Human Rights Ombudsman in the Donetsk People’s Republic Daria Morozova believes that Ukrainian language law violates human rights.
The Ukrainian Parliament adopted the law “On ensuring the functioning of the Ukrainian language as the national language”, which provides for the use of the Ukrainian language in almost all spheres of life – it shall be mandatory for state and local authorities, all educational institutions, hospitals and the service sector. At the same time, the introduction of administrative liability for violation of the law has been postponed for three years.
This is not only the violation of human rights, but also of the constitution. And such laws break human rights conventions and contradict the Constitution of Ukraine. I hope this law will not come in force, and human rights violation will be avoided. The Russian language is an inevitable part of the Ukrainian people, and the adoption of this law will not lead to the resolution of the conflict in Donbass, but to a confrontation. This should not be allowed,” said Morozova.
Alexander Lukashevich, the Permanent Representative of Russia to the OSCE, earlier criticized the Language law adopted by the Verkhovna Rada. According to him, Ukrainians have been de facto divided into Ukrainian-speaking citizens and “outcasts” whose opportunities to study, receive medical treatment and use other social services will be limited.
According to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, the law provides for exceptions for English and other EU languages – “this means that the only object of attack is the Russian language, which is spoken by the vast majority of Ukrainian citizens, and it is a native language for many”.
