy issues and recent debates  

4.2.5 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 Culture (2011) establishes that the "State ensures the comprehensive development and functioning of the national language in cultures all over Ukraine, promotes the creation of the domestic (national) culture product in Ukrainian and its popularisation in Ukraine and abroad; free use of other languages is guaranteed in the sphere of culture".

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 Presidential Decree on the Concept of Linguistic Policy (see also chapter 5.1.9) proclaimed the need, in particularly, to improve existing language laws.

However, the new law on the principles of the state language policy in Ukraine, authored by representatives of the ruling Party of Regions and adopted by parliament in July 2012, triggered protests in Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities. On signing this bill into law on 8 August 2012, the President, Viktor Yanukovych, ordered the Cabinet of Ministers to form a working group to draw up proposals to improve laws regulating the use of languages in the country. The group should include public figures, as well as prominent educational, scientific and cultural experts specialising in language issues.

Under the law, Ukrainian is the official language. The official language is used all over the territory of Ukraine by the agencies representing the legislative, executive, and judicial branches of power, in international agreements, in the education process, within limits and according to the procedures stipulated in the law. Under the document, the government will also assist in the use of the official language in the media, science, culture, and other spheres of public life.

The law also provides that regional or minority languages include Russian, Belarusian, Bulgarian, Armenian, Gagauz, Yiddish, Crimean Tatar, Moldovan, German, Greek, Polish, Romani, Romanian, Slovak, Hungarian, Rusyn, Karaim and Krymchak.

According to the document, if the number of native speakers of one of these languages is 10% or more of the population of the territory in which the language is used, then measures aimed at use of regional and minority languages will apply.

In separate cases local councils will decide whether a national minority language can be used if the number of speakers of this language is not less than 10% in the relevant territory.

As the Ukrainian Week states (August 31, 2012, also on the Internet - http://ukrainianweek.com/Politics/58994):

"Paradoxically, the only territory in the South where Russian has not yet become an official regional language is Crimea, where the share of ethnic Russians is over 50%. The reason for this actually lies in the Party of Regions reluctance to provide equal status to the Crimean Tatar language or even the Ukrainian language neglected there as a result of Constitutional violations. Until recently, Russian was de facto the only official language and the local authorities were openly unhappy about official correspondence with Kyiv being held in Ukrainian, the only official state language. Crimean Tatars have already shown concern that the local authorities are back-pedalling on the implementation of the law. They suspect that the administration will raise the 10% requirement to 15-20% or introduce some other amendments to the law to prevent any language other than Russian from receiving official regional status. The language law's implementation makes it possible to actually impose Russian on Southern and Eastern Ukraine, including the regions of Kharkiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Zaporizhzhia, Kherson, Mykolayiv and the north of Odesa oblast which are still largely Ukrainian-speaking despite the long lasting Russification campaigns of the Soviet era. Today, we may be seeing the revival of Russification efforts through well-targeted government policy. As oblast councils introduce Russian as the regional language in their oblasts, they encourage smaller territorial units to do the same."

It really resulted in some controversial local decisions about language use in small towns or even villages – Hungarian, Bulgarian or Romanian. For example, as the Civic Portal of Bukovyna – Citizen's Journal informs, the Romanian language became an official regional language in Chudai village of Storozhynets district in the Chernivtsi region. The initiative group included 14 representatives of the rustic intelligentsia. Teachers, priests and entrepreneurs promoted consideration of language issues at the meeting of the Village Council. 19 deputies from 27 of the deputies present on the Chudai Village Council meeting voted to adopt this issue. The Village Council decision meant that the Romanian language became an official regional language in the village. According to the law on languages, all documents will be translated into two languages — Ukrainian and Romanian.

Table 6:     Printed output (general data), 2011-2012 (9 moths)

Source:     Book Chamber of Ukraine, 2012.

In 2012, 61% of all book titles published in Ukraine were in Ukrainian language, 28% in Russian. A share of books and booklets published in 2012 in languages of other national minorities constituted about 1% (titles).  

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 20 988 secondary schools in Ukraine, including 16 677 schools teaching in Ukrainian, 1 154 in Russian, 88 in Romanian, 66 in Hungarian, 15 in Crimean Tatar, 6 in Moldavian, 5 in Polish, etc. The network of educational establishments is formed according to the national composition of a territory.

207 periodicals for national minorities were registered in the Ukraine in 2010, 71 of which were published in the language of a national minority: Russian, Polish, Crimean Tatar, Bulgarian, Romanian, Byelorussian, German, and Turkish (see chapter 4.2.4). 136 periodicals are bilingual or trilingual, for example: Russian and Crimean Tatar, Ukrainian and Hungarian, Ukrainian and Russian, etc. At the same time, a huge number of mainstream periodicals are printed in Russian.

At the same time, among 30 leading national dailies and weeklies, only 7 (23.4%) are completely Ukrainian; 21 (70%) are entirely Russian; and 2 (6.6%) are published in both languages. Among 10 leading national weekly magazines, only 3 (30%) are Ukrainian, and 7 (70%) are Russian. Ukrainian editions are practically absent among business printed media.

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). The State Committee on Nationalities and Religions (since 2011, department of the Ministry of Culture) is a co-founder of 6 newspapers publishing in the language of a national minority, in particular, Armenian "Aragats", Crimean-Tatar "Voice of Crimea", Polish "Dziennik Kijowski", Jewish "Jewish News", Romanian "Concordia", and Bulgarian "Roden Krai".

The government planned in the 2012 budget to support the implementation of the European Charter on Regional and Minority Languages in the amount of UAH 1 007 000 (about 100 000 EUR), and an additional UAH 963 000 for the recreation of national minorities cultures (actually, these costs were covered by 70%).

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