By KYIV. Dec 30 (Interfax-Ukraine) – President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky signed the law on national minorities (communities) of Ukraine.
According to the information submitted in the card of relevant bill No. 8224 on the website of the Verkhovna Rada, the document was returned to the parliament with the signature of the head of state on Thursday, December 29.
According to the Verkhovna Rada Regulations, the law signed by the president will later be published in the Holos Ukrainy (Voice of Ukraine) newspaper and six months after that, most of its provisions will come into force.
As reported, the Verkhovna Rada adopted at the final reading a new draft law on national minorities (No. 8224), thereby repealing the old law. This decision was supported by 324 MPs at the plenary session on December 13.
The bill fixes the definition of "national minorities (communities);" rights, freedoms and obligations of persons belonging to national minorities, features of state policy for the exercise of the rights and freedoms of representatives of national minorities, powers of the central executive body implementing state policy in the field of protecting the rights and freedoms of persons belonging to national minorities.
The fifth article of the draft law on rights, freedoms and obligations of persons belonging to national minorities (communities) guarantees citizens of Ukraine, regardless of their ethnic origin, belonging or not belonging to national minorities (communities), civil, political, social, economic, cultural and linguistic rights and freedoms defined by the Constitution.
A person belonging to a national minority (community) also has the right to self-identification, freedom of public associations and peaceful assembly, freedom of expression of views and beliefs, thought, speech, conscience and religion; participation in political, economic and social life; use of the language of a national minority; education, including in the languages of national minorities; preservation of the cultural identity of the national community.
