Members of the Permanent parliamentary delegation of Ukraine to PACE took part in the 2017 Autumn Session of the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly (PACE) debate on the Law of Ukraine “On Education”.

On October 12^th, there were held emergency procedure debates on the topic “The new Ukrainian law on education: a major impediment to the teaching of national minorities’ mother tongues” at PACE’s premises.

Maintaining the Ukraine’s stand on the law, the Ukrainian delegates built up sound arguments over the Parliament’s wording of the law adopted, and the reasons why it did not violate the national minorities’ rights.

According to the delegation head “the holistic reforming in the country is the most significant and powerful gear for supporting European prospects of Ukraine. The adopted law exercises the most up-to-date European practices and groundwork. The education mechanisms and procedures introduced by the law are in line with the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement. To our regret, there are some misunderstandings and political abuse of the Article 7, stipulating language of education”.

The head also laid a particular stress upon the lack of linguistic practices and skills in Ukrainian language across the local national minorities throughout the country.

Ukraine is open for compromise and discussions. The law has been sent to the Venice Commission, whose recommendations, by the President Poroshenko, would be implemented in full. The further law canvass and making out the details should be depoliticized as soon as possible.

The education law debate at PACE has resulted in adoption of the resolution No.2189 titled “The new Ukrainian law on education: a major impediment to the teaching of national minorities’ mother tongues” with the following recommendations to Ukraine:

-The Parliamentary Assembly is concerned about the articles relating to education in minority languages of the new Education Act adopted on 5 September 2017 by the   Ukrainian Parliament and signed on 27 September 2017 by the Ukrainian President,

-Various neighbouring countries claimed that this act infringes the rights of persons belonging to national minorities and raises sensitive legal issues also under the Ukrainian legal order. The Assembly deplores the fact that there was no real consultation with representatives of national minorities in Ukraine on the new version of Article 7 of the Act adopted by the Parliament. The Assembly notes that the Ukrainian authorities have submitted the text of the Education Act to the Venice Commission for an opinion, which shall be delivered by the end of 2017; however, the Assembly expresses dissatisfaction that this step was not taken before the adoption of the Education Act,

-The Assembly takes note of serious concerns expressed on a number of legal issues. It believes that it is important to fulfill the commitments based on the European Convention on Human Rights, the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities, and the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages, and to help re-establish a constructive dialogue between the different parties concerned. In this respect, for the Assembly, three interconnected principles must guide the stakeholders towards more consensual arrangements. The first one is that knowledge of the official language of a State is a factor of social cohesion and integration and it is legitimate for States to promote the learning of the official language and to ask that the State language be a language of education for all. The second one is that, as stated by the Advisory Committee on the Framework Convention: “Language is an essential component of individual and collective identity. For many persons belonging to national minorities, language is one of the main factors of their minority identity and identification.” Thus, where States take measures to promote the official language, these must go hand in hand with measures to protect and promote the languages of national minorities. If this is not done, the result will be assimilation, not integration. The third one is the principle of non-discrimination. This principle not only applies to the recognition and effective protection of the rights of persons belonging to national minorities, as enshrined in the Framework Convention, and of the specific rights enshrined in the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages, but also to “the enjoyment of any right set forth by law” according to Article 1 of Protocol No. 12 to the European Convention on Human Rights. Based on the above-mentioned principles and the encompassing concept of “living together”, the new legislation does not appear to strike an appropriate balance between the official language and the languages of national minorities. In particular, the new law entails a heavy reduction in the rights previously recognized to “national minorities” concerning their own language of education. These national minorities, who were previously entitled to have monolingual schools and fully fledged curricula in their own language, now find themselves in a situation where education in their own languages can be provided (along with education in Ukrainian) only until the end of primary education. For the Assembly, this is not conducive to “living together”,

-In planning the implementation of the reform, flexibility should be ensured to avoid hasty changes prejudicing the quality of education provided to pupils and students belonging to national minorities. In this respect, a three-year transitional period may prove to be too short. Therefore, the Assembly urges the Ukrainian authorities to also introduce flexibility regarding the length of the process and allow for arrangements tailored to the concrete circumstances of the communities concerned and the situation in different areas,

-The Assembly is aware that Ukrainian-speaking minorities in neighbouring countries are not entitled to monolingual education in their own languages and do not benefit from arrangements which seek to promote bilingual education. Therefore, the Assembly recommends that the authorities of neighbouring countries, which legitimately call for the protection of their minorities, show readiness to offer to the Ukrainian communities resident in their respective countries similar arrangements to those that they claim for their own minorities,

-The Assembly recommends that Ukraine examines best practices in Council of Europe member States in the field of teaching official languages, with special learning methods designed for schools using regional or minority languages as the language of education,

-The Assembly decides to follow the developments in Ukraine with regard to the protection and promotion of regional and minority languages,

-The Assembly asks the Ukrainian authorities to fully implement the forthcoming recommendations and conclusions of the Venice Commission and to modify the new Education Act accordingly.

While talking over “Prosecuting and punishing crimes against humanity – or even possible genocide – committed by Daesh”, a Ukrainian delegate delivered an overview report about Daesh crimes, stressing that Daesh criminals with the EC countries’ passports are in plenty, and the states and the Assembly ought to punish the felons within their own jurisdictions.

PACE has reiterated its conviction that Daesh has committed genocide in Syria and Iraq and called on the UN to consider setting up a 'special judicial mechanism' to try its crimes. The Assembly, in a resolution based on a report by Pieter Omtzigt (Netherlands), called on Council of Europe member, partner and observer states to formally recognize that Daesh has committed genocide, notably against the Yazidi, Christian and non-Sunni Muslim minorities. The parliamentarians also proposed a number of ways to ensure that this crime is punished - and prevented in the future - as required under the 1948 Genocide Convention. They urged member states to try any suspected Daesh members who come within their jurisdiction or control under the doctrine of 'universal jurisdiction' following. Member states should also not obstruct any possible future UN Security Council moves to bring Daesh members before a tribunal, the Assembly said, recalling that two UNSC permanent members have vetoed referring the Syria situation to the ICC. Meanwhile, Syria and Iraq should join the International Criminal Court, while the ICC Prosecutor should reconsider her decision not to open a preliminary inquiry into Daesh crimes.

That same day, there was also held an event under the heading “Informational occupation: Crimean mass media in the mangle of the Russian law”, organized by two Ukrainian delegates.

The parliamentarians also held debates on promoting the human rights of intersex people, on the use of new genetic technologies in human beings, and on the need for a political solution to the crisis in Catalonia.