Ukrainian Minority Research Articles

The right to education in the mother tongue for Ukrainian refugees in Romania according to international and national law

Since the outbreak of the Russian invasion in February 2022, millions of Ukrainian citizens have sought refuge in Romania, with a significant number of people still remaining in the country as of the latest reports. Romanian government data indicate that by April 2024, approximately 154,617 Ukrainian refugees, including 50,000 school-aged children, were residing in the country. Before this crisis, Romania had established robust educational language rights for its Ukrainian minority of around 40,000 citizens. This study rigorously examines these pre-existing language rights within Romania’s legal framework, focusing on public education provisions. Central to the inquiry is whether the comprehensive language rights afforded to Romania’s Ukrainian minority could be extended to the Ukrainian-speaking refugees. The study begins with an introduction contextualizing the refugee crisis and outlining the existing legal framework for minority language rights in Romania. The legal analysis covers constitutional and sub-constitutional provisions, alongside with an examination of international agreements such as the bilateral treaty between Romania and Ukraine, the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities, and the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. Special emphasis is placed on education provisions, including curriculum design, textbooks, language of instruction, and decision-making. By addressing these pivotal questions, this study contributes to the theoretical discourse around the personal scope of minority language rights in Europe and offers a nuanced insight into Romania’s legal framework on minority language education. It also seeks to elucidate how Romania’s legal commitments accommodate both established minority communities and newly arrived refugees with similar linguistic and cultural backgrounds. Further sociological research is needed to explore the implementation of Ukrainian-language education to the benefit of the Ukrainian refugees, which was beyond the scope of this study. Nevertheless, Romania possesses all the necessary legal elements to serve as a truly best practice model in Europe for organizing and ensuring good quality education in the mother tongue for Ukrainian refugees.

Transferability of vaccination interventions from a community perspective: One size does not fit all

Abstract Background Removing health system barriers to childhood vaccination is an urgent matter in the migrant community in Greece, the Turkish and Moroccan communities in the Netherlands, the Ukrainian minority in Poland, and the marginalized Roma community in Slovakia. The objective of this study was to select and adapt potentially transferable evidence-based interventions for HPV and MMR vaccine uptake in partnership with the underserved communities. Methods Using a participatory approach, we assessed transferability of six pre-selected interventions with the Population, Intervention, Environment and Transfer (PIET-T) models: All countries investigated two interventions with trained community members to support vaccination as health promoters. Greece and the Netherlands included a school-based vaccination program. The Netherlands added two interventions addressing providers’ HPV vaccine communication, and Slovakia a multilevel intervention. Results We identified barriers and facilitators for successful intervention transfer in each of the target contexts. The transferability analysis showed that an intervention with health promoters is potentially transferable with adaptations in all countries. Principles of trust in the educator, tailored and trustworthy information, help in navigating the health system for vaccination and easy access at no cost are transferable key elements in all contexts. Adaptations refer to the intervention elements that need to be tailored to specific contextual needs. School-based vaccination was nowhere transferable. Health provider training needs to be culturally sensitive and adapted to the Dutch system. The multilevel intervention in Slovakia is not fully transferable. Conclusions Participatory transferability analysis was essential for decision-making and intervention adaptation. All countries independently selected a health promoter intervention as having potential to remove the identified health system barriers in the respective context.

8.N. Scientific session: Transferability and adaptation of vaccination interventions: Learning from underserved communities

Abstract Removing barriers in the health system that make it difficult for cultural, religious or ethnic minorities to access vaccinations is an urgent concern in order to prevent infectious diseases in the future. Childhood vaccine uptake for MMR and HPV in most underserved communities is lower than in the general population. The project RIVER-EU (Reducing Inequalities in Vaccine uptake in the European region - Engaging Underserved communities) engages the migrant community in Greece, females with a Turkish or Moroccan migration background in the Netherlands, the Ukrainian minority in Poland and marginalized Roma communities in Slovakia to remove health system barriers to vaccination. Barriers include, e.g., lack of culturally and linguistically appropriate information, financial barriers, insufficient capacities, coordination and delivery of health care. Based on a Participatory Action Research (PAR) approach we selected and adapted potentially transferable evidence-based interventions in partnership with the communities. First, we pre-selected 6 useful interventions from a realist review on 36 effective vaccine uptake interventions. Second, we assessed them in depth for their transferability. Building a bridge between evidence on interventions and community needs is not an easy task: We involved various stakeholders in a longitudinal process under consideration of contextual conditions in the primary intervention context and the context of the respective underserved community. We co-created knowledge through 25 workshops and 39 interviews or focus groups for decision-making and determining need for adaptation of selected interventions. The aim of this workshop is to present the results of this co-creative process in each country. Special attention is payed to facilitators and barriers for transferability of evidence-based interventions from the perspective of underserved communities, and contextual commonalities and differences that lead to a specific intervention tailoring. This workshop will contribute to an improved understanding of how to consider contextual needs underserved communities have to remove health system barriers to vaccination on the one hand and suitable evidence on interventions to improve their situation on the other hand. The workshop will include five presentations of eight minutes and a questions and answers session to involve the audience. First, an introductory presentation on transferability of interventions for HPV and MMR vaccine uptake to underserved communities in specific contexts will be given. Then each country will present the intervention(s) to address health system barriers adapted to their context. Thereby, we will underline common key elements that have potential for transferability in all countries. After all presentations, we will discuss the need for context-based decision-making on evidence-based interventions and intervention tailoring to improve vaccine uptake for cultural, religious or ethnic minorities. Key messages • Improving vaccine uptake in underserved communities requires local solutions with tailored interventions. Trusted partnerships with various stakeholders are key to reducing health system barriers. • Participatory approaches to evidence-informed decision-making build bridges between evidence on interventions and needs of underserved communities to understand the transferability of interventions.

Artistic Forms of Shaping Ukrainian National Identity by Leon Getz

Abstract The article deals with the phenomenon of shaping Ukrainian national identity in artistic works of autobiographical nature, created at the time of life crisis and oppressive sociopolitical situation, using Leon Getz as an example. Getz (1896–1971) was a painter who was raised in a Polish-Ukrainian family in Lviv but made a decision to identify nationally with the Ukrainian minority, oppressed both in pre- and postwar Poland. After WWII, he was subjected to surveillance by the Polish Security Office because of his Ukrainian identification. That led him and his wife (also a Ukrainian) to attempt suicide—unsuccessful in the case of the artist, fatal in the case of his wife. Getz wrote down his memoirs twice: the first time in the 1930s, the second time after his wife’s death in the 1950s. The first memoirs expressed his loneliness in an environment dominated by Poles, and they were drawn up openly, though for the author’s needs only. The second memoirs presented his personal tragedy and were kept in secret because the Security Office sought to intercept Getz’s notes as documents incriminating the officers. However, the author hoped to make the text public in the future. The subject of the analysis is constituted by memoirs read in the context of the artist’s other personal documents and works. They present the formation of his Ukrainian national identity as the chosen one and at the same time as the one that, in his opinion, was related to his and his wife’s tragedy. I interpret these memoirs in two different but complimentary ways: first, as life writing at the time of a man’s personal life crisis and, second, as life writing in a situation of oppression by the authoritarian and after WWII totalitarian state, under surveillance by the Security Office, whose moves put the very subjectivity of an individual in crisis. Both interpretations highlight the process of building Getz’s self-identification not as a discovered preexisting nationality, but as a deliberate—and nonobvious—choice of national path. The article is based on Getz’s unpublished memoirs and works, which are held in archives in Cracow (Poland) and Rome (Italy).

SOCIAL WORK WITH NATIONAL MINORITIES: US EXPERIENCE

The modern world is organized in such a way that within each state there are various social groups that create a unique face of each nation. Ethnic (national) minorities, whose appearance in the composition of the population of multi-ethnic states is the result of various processes, play not the least role here. Intensification of migration and demographic processes, globalization, which has encompassed the entire world community, lead to multiculturalism of the social environment, both in Ukraine and in other countries. Extensive experience and a significant amount of work in the field of social work with ethnic minorities in the United States of America is the material that can be partially used in the work with national minorities in Ukraine. The purpose of the article is to analyze the specifics and directions of social work with ethnic (racial) minorities in the USA. Research methods used in this study can be characterized as analytical, systematic analysis, historical, and comparative method. The conducted theoretical research allows us to draw the following conclusions. In the United States of America, an effective system of support for ethnic (racial) minorities has been developed, areas of social work have been identified in accordance with the ethnic structure of society, and recommendations have been developed for specific practical interaction between a social worker and a client of this category. A small number of scientific publications on this topic open up prospects for future theoretical and practical research. Study of the experience of other countries, analysis and implementation of advanced methods in the practice of social work is one of the urgent problems of today.

National Minorities in the Odesa Oblast – Applying the European Model to Ensure Peaceful Coexistence

Abstract The article deals with the situation of national minorities living in the Odesa oblast and in the town of Odesa with the main focus before the Russian war against Ukraine started on 24 of February 2022 but using also the relevant events happened afterwards. It explains what are the historical reasons that made Odesa a region so diverse from the national identity perspective, with a lot of national minorities living here from centuries. Although there are a significant number of studies on the issue of the national minorities in this region, none of them captured, so far, the complex relationship of Ukraine with the kin-states – Romania, Bulgaria and in some extent Turkey. The number of idp s in Ukraine was already high before the war started, with an important impact on the relationship of the Ukrainian majority with the national minorities and it will certainly be much higher after the war. The article takes into account this situation particularly for the Odesa oblast. The article examines how the institutions and the religious actors have influenced this relationship but how the war will shape it remains an open question. The article offers a perspective on the 2017 Ukrainian law in education, how it was applied until 24 of February 2022 and also on the 2022 Law on minorities, in order to find an answer to the question why a new framework for the national minorities in Ukraine after the end of the war is very important.

NATIONAL MINORITIES IN THE LABOUR MARKET: ECONOMIC AND LEGAL STUDY

The article provides a comprehensive economic and legal analysis of the position of national minorities in the labour market. To do this, a comparative analysis of the socio-economic and legal status of national minorities is carried out and an analysis of the situation of national minorities in the labour market is conducted while taking into account real and declarative indicators of the level of employment, which were determined by the author's survey and field experiment. It has been proven that discrimination in the labour market is characteristic of certain, but not all, groups of national minorities, in particular, the Roma. It is believed that the efficiency of the labour market of national minorities also affects tax revenues and the distribution of social costs. Ensuring equal opportunities for these groups contributes to the creation of stable social conditions, reducing the costs of social assistance and increasing the efficiency of social capital. The study of the labour market of national minorities also takes into account the importance of socio-economic stability. The main causes of discrimination of representatives of ethno-national groups in the labour market are singled out, and economic and legal measures to stimulate inclusion in the labour market are defined. Through the author's survey and the field method of fictitious questionnaires, the discrimination of certain groups of national minorities in Ukraine, among them Moldovans and especially the Roma, was proven, and it was proved that the unemployment rate in the region provokes an almost proportional decrease in the number of responses from employers from representatives of national minorities. The field of employment was not a significant factor in indicating certain features of discrimination based on the field of the labour market.

The War as the Consequence: The Examination of How the Communist Remnants Led to Russia’s Full-Scale Invasion of Ukraine

The paper presents the results of exploring Russia’s ecocidal and genocidal war on Ukraine, which started in 2014 from Crimea and Donbas, and continued in 2022 as Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. A lot of very important aspects have been analyzed in the paper concerning the Ukrainian and the whole civilized world’s victory in the fight for human rights and freedom against the ‘state sponsoring terrorism and using terrorist means’ Russia and its died ideologies, such as communism, the ‘Russian world,’ the imperial USSR, the Cold War, etc. The methodology of the research consisted of qualitative methods. For analyzing the subject of the research, primary and secondary data have been collected and used. The primary data have been collected by the author in Ukraine, Poland, Turkey, the Czech Republic, Germany, Austria, Ireland, Canada, Italy, Lithuania, Denmark, and other countries during 2014-24, using case studies, fieldwork, semi-structured interviews, and very rarely, focus groups. The secondary data have been collected, using desk research from open international sources. To understand the topic of the research deeper, the paper also analyzed the traditionally aggressive behaviour of Russia as a successor country of the imperial USSR against other states and territories in different years and even centuries, symbolisms and ‘coincidences’ of Russia’s war on Ukraine, the present fight on the front line for the European past and future of Ukraine, and several stages of the heroic fight of Ukrainians, Crimean Tatars, representatives of other minorities of Ukraine, and foreign volunteers fighting against Russia for the Ukrainian freedom during 2014-24.

Comparative legal analysis of language use regulation in Ukraine and European countries

The article analyses the functioning of the State language in the public authorities and local self-government bodies of Ukraine, pays attention to the ensuring by the Constitutional Court, the Supreme Court, local and appellate courts of the rights of a person who does not know the State language or speaks sign language, considers the implementation of functions by civil servants to ensure fundamental human rights and freedoms, and also examines the issue of observance of the fundamental language rights of national minorities in Ukraine, in particular in the territory of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, for review. A comparative analysis of the functioning of state languages in European countries was also carried out. The author examines the use of the state language when submitting appeals, emphasising that from now on, the Law of Ukraine «On Administrative Procedure» is the legal act regulating the language of citizens’ appeals, according to which a person may submit the necessary documents for the proceedings in the state or another language, but in this case, the person is obliged to translate the appeal into Ukrainian. Cases of conflicts between the old and new legislation in the field of filing appeals are identified. The author analyses the regulatory and legal ways to ensure the implementation of functions in such public spheres as education, science, culture, sports, labour relations, television and radio broadcasting, print media, book publishing and distribution, advertising, healthcare, office work, and document management.
 The author focuses on the legal framework of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages in terms of protection of the rights of national and ethnic minorities. The author examines the issues of language policy in different countries, in particular in Spain, Switzerland and France, and in the context of protection of the rights of national and ethnic minorities, and concludes that the trend in most European countries is to try to balance the protection of minority rights and preserve linguistic diversity in the context of each country. The author emphasises that the State language plays a crucial role in the formation of the nation and the functioning of the State, primarily through its communicative, identification, ethnic and other functions.

Implementation of International Conventions on the Participation of National Communities in Creation of TV Broadcasting (on the example

Based on the analysis of international legal standards, the article investigates the possibilities and conditions of television sets in the context of cove-rage of the life of national minorities in Ukraine on the example of the Chernivtsi and Zakarpattia regions. The author concludes: research on television coverage of the activities of national minorities is an indicator of the balance of local, state and international political interests. In the context of the information war aimed at manipulating the image of Ukraine in the context of its positioning as a State that infringes on the right of ethnic communities to express themselves in their own language, the realization of the rights of communities to create content becomes particularly important: it is also about the influence on the work of Ukraine to improve the legislation in the context of the European integration. The article emphasizes the priority of creation and financial support of TV platforms where representatives of national communities can produce and distribute media content that does not contradict the national interests of Ukraine.

Representing the Ukrainian Migration Experience: From a Cultural Monologue Towards Interculturality

The text is devoted to literary, theatrical and film representations of the Ukrainian migration experience in Poland. The author notes that current artistic strategies, contrary to the intentions of Polish writers/artists, often reinforce stereotyping patterns of reception of the Other and unconsciously postulate an essentialist project of portraying a “real Ukrainian woman/man.” On the other hand, Ukrainian voices are increasingly heard in Polish space, which provides an opportunity not only to work through painful traumas from the past, but, due to the constant presence of Ukrainian co-residents, also to develop competences in recognizing mutual cultural codes, which in turn creates an opportunity to avoid generating new traumas in the future. The author devotes separate attention to the multidimensional Ukrainian-Ukrainian dialogue taking place in recent years in the territory of Poland, in other words, to the relations between the Ukrainian minority and Ukrainian migrants.

Karš Ukrainā: migrācijas ietekme uz Latvijas valodas politiku

Until March 2022, the Republic of Latvia belonged to the countries with rather low migration. Because of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the situation changed unexpectedly. There was a Ukrainian minority in Latvia (42,300 people or 3.5% of the total population). During the first months of the war, appr. 10,000 refugees, mostly women and children, arrived in Latvia, and numbers may exceed 30,000 at present. A special law has already been adopted, including language and education rights articles. The Ukrainian language has become a more visible participant in the Latvian language market and will probably keep these positions after the Ukrainian victory. At the same time, the Latvian state has to ensure the successful integration of newcomers into Latvian society against the background of Latvian language skills. This aspect may be challenging because a part of Ukrainian refugees use Russian as their family language or have Russian language skills. Ukrainian nationals whose family language is Russian belong to the same linguistic community as members of the Russian minority in Latvia, but their political and ideological views can be completely different, raising the issue of linguistic and national identity. Latvia still has not overcome the consequences of Russification during the Soviet period, and the increase of Russian language use in public space is not in line with the goals of the Latvian language policy.

7.O. Workshop: A participatory approach to identifying vaccine uptake interventions with underserved communities

Abstract Resilient and equitable health systems should respond to the needs of their populations and remove barriers specific to cultural, religious, or ethnic minorities. Vaccination should be accessible to all in order to prevent infectious diseases. The EU funded project ‘Reducing Inequalities in Vaccine uptake in the European region - Engaging Underserved communities’ (RIVER-EU) aims to improve access to childhood vaccination in the migrant community in Greece (focus on MMR and HPV), the Turkish females and Moroccan females in the Netherlands (focus on HPV), the Ukrainian minority in Poland (focus on MMR and HPV), and marginalized Roma communities in Slovakia (focus on HPV). Considerable health system barriers to vaccination were identified in all underserved communities, such as a lack of culturally and linguistically appropriate information, insufficient capacities, coordination and delivery of health care, and financial costs. Based on a realist review, 36 publications on evidence-based interventions that aim at increasing vaccination coverage of MMR and HPV in underserved communities were considered in RIVER-EU. In order to identify useful and transferable interventions that tackle the health system barriers perceived by underserved communities, an in-depth understanding of context is needed. Moreover, it is of essential importance to involve various stakeholders of the underserved communities to investigate which interventions have the potential for sustainable improvement of access to vaccination. RIVER-EU relies on the Participatory Action Research (PAR) approach to identify and develop interventions in partnership with underserved communities. The building of trustful collaboration with stakeholders for intervention identification and decision-making often remains a black box in the literature. This is, however, a prerequisite for overcoming health system barriers to vaccination. For participatory transferability analysis, we conducted an assessment of evidence-based interventions, interviews and focus groups with various stakeholders. The aim of this workshop is to open the black box on developing trustful relationships with stakeholders from underserved migrant communities and ethnic minorities to identify potentially transferable interventions. We aim to discuss strategies on how to involve underserved communities, barriers and enablers to the involvement of the different stakeholders and lessons learned. The workshop will be structured into 5 presentations of 10 minutes, including moderated questions and answers sessions involving the audience to share their experiences. After all presentations, there will be a moderated concluding discussion on common elements of relationship building in the different contexts, and on contextual particularities when co-creating knowledge with the underserved communities. Key messages • Trustful knowledge co-creation with underserved communities for identification, selection and adaptation of interventions is crucial to tackle health system barriers to vaccination. • Participatory transferability analysis is a structured approach to face complexity of context and guide a decision-making process on interventions. It builds a basis for successful implementation.

Participatory transferability analysis of vaccination interventions with underserved communities

Abstract Background The Horizon 2020 project RIVER-EU will remove health system barriers to childhood vaccination in the migrant community in Greece, the Turkish and Moroccan communities in the Netherlands, the Ukrainian minority in Poland, and the marginalized Roma community in Slovakia. In order to identify transferable vaccination interventions for HPV and MMR, our aim was to establish a collaboration with various stakeholders from these communities. Methods For the transferability analysis, we used the participatory action approach (PAR) to stimulate meaningful participation of different key stakeholder groups in discussing evidence-based interventions and the specific contextual conditions of the underserved communities. Based on the PIET-T models, we collaboratively explored characteristics of the populations (P), interventions (I), environments (E) as well as options for intervention transfer (T) to understand transferability (T), need for intervention adaptations or new interventions. Results Six interventions were pre-selected for decision-making. These addressed elements of involving community members to support vaccination, education in schools, providers’ vaccine communication, and educational videos. All partners co-created knowledge through their expertise: Community members contributed through their experiences with vaccination services, provided valuable arguments for or against interventions, as well as ideas for improvement. Country coordinators in each context were mediators for knowledge-co-creation between all partners involved. Transferability researchers guided the process and analysed the results of discussions through workshops, interviews and focus groups. Conclusions Establishing trust between partners was a key issue in all contexts. Participatory transferability analysis required the consideration of a complex interplay between understanding content of interventions, context, and the specific characteristics and contributions of stakeholders.

2022년 러시아의 우크라이나 침공과 중부유럽

This study outlines Russian-Ukrainian relations, summarizes Czech support for the Ukrainian war effort following the 2022 Russian invasion, and compares Czech and Hungarian responses to the invasion. While the Czech Republic and most of the rest of Central and Eastern Europe have fully supported Ukraine, Hungary has strengthened its energy sector ties with Russia and confronted Ukraine regarding policies concerning Hungarian minorities in Ukraine. These differing responses of Hungary and the Czech Republic are informed in different ways by their historical memory of the Cold War. In the Czech Republic, the Ukrainian crisis has evoked memories of the 1968 Soviet invasion of then-Czechoslovakia and the dismantling of Czech sovereignty. Czechs associate the injustice of the Russian invasion of Ukraine— purportedly to control the “contagion” of freedom—with the Soviet invasion of their homeland in 1968. Similarly, some Hungarians remember the significance of the democratic developments of 1956. However, this memory is politicized by erasing any criticism of Russia as a party to the invasion and emphasizing the responsibility of the U.S. in the present situation.

Ukrainians in Poland on behalf of refugees – a case study of the Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship

The aim of the article is to present the activity of three branches of the Association of Ukrainians in Poland, covering the entire Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship. The study also outlines the Association’s activities supporting refugees. The main research hypothesis is that the Association of Ukrainians in Poland is actively engaged in the Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship, and following Russia’s full-scale invasion, members of the Association became extremely proactive both in helping refugees from Ukraine, as well as Ukrainians who stayed in Ukraine, including those from the territory of military operations. The core research problems focuses on the following questions: What efforts did the Association of Ukrainians in Poland undertake to maintain its history, traditions, language and culture? Which activities have been supported by local government authorities, including the Voivodeship ones? How has the Association changed its activity following the Russia’s full-scale aggression against Ukraine on February 24, 2022? Previous studies conducted by the authors demonstrate that economic migrants from Ukraine in the Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship did not perceive themselves as a part of the Ukrainian minority living in the region. Meanwhile, the relationship between the Association and the refugees is different.

Problems of Introducing a Differentiated Approach to "Old" and "New" Minorities in Ukraine

The relevance of the article is due to the reform of the legislative framework on national minorities in Ukraine, which is conditioned by European integration. The purpose of the article is to reveal the problems of identifying persons belonging to "old" minorities in Ukraine and discrimination against "new" minorities. In the course of the research, the author used the dialectical method, logical methods of analysis, synthesis, abstraction, comparative research method, forecasting method, and formal legal method. The author analyzes the provisions of the old inclusive Law of Ukraine "On National Minorities in Ukraine", the new exclusive Law of Ukraine "On National Minorities (Communities) of Ukraine", and some international treaties of Ukraine. The author identifies the problems related to the consolidation of the feature of traditional residence on the territory of Ukraine. The author analyzes the legal status of "new" minorities. It is concluded that the adoption of the new Law of Ukraine "On National Minorities (Communities) of Ukraine" has led to the introduction of a differentiated approach to "old" and "new" minorities in Ukraine, but the shortcomings of this Law make it impossible to determine which national minorities belong to the "old" ones. It is emphasized that the "new" minorities have been discriminated against due to the deprivation of their legal status as national minorities (communities) of Ukraine and equalization with the majority. Recommendations are made to address the identified shortcomings by removing from the concept of "national minority (community) of Ukraine" the feature of traditional residence on the territory of Ukraine and defining precise and clear features of settlements where persons belonging to national minorities (communities) traditionally reside or where they constitute a significant part of the population.

Ukrainian Organisations and Associations That Shape the Image of the Ukrainian Minority in Poland

The aim of the article is to analyse Ukrainian organisations, associations, and festivals that shape the image of the Ukrainian minority in Poland. Results. Consideration of the topic of the article, and specifically the research process requires reference to a number of basic assumptions, the basis of which is certainly the conviction that every person, regardless of his nationality, is a social being who, assigned to a particular group, functions as a community, forming more or less permanent ties with it. Various theories and methodological assumptions are used to properly present the issues contained in the article, including the normative approach, the discourse around the functioning of national minorities, the historical approach, as well as the functional approach, especially concerning the subject of assimilation of cultures and the mutual interpenetration of what is Ukrainian and Polish, come to the fore. The scientific novelty of the article is a comprehensive study of Ukrainian organisations and associations in Poland, shaping the image of the Ukrainian minority in Poland (on the example of 1991–2019), both in terms of successful cooperation and existing problems. Conclusions. The construction of good-neighbourly relations between nations rests on two pillars: the activities of state institutions and direct relations between citizens of neighbouring states. Negligence in either of these spheres is reflected on the nature of such relations. Lack of action on the part of the authorities in this regard can negatively affect the activity of citizens, in turn, stopping only at the declarations of politicians, in the absence of grassroots initiatives makes such relations, only an empty form without substance. One of the most important examples of grassroots initiatives are various types of organisations, associations, which are created, among other things, to work for the preservation of the cultural identity of the Ukrainian community in Poland and the development of cooperation between Poland and Ukraine.

Transformation of Ukrainian Legislation on National Minorities in the Course of European Integration

The development and improvement of Ukrainian legislation on the protection of the rights of national minorities is an integral part of Ukraine’s state-building as a European, democratic state. Thus the article analyzes the new version of the Law of Ukraine “On National Minorities (Communities) of Ukraine”, which was adopted to meet the requirements of European integration, with a view to improving and enhancing the protection of national minority rights. Comparative and legal analysis has revealed a number of shortcomings that need to be addressed as soon as possible in order for the new law to have a positive impact on the protection of the rights of national minorities in Ukraine. The biggest drawback of the Law of Ukraine “On National Minorities (Communities) of Ukraine” amended in 2022 is that it does not systematically address the full range of problems in ensuring effective protection of the rights of national minorities. In addition to preserving the old problems and challenges related to the status of a national minority (community), the Law of Ukraine “On National Minorities (Communities) of Ukraine” creates a number of new ones. The new version of the law also creates grounds for destructive processes, including the politicization of ethnicity among certain national minorities. These include: narrowing the scope of rights, in particular, the elimination of the right to national and cultural autonomy; declarative and uncertain basic provisions, which creates a field for political speculation and manipulation and makes it impossible to effectively protect national minorities (communities) by exercising the rights enshrined in it; and, as a result, politicization of ethnicity and accumulation of discontent among national minorities (communities). As predicted, the Law of Ukraine “On National Minorities (Communities) of Ukraine” currently looks more like a formal response to the requirements of European integration, which needs to be amended in terms of specification and content, rather than an improvement of Ukraine’s legislation on national minorities. Improving the protection of national minority rights in the course of Ukraine’s European integration should not be limited to the adoption of a new version of the law on national minorities, but should also include the means and procedures for implementing a number of political and legal mechanisms for protecting the rights of national minorities, reforming the institutional structure of ethnic policy, etc. Key words: national minorities, European integration, ethnic group, ethnic policy

Na drodze ku przełomowi. Cerkiew greckokatolicka w Polsce lat 80. XX w.

TOWARDS A BREAKTHROUGH: GREEK CATHOLIC CHURCH IN POLAND IN THE 1980s The 1980s brought certain policy changes towards the Greek Catholic Church in the communist-run People’s Republic of Poland. While the communist government never recognized this community (this occurred only after the free elections in June 1989) de jure, during the 1980s, the activities of the Greek Catholic clergy began to be tolerated to some degree. This lenient treatment also included some tolerance for the activities of the laity and official contacts with representatives of the hierarchy in exile. Furthermore, the last decade of Polish communist rule in Poland brought substantial changes among the Greek Catholics,or, more broadly, within the Ukrainian minority in Poland. During this time, a new generation of lay activists and young clergymen became active. In addition, Ukrainians in Poland expanded their relations with the Polish majority, including contacts with the democratic anti-communist opposition, among others. As a result, Ukrainian themes appeared in the so called second circuit (samizdat) publications distributed in Poland. These changes coincided with other phenomena and events of the decade, such as the creation of an active Greek Catholic laity or the celebration of the Millennium of the Baptism of Kyivan Rus’ in 1988. All of these changes resulted in strengthening the Greek Catholic Church in Poland, which was swiftly reborn as an independent community after the fall of communism.