State policy of Ukraine and Poland for the protection of national minorities: comparative analysis (Review Article)

The article presents a comparative analysis of the state policy of Ukraine and Poland on the protection of the rights of national minorities. The authors reveal the nature and highlight features of national minorities, analyze the situation of national minorities that exists in Ukraine and Poland. Carrying out a comparative analysis of Ukrainian and Polish ethnopolitics is based on clearly defined criteria for comparison: the period of formation of national minorities; quantitative and demographic characteristics of national minorities (number of national and ethnic minorities; largest national and ethnic minority; total number of national and ethnic minorities); trends of geographical displacement of national minorities; the historical development of policies for the protection of the rights of national minorities; documents regulating the policy of protection of national minorities; associations regulating the protection of the rights of national minorities; the level of compliance of national minority rights protection policies with international standards; mechanisms for international cooperation in the field of legal protection; financial support for national minorities; political activity of national minorities; degree of satisfaction of informational needs of national minorities.

The results of the comparative study are presented in the form of a table. The authors note that the state policy of Ukraine and Poland on the protection of the rights of national minorities has both common (same period of formation of national minorities; equally high political activity of minorities, etc.) and distinctive features (different number of national minorities in Ukraine (10 million) and Poland (700 thousand); different level of compliance of state ethnopolitics with international standards (insufficient in Ukraine and sufficient in Poland); insufficient provision of national minorities with information sources in Ukraine and its high level in Poland, etc.).