The article discusses the key principles invoked and issues addressed while drafting the Lithuanian language version of the Glossary of Sensitive Language for Internal and External Communication of ...the European Parliament. As a first step, it offers a short overview of the three categories of terminology presented in the Glossary related to disability, LGBTQ+, and race, ethnicity and religion. Thereafter it touches upon the issues pertaining its use in the light of current societal trends, correct and clear language requirements, influence of foreign languages and human rights. The article argues that sensitive language is imperative in communication with disadvantaged groups continuously marred by prejudices, fears, and stereotypes. Based on this proposition the article emphasizes the importance of political correctness as personal stance. At the same time, it exemplifies limitations thereof that could be triggered by the language system itself.
Background. At present, there are no special studies that generally consider the details of the work of the Main Army Supply Committee (Zemgor) with the national minor-ities who worked in its ...engineering and construction squads. The purpose of this study is to identify a number of specific features of the interaction of Zemgor, as a public organization, with a non-Russian and belonging to a different cultural and religious tradition, the contin-gent of the lower level of these construction teams in the process of their recruitment and functioning to solve national tasks, which, against the background of the coming general crisis, seems very relevant. Materials and methods. This study is based on archival materi-als, organization reports, memoirs and the results of a number of contemporary works. This made it possible to consider aspects of this issue that had not previously attracted the atten-tion of researchers. The article is based on the principles of historicism, objectivity, and complexity. As a methodological basis, general scientific methods of collecting, analyzing and synthesizing historical data, comparative historical and historical genetic methods were used. Results. The features of Zemgor’s work with national minorities are described and considered. Conclusions. The work of the Main Army Supply Committee of the All-Russian Zemstvo and city unions (Zemgor) took place as part of solving an acute nation-wide problem to overcome the shortage of workers. The preparation of the procedure and the subsequent involvement by Zemgor of national minorities in the work was carried out taking into account a wide range of issues necessary for their effective application.
On 18 January 2022, the parliament of Lithuania adopted the law on writing personal names in the official documents. Having substantially liberalised the existing practice, the law, however, offered ...only a partial solution because it did not sanction the use of non-Lithuanian diacritical characters. Based on the relevant legal, linguistic and historical contexts, relevant Lithuanian legislation and case law, this study analyses the evolution of Lithuania’s approach towards the writing of its citizens’ personal names in official documents. The text shows that the significant changes that took place in Lithuanian society during the last 30 years have resulted in a partial liberalisation of these practices. The recent case law suggests that the state is on the verge of accepting full liberalisation, particularly if relevant interwar legislation and a broader understanding of historical traditions of the Lithuanian language will be taken into account. However, the Constitutional Court plays a key role in determining the contents and directions of this process.
The Constitution of the Republic of Serbia contains a large number of provisions on human rights and freedoms. The Constitution guarantees all three generations of rights. Articles 28 and 29 of the ...Constitution regulate the following rights: Dealing with a person deprived of liberty and Supplementary rights in case of deprivation of liberty without a court decision. Basing the provisions on the aforementioned articles of the Constitution, the criminal procedure legislation has regulated in detail the matter of dealing with persons in custody. After a detailed analysis of the rules of treatment of persons in detention, it has been concluded that it is not about any specific rights or rules, but only about the realization of the basic guaranteed rights that every citizen should enjoy, regardless of their status. Bearing in mind the topic, the paper analyzes the development and conceptual definition of human and minority rights. Some characteristic provisions of the Constitution related to the topic of the paper were also analyzed, and then an overview was made of the legal provisions in Serbia on the treatment of persons who are in detention, and which have their basis precisely in the provisions of the Constitution.
German minority politics in the Baltic states during the inter-war period has regained significant scholarly attention since the 1990s, when the Estonian concept of cultural autonomy from 1925 was ...rediscovered as a strategy for solving post 1989 minority conflicts as well as addressing issues of multiculturality. The case of the Baltic German politician Werner Hasselblatt, who is in the focus of this text, however, reveals a Janus-faced political approach: On the one hand, he had a significant share in the implementation of the law on cultural autonomy in Estonia, and he was also a major actor within the Congress of European Nationalities. On the other hand, from 1933 onwards Hasselblatt turned into an expert of Nazi resettlement and population politics, contrary to his earlier positions. Here, a critical analysis of his approach towards loyalty is undertaken, in order to discuss the tilting point in his political activities. My argument is that his attitude towards loyalty was based on the assumption of an irreconcilable conflict of dual loyalty to the ‘host’ state and the ‘kin’ nation. Whereas Hasselblatt regarded loyalty to German Volkstum not as a matter of individual choice for Baltic Germans and thus as not negotiable, he saw loyalty towards the Estonian state as connected to the fulfilment of the German minority’s political claims. Such an instrumental approach towards loyalty together with Hasselblatt’s primordial understanding of nationality in contrast to citizenship may be identified as crucial issues that led his concept of constructive minority politics tilt towards the destructive notion of ‘dissimilation’.
The article raises the issue of implementing constitutional norms on ensuring the rights of national minorities by Ukraine. It is established that certain provisions of the Law of Ukraine “On ...Education” dated 05 September 2017 have been criticized both at national and international level as regards termination of curricular programs in languages of national minorities other than EU languages. It is determined that a change in language policy resulted in a conflict of interest in Chernivtsi on 17 October 2017 between representatives of Romanian national minority and representatives of NGOs "Right Sector" and "Freedom" as to the right to study in their native language. It is established that Ukraine, in violation of the international obligations defined by international treaties in the field of protecting the rights of national minorities, including those ratified by Ukraine, did not take into account the relevant recommendations of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, the Venice Commission, the Advisory Committee on the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities, Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, United Nations Monitoring Mission, Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, UN Special Rapporteur on Minorities. According to the results of the analysis, it is established that there is no special law determining the spheres of public life and measures to guarantee the rights of national minorities. The respective guarantees for teaching in the mother tongue were not established in the law on the status of the state language dated 25 April 2019. It is concluded that to resolve this problem, it is necessary to adopt a constitutional law that would determine the procedure for the use of national minority languages. In connection with this, the object of research is Draft Law of Ukraine "On Languages in Ukraine" No. 1103 submitted for consideration to the Verkhovna Rada on 29 August 2019 by V.V. Novynskiy, M.S. Mahomedov and others. Formal-legal, comparative-legal and logical methods are applied. The content of Part 5 of Article 53 of the Constitution of Ukraine is analyzed, it was concluded that it did not set an alternative, but it sets a mandatory obligation to perform all actions of the state to guarantee the rights of national minorities. It is concluded that it is necessary to adopt a special law on languages in Ukraine in order to implement the Constitution of Ukraine. It is recommended that the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine include Draft law No. 1103 on the agenda, consider it, and adopt it as a basis in the first reading. It is recommended to adopt laws related to the draft law on national and cultural autonomy, on indigenous peoples of Ukraine, on national minorities (new version), on local referenda, on an all-Ukrainian referendum.
The main approaches to the regulation of the status of national minorities in the Polish state restored after the First World War were investigated. They were reflected in the relevant provisions of ...the first Constitution of independent Poland (March 1921), which was a kind of compromise between the views of the Polish right-wing led by Roman Dmowski, who advocated the absolute dominance of ethnic Poles' interests, and the leaders of Polish socialist parties (T. Goluwko, L. Wasilewski), who wanted to support the national and cultural inspirations of minorities in exchange for their loyalty to the Polish state.
The legal acts used to regulate the situation of national minorities were analysed. Their compliance with the international legal mechanisms for the protection of national minority rights, which began to operate in Europe within the framework of the Versailles-Washington system of international relations, in particular, the provisions of the Treaty of Versailles Minor, was determined. In case of compliance with the proclaimed legal norms, the Polish state had every chance to avoid an open confrontation with representatives of the non-title nation. However, the situation in Poland with regard to national minorities became a classic example of the discrepancy between law-making theory and law enforcement practice.
It has been proved that due to the lack of mechanisms for monitoring compliance with international norms which were supposed to guarantee the rights of national minorities and imperfections in domestic legislation, the Polish authorities at various levels have repeatedly violated the democratic principles of the March 1921 Constitution and other legal acts designed to ensure equal rights for representatives of national minorities, which, in turn, created constant tension within the Second Polish Republic, destabilising the internal situation in the country.
This situation was caused by a number of factors: the difficult economic situation, which provoked permanent tensions in society and the Poles' disrespect for members of national minorities. Artificially created borders after the First World War also provoked interethnic conflicts. Finally, it should be considered that the vast majority of Poles were supporters of the concept of the nation-state promoted by the National Democrats, which envisaged the assimilation of national minorities.
For Slovenians, who became a national minority in Italy, the new border demarcation resulting from the Paris Peace Treaty in 1947 opened a new chapter of political engagement, with the formation of ...new political parties with clear ideological and national profiles. There were significant differences in the political field among Slovenians who lived in the provinces of Trieste, Gorizia and Udine, stemming from different historical, social as well as national contexts. Ideological differentiation was also prominent in 1947, further “enriched” in 1948 by the dispute between Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union following the Cominform resolution. Ever since the pre-war times, a dividing line had been based on two concepts of political action: independent Slovenian political engagement on the one hand and integration into Italian parties on the other.
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