The consultation online meeting was held on 31 May within the project of the Council of Europe “Strengthening the protection of national minorities, including Roma, and minority languages in Ukraine”.
The participants of the event discussed the needs and conditions of the national minorities in the context of the full-scale invasion of Russia into Ukraine.
The meeting was attended by: Steen Nørlov, Head of Council of Europe Office in Ukraine, and Thorsten Afflerbach, Head of Division for Inclusion and Anti-Discrimination Programmes of the Council of Europe.
Dmytro Lubinets, Chairman of the Committee of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine on Human Rights, and Liudmyla Denisova, Commissioner for Human Rights opened the event with the welcoming words.
The representatives of the educational and cultural fronts took part as well: Olena Bohdan, Head of the State Service of Ukraine on Ethnic Policy and Freedom of Conscience, and Yurii Kononenko, Head of the Directorate for General Secondary and Preschool Education of the Ministry of Education and Science. Moreover, Mykhailo Semykin, Deputy City Head of Melitopol, participated in the online event.
The participants represented the state institutions and NGOs of the national minorities of Zakarpattia, Zaporizhzhia, Odesa, Kirovohrad, Volyn and Chernihiv Regions. The event was attended by sixty people in total.
What do the governmental officials say?
The voice of the ethnic minorities has been heard since the very beginning of the full-scale invasion. The national communities have joined the international communication and started telling about the situation in the minority languages.
Olena Bohdan, Head of the State Service of Ukraine on Ethnic Policy and Freedom of Conscience, noted that the Ukrainians had the unique opportunity to enhance interaction with each other and to see the incredible solidarity of the Ukrainian society.
“On 22 February, the ethnic communities of Ukraine initiated a joined letter ‘Ukraine is our common home’. We saw Russia accumulating its army at the border so we tried to say in Ukrainian and English that Ukraine was peaceful home to all the national communities, and any attempted attacks could not be grounded. We know that the Russian Federation is actively using the matter of national minorities in its disinformation campaigns,” Bohdan said.
In his speech, Dmytro Lubinets, Chairman of the Committee of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine on Human Rights, told about the Greek settlement called Sartana in the vicinity of Mariupol. It had been destroyed by air planes and shelled with the bombs of 500 or 1,000 kilograms for several days. 90% of the ethnic Russian-speaking Greeks lived in that settlement.
“It shows how Russia treats the national minorities. They do not care what nationality you are. If a person is a citizen of Ukraine and lives in this country, the Russian Federation automatically believes that he or she is a supporter of Bandera who needs to be killed. That is why the only word that can describe what is happening now is genocide of the Ukrainians,” noted the Chairman of the Committee of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine on Human Rights.
In her turn, former Ombudsperson Liudmyla Denisova emphasised that the Ukrainian society is very multicultural. More than 130 nationalities are now fighting the enemy: they are protecting the country at the battlefield, participating in peaceful protests, partisan movement in the temporarily occupied territories etc. The association of national minorities and indigenous peoples provides volunteering services.
“The number of people who apply to the Commissioner has grown several times. Some complaints are received from representatives of the national minorities. They complain that they cannot receive social aid, including benefits to families with low income. They also cannot find a job because of their ethnic belonging, which results in loss of means of subsistence. Some children have also lost an opportunity to study,” Denisova said.
She also emphasised that the government had to ensure maximum support of the national minorities despite the war. The society must not ignore their existence.
“Prosecution of indigenous peoples continues during the hostilities in the temporarily occupied territories. The activists are searched illegally, and Crimean Tatars are brought to detention facilities. Even the lawyers who have been protecting the Crimeans from repression by the Russian Federation for eight years are also detained illegally,” Denisova shared.
The Advisory Committee on the Council of Europe’s Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities (FCNM) has condemned in the strongest possible terms the Russian Federation’s aggression against Ukraine and “deplores that the Russian authorities used issues of minority rights as a pretext for the invasion”.
The aggression violates not only Russia’s obligations under the Statute of the Council of Europe, but runs counter to the principles of the Framework Convention, and this contradiction “could not be starker”, the Committee stresses. According to the Framework Convention, the protection of national minorities is an integral part of the international protection of human rights, and the provisions of the Convention “shall be applied in good faith, in a spirit of understanding and tolerance and in conformity with the principles of good neighbourliness, friendly relations and co-operation between states”.
Education
The war is a major challenge for the educational system. Millions of children have been forced to move to the other regions and even countries. The Ministry of Education and Science had to figure out how to continue studies during the war. All the children regardless of their location can keep studying remotely in their own or any other Ukrainian school. The same applies to the pre-higher and higher educational establishments. The educational authorities, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and senior executives of schools work to enable all the pupils to get grades and academic documents.
“We are not putting the matter of education of the national minorities and development of the national minority languages on the back burner. The work groups that will upgrade the education system, including in the national minority languages, have already been established. We keep developing the state standards of the high specialised schools where this matter will also be considered. We are also planning to create and start online lessons of the Crimean Tatar language,” Yurii Kononenko, Head of the Directorate for General Secondary and Preschool Education of the Ministry of Education and Science, shared.
Considerable attention is paid to studying the national minority languages and cultural diversity of the people in Ukraine. Although the full-scale classes have been replaced with remote ones for the period of war, there are electronic text books for all the disciplines, and methodological programmes are published at the website of the Ministry of Education of Science; also, online lessons will be conducted soon.
“When the war started, we suspended our cooperation with the Council of Europe in connection with the text books on the Roma language and culture, the programme of which was supposed to be presented on 24 February. We would like to create text books for the first and second grades, the ABC and the book for early readers. The culture and the language of the peoples who have found themselves in the temporarily occupied territory are under threat. So the Roma community development programme will be of use here,” Natalia Bohdanets-Biloskalenko, Head of the Department for Studying the National Minority Languages and Foreign Literature of the Institute of Pedagogy of the National Academy of Educational Sciences of Ukraine, explained.
Eleonora Kulchar, Director of Transcarpathia Regional Charitable Foundation “Blaho”, noted that she had been welcoming the IDPs and accommodating them in the shelters since 24 February since more than 46 thousand of the IDPs arrived in Transcarpathia Region. A hundred of people from different regions can live in a shelter. Teachers and volunteers work with children of different ages there.
Maryna Bublyk, Head of Nizhyn Association of the Roma “ZOR”, emphasised that the Romani women with children who had moved abroad had the language barrier, so they were isolated from the world. They were also worried that the children would stop speaking the Romani language for that reason.
“We must never forget the past. The Romani and Jewish communities survived the genocide during the Second World War. Most of the national minorities were killed for their ethnicity. On 27 January, we always went to the Babyn Yar Memorial Centre and said that it must never happen again. However, another genocide against Ukraine and the national minorities living here started on 24 February. It must be understood by all the European countries,” she noted.
Zaporizhzhia
Zaporizhzhia Region is polyconfessional and multinational. Representatives of more than 130 communities reside there, and there are around a hundred non-governmental organisations they have founded. Two third of Zaporizhzhia Region have been occupied. According to Pavlo Mialo, Head of the Directorate of Interethnic Relations and Religious, most national communities lived in the territories that have been occupied.
“The activity of the national minorities and governmental authorities, which used to be focused on culture and art, has become practical. Since the first days of the full-scale invasion, the national communities have been assisting in delivery and provision of humanitarian aid, have participated in the volunteering, helped evacuate representatives of the minorities, and told the European counties the truth from the perspective of the national communities,” Mialo said.
Melitopol
Mykhailo Semykin, Deputy City Head, informed about the situation in the occupied territories, namely Melitopol, in more detail.
“The city was occupied on 25 February, and the self-proclaimed authorities are ruining all the cultural values and achievements that have been actively developed in Melitopol for the last years. New exhibits that are distorting the real history and culture of the city and call our region the Taurida Governorate are created in our local history museum. The occupants have tried to carry the Scythian gold away from Melitopol. The state language and the national minority languages are forbidden there now.” The mass media are Russian,” Semykin shared.
He also told that there was physical repression in the city. More than 200 men were held in captivity, and there was no information on them.
However, the residents of Melitopol are helping Ukraine free the city despite the pressure. The residents have been protesting since the first days, and the local partisan movement is well known all over Ukraine.
Hanna Stetsenko, Head of the Board of the NGO “Melitopol City Jewish Community”, told that their community helped 180 representatives of the national minorities go abroad whereas the Bulgarian community helped around 300 people.
“We are raising the point of the war and the place of the national minorities in it at the international level. In May, Leila Ibrahimova and Olena Rabadzhi spoke at the session of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Peoples. They spoke about human rights violations and war crimes committed by the Russian Federation in Melitopol against the indigenous peoples,” Hanna informed.
Moreover, she noted that Melitopol suggested initiating publication of the text book in which every ethnic minority will share their history at the Ukrainian level.
Odesa Region
What makes Krasnosilka Territorial Community in Odesa Region special is its polynationality. The Bulgarian, Greek and Romani minorities are the largest. There had been programmes for supporting and developing the national communities before 24 February, and many activities had been planned: the schedule was practically made for the nearest five years. However, the full-scale invasion changed everything.
“The times are hard, but the situation is under control. We have been working since the first days to detect needs of the local residents and internally displaced persons. We are now performing regular awareness raising work and informing the people in the social media,” Tetiana from Krasnosilka Territorial Community said.
Krasnosilka Territorial Community has welcomed more than 450 IDPs from Kherson, Mykolaiv, Kharkiv and other regions. Seventeen of them are Roma. The IDPs are given psychological assistance, personal belongings and food packages.
“The Roma also join the Armed Forces of Ukraine and work as volunteers. Non-governmental organisations provide humanitarian aid, offer residential premises and prepare food packages for the IDPs. They also help get documents and render legal support,” Tetiana summed up.
Maksym Dzhum, a representative of the Foundation “Planet of Kind People”, noted that Odesa Region had turned into a sort of hub via which Ukrainians travel to go abroad. The International Women Fund “Chiricli” offers hot lunches to those in need. Also, the IDPs are given an opportunity to spend a night, obtain necessary documents and leave for a safer place.
Lutsk
It its turn, the Jewish community also welcomes the IDPs, offers them hot lunches and then helps rent accommodation or leave for another country. The representatives of the Jewish community organise computer courses for the IDPs and summer classes for children.
“We welcome everyone, regardless of ethnicity, because we are all united Ukraine. In summer, our shelter will have the leisure area, and we are now purchasing materials for workshops and art therapy in the open air,” Andrii Lomaha, a representative of Lutsk City Council, shared.
Nizhyn
During the full-scale invasion, Nizhyn suffered from major shelling, but its citizens demonstrated their consolidation and unity. All the national communities joined their efforts to help the Armed Forces of Ukraine. There are six non-governmental organisations associated with the minorities in the city: Polish, Greek, Assyrian, Jewish, Romani and Armenian ones.
“The non-governmental organisations initiated provision of humanitarian aid on the very first day. The Council of Europe advisers also helped not only the Roma, but also all the residents of Nizhyn. The city welcomed more than 2,500 IDPs, but there is no information on numbers of representatives of the national communities,” Tetiana Basak, Head of the Culture and Tourism Directorate, informed.
Kropyvnytskyi
Kropyvnytskyi has welcomed more than 63 thousand of IDPs. At the beginning of the full-scale invasion, the national communities were helped to leave for Zakarpattia, but now the city itself is becoming home to the IDPs.
“We have ten humanitarian centres, and we inform representatives of the national minorities of their location, help restore the documents and get a passport, and provide temporary shelter. We take people to our homes in critical situations. Today representatives of national minorities are in need of three things: food, housing and safety,” Liudmyla Dorokhina, a representative of Kropyvnytskyi City Administration, noted.
Mykola Ilin, Chairman of the NGO “Society of the Romani Intellectuals”, also said that he had tried to join the Armed Forces of Ukraine or Territorial Defence, but he was rejected because of his respectable age: the man was 70 years old. So he is a volunteer, cooks lunch for the Territorial Defence and delivers humanitarian aid. He also writes war poems and reads them to our soldiers to keep their battle spirit high.
In such cooperation between the NGOs and the city council, Liudmyla Dorokhina and Mykola Ilin are trying as many useful things as possible to help Ukraine win and exchanging information and opportunities.
Autonomous Republic of Crimea
The representative of the Crimean Tatar community also emphasised that each national minority had minded its own business before the full-scale war, but they got united for the better result.
“Ukraine is in need of international support because the enemy is big and strong so we can win only when we join our efforts. The eastern and southern regions of Ukraine have been occupied, and the activists who defended their pro-Ukrainian position during the annexation of Crimea are in great danger now. They are on a wanted list, they are tortured and killed. Some of the Crimean Tatars have stayed in the occupied territories. Just like everybody else, they are looking forward to the assistance of the international community,” Niiara summed up.
Let us remind that the Committee of Experts of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages in the statement adopted at the latest plenary session condemned in the strongest possible terms the aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine and expressed its solidarity with all people of Ukraine. The Committee of Experts finds it unacceptable that the Russian Federation continues to use the situation of Russian as a minority language in Ukraine as a pretext for aggression.
Russia has not ratified the Charter but signed it in 2001. As a signatory to the Charter, the Russian Federation remains under the obligation not to defeat the object and purpose of the treaty, as provided for by the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties. The Committee of Experts recalls that, in accordance with Article 5 of the Charter, nothing in it “may be interpreted as implying any right to engage in any activity or perform any action in contravention of the purposes of the Charter of the United Nations or other obligations under international law, including the principle of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of States.”
In the context of the ongoing monitoring of Ukraine, the Committee of Experts conducted an on-the-spot visit in July 2021. The Committee noted the efforts of the Ukrainian authorities, but also identified areas where measures were needed in order to provide adequate protection to all minority languages in the country. The Committee stands ready to continue its support to the Ukrainian authorities in implementing the Charter and reiterates that the Council of Europe is the appropriate forum to address by dialogue and co-operation any issues related to the protection and promotion of minority languages.
* The information material has been prepared within the project “Protecting national minorities, including Roma, and minority languages in Ukraine”, which is based on the specific recommendations of two monitoring authorities of the Framework Convention on the Protection of National Minorities and the European Charter on Regional or minority languages. The project was launched in March 2018 and is a part of the Council of Europe Action Plan for Ukraine 2018–2022.
The opinions and stances expressed in the publication might differ from the official stance of the Council of Europe.
Written by: Yana Radchenko
