On the Principles of State Language Policy
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| On the Principles of State Language Policy | |
|---|---|
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| Verkhovna Rada | |
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| Territorial extent | Ukraine |
| Passed by | Presidential decree |
| Passed | 3 July 2012 |
| Effective | 10 August 2012 |
| Legislative history | |
| Introduced by | Serhii Kivalov, Vadym Kolesnichenko |
| First reading | 5 June 2012 |
| Voting summary |
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| Second reading | 3 July 2012 |
| Voting summary |
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| Amends | |
| "On Languages in the Ukrainian SSR" | |
| Amended by | |
| "On protecting the functioning of the Ukrainian language as the state language" | |
| Status: Struck down | |
"On the Principles of State Language Policy" (Ukrainian: Закон України «Про засади державної мовної політики»), also nicknamed the "Kivalov-Kolesnichenko Law" or "KK law"[1] after its proposers, is a Law of Ukraine that expanded the use of regional languages in Ukraine for those with at least 10% usage in a certain region, mainly to protect the Russian language in Ukraine.
On 7 February 2012, the bill was first introduced by MPs Serhii Kivalov and Vadym Kolesnichenko, and had the registration number 9073.[2]
On 5 June 2012, the Verkhovna Rada adopted the law in first reading with 234 votes in favor,[3] though some claimed only 172 voted in favor.[4] On 3 July, the second reading passed with 248 votes in favor [5] in violation of legislative procedures.[6] On 31 July, despite previous statements against doing so, the chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Volodymyr Lytvyn signed the bill.[7] On 8 August, president Viktor Yanukovych also signed the bill, it came into effect two days later on the 10th.[8] The law repealed the 1989 law "On Languages in the Ukrainian SSR".
On 23 February 2014, the Verkhovna Rada passed a motion repealing this law as invalid.[9] The next day, the High Commissioner on National Minorities from the OSCE Astrid Thors expressed concern that the repeal of this Law could lead to further unrest.[10] The following week, acting president Oleksandr Turchynov announced his refusal to approve the repeal.[11] Later on, newly-elected president Petro Poroshenko also called this repeal attempt a mistake, stressing other ways to improve language policy.[12]
On 29 February 2018, the Constitutional Court of Ukraine declared this law unconstitutional and struck it down.[13] This automatically restored the 1989 law "On Languages in the Ukrainian SSR". The following year, on 19 July 2019, this law was replaced by "On protecting the functioning of the Ukrainian language as the state language".
References
[edit]- ↑ Azhniuk 2017, p. 312.
- ↑ "Проект Закону про засади державної мовної політики" [Draft Law on the Principles of State Language Policy] (in Ukrainian). Verkhovna Rada. Archived from the original on 29 May 2012.
- ↑ "Верховна Рада схвалила законопроект "Про основи державної мовної політики"" [The Verkhovna Rada approved the draft law "On the Fundamentals of State Language Policy"] (in Ukrainian). sq.com.ua. Archived from the original on 7 March 2014.
- ↑ "Законопроект про мову приймали "мертві душі"" [The language bill was passed by "dead souls"] (in Ukrainian). Ukrainska Pravda. 6 June 2012. Archived from the original on 9 June 2012.
- ↑ "За закон проголосували 248 депутатів" [248 depututies voted for the law] (in Ukrainian). tsn.ua. 3 July 2012. Archived from the original on 6 September 2012.
- ↑ "ОПОЗИЦІЯ ВИРІШИЛА БОРОТИСЬ З "БАНДИТСЬКИМ" ЗАКОНОМ ПРО МОВИ ГОЛОДУВАННЯМ" [The Opposition Decided to Fight the "Bandit" Law on Languages with a Hunger Strike] (in Ukrainian). tsn.ua. 3 July 2012. Archived from the original on 8 May 2019.
- ↑ "Литвин не підпише мовного закону" [Lytvyn will not sign the language law] (in Ukrainian). iPress.ua. 4 July 2012. Archived from the original on 10 July 2012.
- ↑ "В Україні набув чинності закон про мови" [The law on languages came into force in Ukraine] (in Ukrainian). RBC Ukraine. 10 August 2012. Archived from the original on 14 August 2012.
- ↑ "Проект Закону про визнання таким, що втратив чинність, Закону України "Про засади державної мовної політики"" [Draft Law on the Declaration of Invalidity of the Law of Ukraine "On the Principles of State Language Policy"] (in Ukrainian). Verkhovna Rada. Archived from the original on 25 February 2021.
- ↑ "Restraint, responsibility and dialogue needed in Ukraine, including Crimea, says OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities". OSCE. 24 February 2014. Archived from the original on 4 December 2016.
- ↑ "Турчинов відмовився підписати рішення Ради про скасування закону про мови" [Turchynov refused to sign the Rada's decision to repeal the law on languages] (in Ukrainian). Korrespondent.net. 3 March 2014. Archived from the original on 13 February 2015.
- ↑ "Порошенко назвав помилкою позбавлення російської мови статусу регіональної" [Poroshenko called the deprivation of the Russian language of regional status a mistake] (in Ukrainian). 112.ua. 28 June 2014. Archived from the original on 6 October 2014.
- ↑ "Ухвалено Рішення Конституційного Суду України № 2-р/2018" [Decision of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine No. 2-r/2018 adopted] (PDF) (in Ukrainian). Constitutional Court of Ukraine. 28 February 2018. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2 March 2018.
Literature
[edit]- Azhniuk, Bohdan (2017). "Ukrainian Language Legislation and the National Crisis". Harvard Ukrainian Studies. 35 (1/4). Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute: 311–329. ISSN 0363-5570. JSTOR 44983546. Retrieved 3 April 2026.
- Csernicskó, István; Fedinec, Csilla (2016). "Four Language Laws of Ukraine". International Journal on Minority and Group Rights. 23 (4). Brill: 560–582. ISSN 1385-4879. JSTOR 26557843. Retrieved 3 April 2026.