The European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages was adopted in 1992 and entered into force in 1998. The Charter, ratified by 25 States,134 seeks to protect and promote regional and minority languages and to enable speakers of a regional or minority language to use it in private and public life. Its overriding purpose is cultural, and it concerns itself with regional and minority languages, non-territorial languages and less widely used official languages, rather than minority rights per se.
The Charter’s preamble begins by setting out the main objectives and principles that States undertake to apply to all regional or minority languages existing within their national territory,
“[s]tressing the value of interculturalism and multilingualism”. It then identifies a series of concrete measures designed to facilitate and encourage the use of specific regional or minority languages in public life (part III). These are intended to ensure, as far as is reasonably possible, that regional or minority languages are used in education, media, legal and administrative contexts, economic and social life, cultural activities and transfrontier exchanges. At the time of ratifying
134 Armenia, Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Montenegro, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine, and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
the Charter, States must indicate specifically to which languages part III of the Charter will apply;
all languages which fall under the definition of a regional or minority language are covered by part II (see below).
As defined by the Charter, “regional or minority languages” are languages traditionally used within a given territory of a State by nationals of that State who form a group numerically smaller than the rest of the State’s population; they are different from the official language(s) of that State, and they include neither dialects of the official language(s) of the State nor the languages of migrants. The expression “territory in which the regional or minority language is used” means the geographical area in which the said language is the mode of expression of a number of people sufficient to justify the adoption of protective and promotional measures, as provided for in the Charter.
The expression “non-territorial languages” means languages used by nationals of the State which differ from the language(s) used by the rest of the State’s population but which, although traditionally used within the State’s territory, cannot be identified with a particular area thereof;
examples are Romani and Yiddish.
The demographic situation of the languages covered by the Charter differs greatly, and they exist in a very wide range of social, political and economic contexts. Accordingly, the Charter facilitates adapting the scope of the protection afforded to suit the particular situation of each language, including taking into account the costs of protection.
Part II of the Charter sets out eight fundamental principles and objectives upon which States must base their policies, legislation and practice, and which are regarded as providing the necessary framework for the preservation of the languages concerned:
• Recognition of regional or minority languages as an expression of cultural wealth;
• Respect for the geographical area of each regional or minority language;
• The need for resolute action to promote such languages;
• Facilitation and/or encouragement of the use of such languages, in speech and writing, in public and private life;
• Provision of appropriate forms and means for the teaching and study of such languages at all appropriate stages;
• Promotion of relevant transnational exchanges;
• Prohibition of all forms of unjustified distinction, exclusion, restriction or preference relating to the use of a regional or minority language and intended to discourage or endanger its maintenance or development;
• Promotion by States of mutual understanding between all the country’s linguistic groups.
Part III (arts. 8-14) lays down detailed measures in a number of fields, offering States a choice of 68 concrete undertakings in seven areas of public life. States undertake to apply only those provisions of part III to which they have subscribed, so the precise obligations accepted are likely to vary from State to State; they may also vary from language to language within a particular State. In the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, for example, different provisions in part III apply to Welsh, Scottish-Gaelic and Irish respectively, while only part II applies to Scots, Ulster Scots, Cornish and Manx Gaelic.
States must select at least 35 undertakings in respect of each language that they have designated as falling within the scope of part III of the Charter. Many of the Charter’s provisions consist of several options, of varying degrees of rigour, one of which has to be chosen “according to the situation of each language”. States are encouraged to add to or upgrade their commitments under
the Charter at a later date, as their legal situation develops or as their financial circumstances allow (art. 3 (2)).
The areas of public life, each corresponding to an article of part III, from which these specific undertakings must be chosen, are:
• Education;
• Judicial authorities;
• Administrative authorities and public services;
• Media;
• Cultural activities and facilities;
• Economic and social life;
• Transfrontier exchanges.
Implementation and monitoring
Members of a committee of independent experts, composed of one member for each State party, are appointed by the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe from “a list of individuals of the highest integrity and recognised competence in the matters dealt with in the Charter, who shall be nominated by the Party concerned”. As pointed out in the explanatory report of the Charter (para. 131), “by placing emphasis on the intrinsically personal trait of the ‘highest integrity’, the Charter makes clear that the experts appointed to the committee, in carrying out their task, should be free to act independently and not be subject to instructions from the governments concerned.”
State reports on implementation of the Charter are to be submitted on a regular basis. The first report must be submitted within one year of the entry into force of the Charter for the State, and subsequent reports are to be submitted every three years thereafter.
Once a State has submitted its report, the monitoring procedure begins. The committee of experts has developed innovative working methods and makes full use of the broad powers available to it to obtain and solicit information from non-official sources, particularly NGOs, under article 16.2 of the Charter. The committee carries out on-site visits, during which members visit the State being monitored to meet with both Government officials and representatives of the linguistic communities.
Based on the information gathered, the committee adopts a report and submits it to the Committee of Ministers, which formulates recommendations to the State based upon the report and comments by the State. These reports are made public and are usually translated into the official language of the State.135
The role of NGOs in monitoring
The committee of experts places great importance on the active role of NGOs in the monitoring procedure and sees NGOs as equal and essential partners in the dialogue between the States and the Council of Europe. NGOs have the opportunity to provide the committee with their views on the situation of regional or minority languages in the country concerned, in much the same way as they participate in the work of the Advisory Committee to the Framework Convention.
NGOs and others should feel free to contact the committee of experts at any time to provide relevant information.
135 Available from www.coe.int/t/dg4/education/minlang/Report/default_en.asp (accessed 4 December 2012).
To facilitate the involvement of NGOs in the monitoring process, in 2004, the Council of Europe published The European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages: Working Together: NGOs and Regional or Minority Languages.