Belarusians call to set up Belarusian language protection fund

A language resolution adopted in Minsk on July 16 was one of the documents on the agenda of the 7th World Congress of Belarusians organized by the World Association of Belarusians. According to this document, the Belarusian Council of Ministers should develop and approve a state programme of development and usage expansion of the Belarusian language in all spheres of life including education.

The programme could be used in the next four years, Radio Liberty reports.

A special fund should be created for the realization of the programme, the delegates think.  The fund should be financed both from the state budget and private donations.

The Belarusian government needs to do everything to adopt new laws in Belarusian and translate the existing legislation into Belarusian within the next few years.

The laws “On Languages” and “On Consumers’ Rights” should be changed so that both state languages are required. State institutions and organizations should create fully functioning Belarusian versions of their websites, the assembly participants think.