Poland`s Sejm votes to allow Belarusian to be used in local public offices as additional language
Published:
12 January 2005 y., Wednesday
Poland`s Sejm (lower chamber of the national parliament) has passed an amendment providing that ethnic Belarusians residing in the country may use Belarusian in local public offices. As the Belarusian Service of RFE/RL reported, the amendment stipulates that local governmental agencies may use Belarusian as an "additional language" provided the Belarusian national minority accounts for 20 percent of the territorial unit`s population. An original version of the amendment set the percentage at 50 percent.
The Sejm voted that numbers of people belonging to the Belarusian minority would be determined on the basis of the most recent population census conducted in Poland in 2002.
Belarusians are the second largest national minority in Poland after Germans. According to Polish official sources, in the 2002 census, 47,640 citizens of Poland declared themselves Belarusians. Of them, 46,041 resided in the Podlaskie province. The Belarusian minority is represented in the 460-seat Sejm by MPs Eugeniusz Czykwin, Aleksander Czuz and Sergiusz Plewa. The Belarusian language is reportedly taught to 3,664 children in 40 public schools.
Most of Poland`s Belarusians are members of the Polish Autocephalous Orthodox Church.
Šaltinis:
Charter`97 Press Center
Copying, publishing, announcing any information from the News.lt portal without written permission of News.lt editorial office is prohibited.
The most popular articles
Polish troops have found two warheads in Iraq believed to contain a deadly nerve agent
more »
International
Centre of Knowledge Economy & Management of Vilnius
University celebrated its first
anniversary on 22 of June in a modern conference room of the trade center “Europa“. Center partners, guests from
different business and state institutions, and eventual chiefs of the future
proved an all known truth – knowledge, information and proficiency to use them
rule the XXI century.
more »
This week in Bonn, Germany, the United Nations is observing the 10th anniversary of its international campaign to fight desertification
more »
US President George Bush was due to hold talks in Ireland today in a bid to repair relations between Washington and the EU
more »
Poland must compensate citizens for property their families lost when the country's eastern borders shifted westward after World War II
more »
Three men from Latvia died June 19 when their car was involved in an apparent one-vehicle accident
more »
Chechen Rebels Raid Ingushetia; Minister Among Dead
more »
Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has accused the left of fraud in June's elections
more »
The
first ATMIA conference in Eastern and Central
Europe will be
handled in Vilnius on the
9-10 of September, 2004. More >>>
more »
Austria's extreme right Freedom Party is believed to have suffered a large drop in support
more »