Language rights – the issue (simply put)
- Post-independence, many Ukrainians believed that the Ukrainian state had to express itself in the Ukrainian language to distinguish it from Russia, and to assert its sovereign identity.
- Accordingly, that all true Ukrainians should transfer their linguistic allegiance to Ukrainian as their language of preference. This was naturally resented by Russian-speaking eastern Ukrainians.
- In December 2016, the Ukrainian government went so far as to ban the commercial import of books from Russia, which had accounted for up to 60% of all titles sold in Ukraine.
- Ukrainian internet providers were requested to block access to popular Russian social media sites, news outlets, and a major search engine, in a move that was condemned by Human Rights Watch as “a cynical, politically expedient attack on the right to information affecting millions of Ukrainians, and their personal and professional lives”.
- A 2017 education law declared that children belonging to a national minority would have to switch entirely to Ukrainian from fifth grade onwards. Facing significant backlash, Kyiv made concessions. A 2020 law on secondary education allowed the state language to be gradually introduced, rising from 20% in fifth grade to 60% by senior year. But these requirements were removed in December 2023, with the use of Ukrainian mandated only for a few select subjects (Ukrainian language, literature, history, as well as national defense).
These laws distinguish between official EU and non-EU languages.
(It’s a slight exaggeration, but imagine if Wales declared independence from the United Kingdom, then banned English.)
Pre-2017, Zelensky himself barely spoke Ukrainian
The Australian Financial Review, July 2023:
Zelensky needs to play linguistic catch-up as a matter of urgency. Zelensky has a problem: he barely speaks Ukrainian. He grew up in the Russian-speaking east… nor could his parents speak Ukrainian. In ‘Servant of the People’, his character, Vasily Goloborodko, is a Russian speaker, who even after becoming President speaks only Russian in every situation.
In real-life Ukrainian politics this is impossible. Ukrainian is the only official state language, and the President is obliged to speak it. A few years ago, Yanukovych and his Prime Minister, Mykola Azarov, were constantly ridiculed for mangling the Ukrainian tongue. Now that language is part of Poroshenko’s sacred triad, rivals who speak faltering Ukrainian will get burned.
Back in 2017, on registering his new party, Zelensky hired a private tutor. Together, during lunch breaks in the studio when his colleagues went out, they drilled his language skills. The population of Ukraine in the early 90s was a little over 51 million people. In 1994, 62.3 percent said Ukrainian was their native language and 34.7 percent said Russian. In 30 years of independence, the situation has changed: the population will decrease to 43 million, at the beginning of 2022, 76 percent of citizens will consider Ukrainian as their mother tongue, and only 20 percent will speak only Russian.
Proposed solution and way forward
Overseen by the Council of Europe’s Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities, Ukraine, in conjunction with becoming an “EU Bridge” country, should:
- Remove legislative discrepancies in the treatment of EU and non-EU languages.
- Strike down draft law No. 12086 – obliging students and teachers to speak Ukrainian throughout school, not only during classes but also during breaks.
- Remove additional government restrictions on the use of Russian language following the end of the war.
- Ensure protections for Hungarian minorities in the Zakarpattia Oblast of western Ukraine.
Language tolerance. Article 1 of the United Nations Charter: “encouraging respect for human rights and for fundamental freedoms for all without distinction as to race, sex, language, or religion”.
The Venice Commission (the Council of Europe’s top advisory body on constitutional matters) issued a rebuke to the discriminatory nature of Ukraine’s 2017 education law:
It is… difficult… to see any reason justifying the treatment differentiating between, on the one hand, national minorities speaking an official language of the EU, and, on the other hand, national minorities such as the Russian minority. Taking into account the particular place of the Russian language in Ukraine (the most widely used of all of Ukraine’s regional or minority languages, and… the main language of communication for many persons belonging to non-Russian minorities), its more restricted use than that of official languages of EU member states… is clearly problematic. (§112)
Later in 2019, on a further state language law:
[the law] failed to strike a fair balance between the legitimate aim of strengthening and promoting the Ukrainian language and sufficiently safeguarding minorities’ linguistic rights. (§137)
Ukrainians themselves can of course prioritize the Ukrainian language – and after the war, many will choose to use it exclusively. But this should be balanced with ensuring safeguards for minority languages.
The Council of Europe to be responsible for setting up a monitoring and grievance resolution process for minority languages in Ukraine, including Russian. If Ukraine reneges on minority rights, the Council of Europe is to formally advise the EU (the two are separate bodies) to reduce its financial aid to Ukraine. This as a precondition to Ukraine becoming an “EU Bridge” member.
In turn, on Russian educational policies and teaching history: Russia is to stop printing required social studies textbooks claiming that Ukraine is not a real nation and cannot be a legitimate nation-state. And to unblock YouTube in Russia.