Ukraine’s Rada passes bill on indigenous peoples

The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine passed the bill on indigenous peoples, which denies this status to Russians, with 325 votes on Thursday. Just minutes earlier, the bill was approved in the first reading with 331 votes.

"The bill provides a definition of the concept of an ‘indigenous people of Ukraine’ as an autochthonous ethnical entity, formed on Ukrainian territory, which carries an authentic language and culture, has traditional, social, cultural or representative structures, considers itself an indigenous people of Ukraine, comprises an ethnic minority in its population, and does not have its own state entity beyond Ukraine. According to this definition, the indigenous peoples of Ukraine are Crimean Tatars, Karaims and Krymchaks," the accompanying memo says.

This definition means that Russians cannot be considered an indigenous people of Ukraine.

The law was completely rejected by the Opposition Platform - For Life. The ruling Servant of the People party contributed 226 votes, while Pyotr Poroshenko’s European Solidarity gave 25 votes, and Yuliya Timoshenko’s Batkivschina added 19 votes.

The bill defines the legal status of the indigenous people and cements legal guarantees of possession of all human rights and basic freedoms, stipulated in the national and international law.

"The implementation of the bill would facilitate the protection of rights of the Indigenous people of Ukraine for self-determination, independent definition of its political status, free implementation of its economic, social and cultural development by means that do not contradict the Constitution and laws of Ukraine," the memo says.

Under the law, the indigenous peoples become protected against actions aimed at: the elimination of their ethnicity, destruction of cultural values, "deportation or forced displacement from the location of compact residence in any form," "forceful assimilation or forceful integration in any form," incitement of racial, ethnic or religious hate against them. They also have their cultural, educational, linguistic and informational rights guaranteed, TASS reported.