Posted by Joe on May 29, 2000 at 01:23:22:
Ethnic minorities' rights in danger
Vladimir Malinkovich
The following is an abridged version of an open letter to President Leonid Kuchma by well-known Ukrainian human rights activist Vladimir Malinkovich. The author argues that a recently approved draft government resolution on promoting the use of Ukrainian, as well as recent statements by Cabinet officials in charge of humanitarian issues, may signal a shift in government policies to favor Ukrainians over the country's ethnic minorities.
I'm concerned that an unfortunate situation may arise in Ukraine in the near future in the area of human rights.
The unfortunate situation is the fault of those individuals who are charged with implementing government policies in the humanitarian sphere. I have in mind the deputy prime minister for humanitarian issues, Mykola Zhulynsky, and the chairman of the State Committee for Information Policy, Ivan Drach.
It was namely their initiative that led to the creation of the Presidential Council on Language Policy (among 29 members of which, by the way, there is only one, who represents a Russian association in Ukraine). The council recently authored a draft government resolution aimed at widening the use of Ukrainian language and affirming it “as the basic and mandatory means of communication throughout the whole of Ukraine.”
That directly contradicts Article 10 of the Constitution, which guarantees “free development, use and defense of Russian and other languages of national minorities in Ukraine.”
In order to accomplish its goal, the draft resolution proposes to bring the “language of printed media in accordance with ethnic composition of the population,” to conduct “de-russification” of various spheres of social life, and so on.
Such measures are proposed despite the fact that instruction in three-fourths of all kindergartens, two-thirds of all schools, and 70 percent of all institutions of higher education in Ukraine is already conducted in Ukrainian.
These measures are being proposed even though the Russian language in Ukraine is not a language of only those who are ethnically Russian, but is a language of over half of all Ukrainians.
The possible implementation of the draft resolution will mean the gross violation of human rights of millions of Ukrainians of various nationalities, as well as the violation of the Ukrainian Constitution and international human rights conventions.
Our most important government specialists in the humanitarian sphere have demonstrated their antagonistic ethnic nationalism not only in relations to their Russian and Russian-speaking countrymen, but also toward representatives of other ethnic, linguistic, and religious groups.
Ivan Drach was bold enough to say in a recent newspaper interview that the Ukrainian populace must become dominant in Ukraine, and that the time has come to defend the interests of ethnic Ukrainians above all others.
Of particular concern is Drach's recent official answer to an inquiry made by a group of parliament deputies concerned about several anti-Semitic publications in the children's newspaper Dzhereltse (Spring).
This “newspaper for out-of-school reading,” systematically humiliates religious sensitivities of the adherents of Judaism, slanders Jews, and openly propagates anti-Semitic sentiment. It recommends to its readers (that is children), for example, the following sayings and cliches: “Devils and Yids are blood brothers,” “A Yid, a Pole, and a dog all have the same religion,” “Beat a Yid and absolve yourself of 40 sins.” (Issue 9, September 1999).
I remind you once again that the publication is urging children to beat Jews in extracurricular reading materials. I am convinced that this violates norms of civilized behavior and the legal norms. Therefore, this must be forbidden.
In response to the deputies, Ivan Drach wrote: “Publications of this newspaper are based on accessible materials and also on events documented during [Soviet dictator Josef] Stalin's reign. Dzhereltse also reproduces proverbs, which were invented during Stalin's oppression of Ukraine. The publication cites the names of the people, who led the repression of Ukraine: Trotsky, Kaganovich, Khatayevich, Zinovyev, Kamenev, Beria and many others.”
If we follow the logic of Ivan Drach, then we should accept calls to beat not only Jews, but Georgians (because of Stalin), Poles (because of Dzherzhinsky), Latvians (because of Latsis), and so on. It is obvious even for a non-specialist that sayings quoted by Dzhereltse appeared many centuries before the Stalinist oppression of Ukraine began and that they have absolutely no connection to Leo Trotsky's anti-Ukrainian campaign.
But what is most important is the amorality of a person who does not understand that calls to kill a Jew, a Russian, or anyone else is a crime, and here an especially egregious one, because these calls are directed at children.
If we were to discuss the statements of the poet Ivan Drach, it would be a matter of his personal honor (or dishonor). But in this case Drach is officially answering deputies as the head of the State Committee for Information Policy, which is part of the government. He speaks in the name of the government.
One of my motives for writing an open letter to the president is connected with my recollection of those times when we together made plans for the resurrection of a democratic Ukraine. We spoke then about the equality of all citizens, about the official status of the Russian language (in support of which you spoke during your first inauguration speech), and about the honesty and respectability of those who would serve the Ukrainian government.
The position of Ivan Drach on the national issue is unreasonable. It contradicts the principles, which at one time President Kuchma promised to defend. It disgraces authority of the government in Ukraine.
Vladimir Malinkovich is the director of the Ukrainian branch of the Moscow Institute for Humanitarian and Political Studies.