10 February 1997       Doc. 7753

ADOC7753

MOTION FOR AN ORDER

on endangered Finno-Ugrian minority cultures

presented by Mrs ISOHOOKANA-ASUNMAA and others

This motion has not been discussed in the Assembly and commits only the members who have signed it

1.       About 24 million people in the world speak Finno-Ugrian languages, of which the majority live in nation-states of their own. However, some 4 to 4.5 million live as minorities in neighbouring states. More than 3 million are scattered throughout Russia.

2.       In the Nordic countries (Finland, Norway and Sweden), the Sami nowadays have a statutory right to their own language and culture and to education in their own mother-tongue. But the languages of many Finno-Ugrian indigenous peoples in central and northern Russia have failed to develop, either as a result of deliberate russification or of assimilation into the dominant culture.

3.       The preservation of ethnic languages is supported in principle by the Russian constitution as well as by the new language laws of several of its republics, and indeed these languages are even accorded a status of equality with Russian, but in the present economic circumstances those principles are not being implemented.

4.       The Assembly therefore charges its Committee on Culture and Education to make a study of measures, in particular in such fields as elementary education, teaching materials and media support, by means of which Russia could be assisted in guaranteeing a future on the cultural map of Europe to the Finno-Ugrian minorities living in its territory.

Signed:

(see overleaf)

Signed: 1

Isohookana-Asunmaa, Finland, LDR

Berg, Norway, EDG

Bogár, Hungary, EDG

Degn, Denmark, SOC

De Puig, Spain, SOC

Elo, Finland, SOC

Frunda, Romania, EPP

Gross, Switzerland, SOC

Hegyi, Hungary, SOC

Kautto, Finland, SOC

Korkeaoja, Finland, LDR

Liiv, Estonia, LDR

Luhtanen, Finland, SOC

Maximus, Belgium, SOC

Molnar, Hungary, SOC

Ojuland, Estonia, LDR

Szakál, Hungary, EDG

Szalay, Hungary, LDR

Tiuri, Finland, EDG

Urbanczyk, Poland, SOC

1 ¹       SOC: Socialist Group

      EPP: Group of the European People's Party

      EDG: European Democratic Group

      LDR: Liberal, Democratic and Reformers Group

      UEL: Group of the Unified European Left

      NR: Not registered