The actions taken by the Russian regime in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine urge the need to get rid of any ties with anything Russian: politics, history, culture.
“Participants of the info session held by the Regional Office of U-LEAD with Europe in the Odesa region for representatives of the municipalities of the Odesa, Kirovohrad and Mykolaiv regions received answers and clarifications regarding the legal framework for the procedure for renaming streets, avenues, squares and other toponyms in the urban and rural areas of municipalities. We also discussed the optimal forms of public participation in these processes”, said Oksana Hunenkova, Adviser on Decentralisation and Local Self-Government.
Mykhailo Shelep (Rivne oblast) and Victoria Trotsenko (Dnipropetrovsk oblast), Advisers on Decentralisation and Local Self-Government of U-LEAD with Europe, were the speakers of the event.
U-LEAD experts noted that toponyms can be changed according to a number of procedures, depending on the kind of name to be assigned to a certain object. By the way, since some local councils still have not changed their “communist names” to this day, changing a number of toponyms is subject to the Law “On the Condemnation of the Communist and National Socialist (Nazi) Totalitarian Regimes in Ukraine and Prohibition of Propaganda of their Symbols”. The participants also received an in-depth clarification of assigning different names to such objects, depending on whether they are dedicated to certain historical events, outstanding personalities, etc.
“There is no clear legal framework regulating the procedure for the local self-government when assigning toponyms that do not refer to proper names. In this case, it is advisable to approve your own procedure or regulations assigning/changing toponyms in urban and rural areas. You should also prescribe detailed procedures for submitting proposals and preparing a draft decision for consideration by the council, determine the formats of public discussions and establish the procedures of formation and operation of the commission/group”, said Victoria Trotsenko.
Mykhailo Shelep, Adviser on Decentralisation and Local Self-Government of the Regional Office of U-LEAD with Europe in the Rivne region, provided a number of recommendations to the municipalities. In particular, he emphasised the following:
In the case of changing the toponyms:
- Check the procedures that are in effect in the local self-government body and, if necessary, approve new documents
- Develop simple and clear step-by-step procedures for various situations
- Ensure different formats for conducting public discussions
- Create a toponymic commission that should, if possible, involve experts and the public.