Karelia: Indigenous Languages Endangered

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Date: Thu, 3 Jun 1999 21:11:37 +0300 (EET DST)
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Subject: Karelia: Indigenous Languages Endangered

From: MINELRES moderator <[email protected]>

Original sender: Felix Corley <[email protected]>

Karelia: Indigenous Languages Endangered


RADIO FREE EUROPE/RADIO LIBERTY, PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC
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RFE/RL Russian Federation Report
Vol. 1, No. 14, 2 June 1999
 
A Survey of Developments in the Regions Outside Moscow
Prepared by the Staff of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
 
KARELIA
 
INDIGENOUS LANGUAGES ENDANGERED. In its 22 May edition, the RFE/RL
Russian Service's "Korrespondentskii chas" reported that in the
northwestern republic, the Karelian and Vepsian languages are in
danger of dying out, despite an official program on promoting
Finno-Ugric languages. Fewer and fewer people reportedly wish to learn
Karelian and Vepsian, the number of schools where those languages are
taught has fallen, and the circulations of minority-language
publications have shrunk. Local groups representing the republic's
minorities believe the authorities are not doing enough to ensure that
minorities retain their national identities, as those groups informed
Ole Jesperson of Denmark, the Council of the Baltic Sea States'
commissioner for human rights, who was recently in Petrozavodsk. Above
all, the groups want republican legislation amended to guarantee that
minorities have sufficient representation in republican power
structures and in local government. At a press conference at the end
of his visit, Jesperson announced that the post of "ombudsman" for
human rights will soon be introduced in the republic and is expected
to contribute to resolving the issue. Some 79,000 Karelians, 13,000
Finns, and 6,000 Vepsians constitute 13 percent of Karelia's total
population. However, there are only four representatives of national
minorities in the republic's 61-strong legislative assembly, while
just one Karelian is a member of the regional government and only one
is a local government head. JC
 
***********************************************
Copyright (c) 1999. RFE/RL, Inc. All rights reserved.
 
"RFE/RL Russian Federation Report" is prepared by Julie A. Corwin
(JAC) on the basis of a variety of sources, including reporting by
"RFE/RL Newsline" and RFE/RL's broadcast services. Regular
contributors are Jan Cleave (JC), Liz Fuller (LF), and Paul Goble
(PG). It is distributed every Wednesday.
 
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