Ministry of Education of the Republic of Azerbaijan Baku International Multiculturalism Centre Azerbaijani Multiculturalism Textbook for Higher Education
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7.15. Multiculturalism in Moldova
The Constitution of the Republic of Moldova was adopted on 29 July 1994, announcing the primacy of international law and liberties. The Constitution approved the Moldovan language written in the Latin alphabet as the official language of the country, and defined the status of other languages spoken in the country. The Russian language was given a special status, reflecting its difference from other regional languages. The preamble to the Constitution of the Republic of Moldova declares that the government will try ‘to protect the interests of the ethnic minorities living with the Moldovans in the Republic of Moldova’.
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Article 10 covers the unity of the people and their right to national identity. The second clause of Article 10 declares that ‘The State recognises and guarantees all its citizens the right to the preservation, development and expression of their ethnic, cultural, linguistic and religious identity.’ (In other words, it ensures the right to the forms of identity listed in this article.) Article 13 of the Constitution regulates use of language in the country. Paragraph 1 declares Moldovan based on the Latin alphabet the state language. Paragraph 2 acknowledges and protects the right to the preservation, development and use of the Russian language and other languages spoken in Moldova. The Constitution recognizes that all citizens are equal before the law and public authorities, ‘regardless of theit race, nationality, ethnic origin, language, religion, sex, opinion, political affiliation, property or social origin’. (Article 16) Article 35 on education enshrines the right of the individual ‘to choose the language of training and education according to the law’. According to Paragraph 18 of the law, the government guarantees the rights of citizens to study in the Moldovan and Russian languages in preschool nurseries, general secondary schools, technical, professional, high and higher educational schools. The government also creates conditions for citizens of other nationalities to exercise their rights to education and upbringing in their mother tongues (Gagauz, Ukrainian, Bulgarian, Hebrew, Yiddish, and other languages)*. It should be noted that this right was reflected in the Constitution of 1978 too: Ar- ticle 3.4 concerns ‘the equal rights of the citizens of other nationalities of the Mol-dova Soviet Socialist Republic … that they have the right to use the languages of other peoples of the USSR along with their native language’. Under Article 43 the citizens of the Moldova SSR have the right ‘to education in their native language’. It should be acknowledged, however, that the latter clause here did not function, as the education system in Soviet Moldova was built on the Moldovan and Russian languages. Chapter 6 covers language in names and information. According to Article 24 the names of squares, streets, blind-alleys and districts are in the official language of the country, except in areas inhabited by the Gagauz where they are in the Gagauz language. In the villages where the majority of the population are Ukrainians, Russians or Bulgarians, these names should be in the appropriate local language. The texts of advertisements, notifications, announcements and other types of visual information are in the official language of the country, but in the appropriate territories should be translated into Russian or Gagauz. The names, labels and marks on goods produced in the country, instructions concerning these goods, and all other visual information should be in the official language of the country and in Russian. In rural areas where the majority of the population are Ukrainians, Russians, or Bulgarians, the said information should be in their languages. Chapter 7 determines state protection of languages, setting out legislation on language and determining responsibility for its violation. This act of legislation adopted on the eve of the fall of the Soviet Union acted as Moldova’s linguistic credo during the country’s transition. It guided relations among the peoples living there and formed the basis of numerous normative-legal acts, including the Constitution. One of the inalienable rights of man is the protection of national and cultural identity, which is enshrined in domestic normative and legal acts of the Republic of Moldova and in the many international treaties that the Republic has signed. The interests in the problems of national minorities in Europe are echoed in the new democratic countries. It should be noted that international normative and legal acts have priority over local legislation. The young Republic of Moldova, which has chosen
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the road of integration to Europe, was bound to pay attention to this problem. Perhaps, there was another aspect to this interest too. The Russian language, as a widespread means of official communication, was important amongst the languages of the multi-ethnic population of this region and became one of the most popular languages in inter-ethnic communication.
As noted above, after the independence of Moldova the situation of the Russian language changed, but the level of knowledge of the Moldovan language in society was not enough for it to replace Russian. At the same time, the process of national revival increased interest in the languages and cultures of ethnic minorities. It was beneficial because it distracted the people’s attention from the Russian language. It would also pave the way for the mother tongue of the national minority to function as a means of communication among the Russian ethnos, and for the Moldovan language to be sustainable as the main language of communication among all nations within the country. The Labour Code of the Republic of Moldova enshrines the protection of ethnic rights. The code forbids any discrimination on racial, national, and religious grounds. This protection is also enshrined in the law ‘On the judicial system’, the Code on Legal Violations and the Criminal Code of the Republic of Moldova and in other legal documents. The rights of national minorities are also enshrined in the following legislation: on identity documents in the national passport system, on television and radio, on the television and radio code of the Republic of Moldova, on media, on religious beliefs, on judicial authority, on advertisements, on the acts of citizenship and on culture. The law enshrines the right of the individual to enjoy their culture, regardless of national affiliation, social status, language and other issues. Law № 382-XV (19 July 2001) adopted by the Parliament of the Republic of Moldova ‘On the legal status of persons belonging to national minorities and their organizations’ was a new step in the development of legislation concerning Russian-speaking citizens. This document occupies a special place among the normative acts that regulate many problems in interethnic relations. The final draft of the law was presented by a group of parliamentarians to parliament in May 1997. The law was adopted in the first reading in July 1997. Later, a number of provisions were changed in accordance with the framework Convention on the Protection of National Minorities, ratified by the Republic of Moldova in 1996. A number of laws and other previously adopted legal acts had to be changed in line with this new law. In the last 20 years the Republic of Moldova joined many international normative-legal acts, some of which cover legal guarantees for national minorities as well. According to a decision of Parliament dated 10 September 1991 (No. 707 – XII) ‘On the association of the Republic of Moldova to the international legal acts on human rights’ the Republic of Moldova acceded to the full package of international documents. Particular mention should be made of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, the Copenhagen Meeting of the OSCE Conference on the Human Dimension, the Charter of Paris for a New Europe, the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, the Final Act of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe and the Convention Against Discrimination in Education. The Republic of Moldova joined the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination (it came into force in the Republic of Moldova on 25 February 1993), the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms and
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the Additional protocol on the rights of minorities (1201) to the European Convention on Human Rights of the Council of Europe. Analysis of the international legislative acts joined by the Republic of Moldova in the years of independence, and its domestic ethnic and civil legislation reveals a dynamic in the development of a normative-legal base to ensure the rights and freedoms of national minorities. But there have been inconsistencies in this situation at different stages. The various political forces in government in Moldova throughout its independence have displayed complete indifference to the non-majoritarian ethnos, including the ethnic and civil interests of the Russian-speaking population. There are many Russian-language mass media in Gagauzia, while the amount of literature published in Gagauz is also growing. The main issues covered by the media are national identity, regional news, the economy and culture. Newspapers and magazines are published in Russian, Moldovan and Gagauz. There is an education system functioning for the national minorities in three languages in the Republic of Moldova: Yüklə 2,25 Mb. Dostları ilə paylaş:
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