Viktor
Taran, First Deputy Chairman of the Committee, informed Knut Vollebaek about the legislative activity of the People´s Deputies regarding
the issues in the Committee´s
competence. The OSCE High Commissioner
was interested in the
scrutiny of the bill
"On Restoration of the Rights of Individuals
deported by the Nationality Factor" (Reg. No.5515) introduced by Mustafa Dzhemiliev, People´s Deputy of
Ukraine.
V. Taran declared that the bills would be scrutinized during the next sitting of the Committee and he had no doubts regarding "the positive result of the discussion." The People´s Deputies emphasised that the Committee members were thankful to the OSCE High Commissioner for the expert evaluation of the bill, as "it facilitates the thorough scrutiny of the issue."
K. Vollebaek also listened to the report on the Concept of the State Ethnic and National Policy; supplements and amendments to the Law "On the National Minorities" (1992) that meet cultural-educational needs of Ukrainians living in the neighboring countries.
Special attention was devoted to the issues of the language policy in Ukraine. V. Taran agreed with K.Vollebaek that the principal task of the policy in the educational sector is shaping of a consolidated society. He is convinced that to reach this aim, Ukrainian school-leavers should have a perfect command of their state language, as it is impossible to achieve self-realization without the knowledge of the national language.
The participants of the meeting deem necessary to continue cooperation with the office of the High Commissioner on National Minorities of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.