June 6, 2012
PRESS RELEASE
UKRAINIAN WORLD CONGRESS CONDEMNS THE ADOPTION AT FIRST READING
OF THE ANTI-CONSTITUTIONAL DRAFT LAW
ON THE PRINCIPLES OF STATE LANGUAGE POLICY
The Ukrainian World Congress (UWC) condemns the adoption at first reading, on June 5, 2012, of the Draft Law on Principles of the State Language Policy (“Draft Law“) by Ukraine’s Verkhovna Rada. The Draft Law contravenes the Constitution of Ukraine, which states that the state language of Ukraine is the Ukrainian language.
Designed to accelerate the Russification of Ukraine, the Draft Law constitutes a serious threat to the future development of the Ukrainian language and its role as the sole state language in Ukraine.
The UWC joins the voices of Ukrainians worldwide who stand in defense of the Ukrainian language and calls upon the Ukrainian government authorities to prevent domination by the Russian language in an independent Ukrainian state.
The UWC is an international coordinating body for Ukrainian communities in the diaspora representing the interests of over 20 million Ukrainians. The UWC has member organizations in 32 countries and ties with Ukrainians in 14 additional countries. Founded in 1967 as a non-profit corporation, the UWC was recognized in 2003 as a non-governmental organization (NGO) by the United Nations Economic and Social Council with special consultative status.
