World Congress of Rusyns ( / Svitovŷj kongres rusyniv) is the central event of the international Rusyn community. Its executive committee is called the World Council of Rusyns and currently has ten members: nine representing various countries in which most Rusyns live, and one ex officio voting member, the current chairperson of the World Forum of Rusyn Youth. The longtime chairman of the Congress was historian Paul Robert Magocsi, who now holds the title of Honorary President.International activities of WCR are focused on two main issues: Further development and improvement of Rusyn minority rights in various countries that had already recognized Rusyns as a distinctive national minority. Continuation of efforts and initiatives aimed to achieve such recognition for other Rusyn communities, particularly those in Ukraine and some other countries.
Various congressional committees were also formed, dealing specifically with questions related to minority rights and cultural issues (religion, education, language). WCR bodies were not consulted by a group of linguists (including Aleksandr Dulichenko) who decided (in April 2019) to support a proposal that was addressed to the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), requesting suppression of the ISO 639-3 code for Rusyn language (rue) and its division into two distinctive and separate languages. In January 2020, the ISO authorities rejected the request.ISO 639-3: Change Request Documentation: 2019-016
In July 2019, various questions related to Rusyn language were discussed at the 15th plenary meeting of WCR that was held in Kamienka (Slovakia), focusing mainly on its former (2012) and current (after 2014) status in Ukraine. In the final conclusions, the aforementioned process (at ISO) was not addressed.
In November 2020, Đura Papuga (), former WCR president from 2009 until 2015, decided to support the previously mentioned group of linguists, who formulated a new proposal, also addressed to the ISO, requesting recognition for one of Rusyn linguistic varieties (Pannonian Rusyn) as a new and separate language, under the proposed name: Ruthenian language. The request is still under deliberation.ISO 639-3: Change Request Documentation: 2021-005
The latest (18th) biannual meeting of WCR was held between the 13 and 15 June 2025 in Bucharest, Romania.
Meetings
1st 1991, Medzilaborce, Slovakia 2nd 1993, Legnica, Poland 3rd 1995, Ruski Krstur, Serbia 4th 1997, Budapest, Hungary 5th 1999, Uzhhorod, Ukraine 6th 2001, Prague, Czech Republic 7th 2003, Prešov, Slovakia 8th 2005, Krynica-Zdrój, Poland 9th 2007, Sighetu Marmației, Romania 10th 2009, Ruski Krstur, Serbia and Petrovci, Croatia 11th 2011, Pilisszentkereszt, Hungary 12th 2013, Uzhhorod, Ukraine 13th 2015, Deva, Romania 14th 2017, Osijek, Croatia 15th 2019, Kamienka, Slovakia 16th 2021, Krynica-Zdrój, Poland 17th 2023, Novi Sad, Serbia 18th 2025, Bucharest, Romania
References
Sources
External links World Congress of Rusyns (official site) World Congress of Rusyns (1st-7th): Articles and Documents World Congress of Rusyns (4th-9th): Articles Academy of Rusyn Culture: Reports from 8th and 9th Congress The 9th World Congress of Rusyns (2007): Speeches The 10th World Congress of Rusyns (2009): Reports and Speeches, in Rusyn Ruthen Press Rusnak Info