Euroasian Jewish News
The Ukrainian Parliament Debate Chamber during the hearings. Photo by the press service of the Jewish Forum of Ukraine
|
EAJC Representatives Participate in Parliament Hearings on Ethnopolitics
14.01.2012 On September 11, representatives of the Euro-Asian Jewish Congress participated in parliamentary hearings on "Ethno-National Policy in Ukraine: Accomplishments and Perspectives," which took place in the debating chamber of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine. The Chairman was Parliament Vice Speaker Nikolai Tomenko.
During the hearings,people's deputies, representatives of different governmental bodies, experts, and leaders of different national communities and organizations discussed the strong and weak points of Ukrainian policy on ethnicity and nationality that has been implemented over the last 20 years. Since this was the first time hearings on this topic were held in the parliamentary debating chamber, much attention was paid not only to current problems, but summarizing the development of this sector over the entire course of Ukrainian independence. The session was aired live on Ukrainian national television.
Among the speakers at the hearings were Ukrainian Minister of Culture Mikhail Kulinyak (as the Ministry of Culture had been given the functions of implementing state policy on ethnicity and nationality after the dissolution of the special State Committee on Nationalities and Religion over a year ago), Deputy Minister of Science and Education Boris Zhebrovsky, leader of the special Parliament Committee on Human Rights, National Minorities, and National Relations Oleg Zarubinsky, Ukrainian Parliamentary Commissioner for Human Rights Nina Karpachova.
Several gaps in Ukrainian legislation were subjected to deep analysis during the hearing. In particular, the absence of a single concept of state national and ethnic policy, as well as the fact that many terms in the legal field, including in the Ukrainian Constitution, are ill-defined (like the so-called "indigenous peoples"). There was also a discussion on the restitution of property confiscated during the Soviet period. Xenophobia had also been discussed.
The Euro-Asian Jewish Congress was represented at the hearings by EAJC General Council member Vyacheslav Likhachev.
|