Bill 5670-“On ensuring the functioning of the Ukrainian language as the state language” does not provide protection from discrimination based on language. The head of the Center for Freedom of Speech, Elena Bondarenko, stated this at a press conference in Kiev, commenting on the provision of the law that the status of the Ukrainian language as the only state language cannot be a basis for infringing on the linguistic rights of those people who belong to national minorities, the correspondent reports “ PolitNavigator".
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"This is not enough. The bill must be written in terms of guarantees of rights. Then the bill should contain the following phrases: “the state guarantees the protection of rights,” etc., a complete repetition of the constitutional formulation with a deciphering of how exactly it guarantees, through what tools and, most importantly, how it punishes those who discriminate against people on the basis of language. How will people who allow themselves to insult other citizens on linguistic grounds be punished and fined (community service, 15 days in prison). People who call other languages “dog’s tongue”, “veal’s tongue”. Where is at least one person punished for obvious discrimination and insult to citizens on the basis of language? Since the bill does not include penalties for discrimination, it will be unworkable. And he cannot guarantee the protection of the rights of other languages,” Bondarenko said.