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Resolution 2196 (2018)
The protection and promotion of regional or minority languages in Europe
1. In European democracies, the use
of regional or minority languages is a critical aspect of the personal and
collective identity of all the European citizens concerned. Linguistic
diversity is part of the common European cultural heritage; protection
and support for the development of these languages is therefore
a fundamental European value.
2. Once again, the Parliamentary Assembly confirms that the protection
of the historical regional or minority languages of Europe, some
of which are in danger of eventual extinction, contributes to the
maintenance and development of Europe’s cultural wealth and traditions.
In this context, the Assembly draws attention to Recommendation 1201 (1993), Recommendation 1492 (2001), Resolution 1770 (2010) and Resolution 1985 (2014),
all of which concern the rights of national minorities.
3. The Assembly notes that language is in itself a value and
one of our cultural assets. It is therefore fundamentally important
that the use of language ensure a community’s cultural reproduction,
that it enable individuals and the community to take part in political
and cultural life, and in this way that it become integrated into
economic and social processes.
4. These objectives are the goals of the European Charter for
Regional or Minority Languages (ETS No. 148, “the charter”), which
has played a unique role in protecting and supporting regional or
minority languages over the last two decades. The Assembly appreciates
the work which the committee of experts of the charter has carried
out over the last two decades with this aim in mind.
5. The Assembly regrets that, to date, only 25 of the 47 member
States have ratified the charter and 8 have signed it.
6. The Assembly is concerned about the fact that several States
have still not submitted their reports on the application of the
charter; some States have even failed to carry out an entire monitoring
cycle, which hinders the work of the committee of experts and the
Committee of Ministers on protecting and promoting regional or minority
languages.
7. In the light of these considerations, the Assembly calls on
the member States to:
7.1. sign
and/or ratify the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages,
if they have not already done so, and refrain from acts which would
go against the principles laid out in the charter, irrespective
of their status with regard to this instrument;
7.2. take the necessary steps to ensure that the right to use
regional or minority languages is recognised in all aspects of the
life of the community and, wherever possible, that those languages
are raised to the status of second official language in the regions
where such languages are traditionally used, bearing in mind the
particular conditions and historical traditions specific to each
region;
7.3. submit their national report without further delay, in
accordance with Article 15 of the charter, and participate constructively
in the monitoring carried out by the committee of experts;
7.4. adapt the commitments relating to each language provided
for in the charter to the socio-linguistic situation of the languages
concerned, in conformity with the spirit of the charter;
7.5. apply a structured approach to fulfilling these commitments,
involving all levels of institutions, including local and regional
authorities, and provide a clear definition of responsibilities
and implementing powers;
7.6. study and use States’ best practices.
8. The Assembly invites the member States that are parties to
the charter, pursuant to their commitments under the charter, to:
8.1. with regard to education:
8.1.1. comply with paragraphs10.4.2 to 10.4.5 of Resolution 1985 (2014);
8.1.2. determine, where possible before children begin school,
what the child’s mother tongue is and ensure that both the regional
or minority language and the official language are taught using
appropriate methods;
8.1.3. ensure that it is possible to study in the regional or
minority language for the entire duration of schooling, from preschool,
primary and secondary education through to vocational training and
higher education, at least for pupils whose families so wish;
8.1.4. ensure that those who speak a regional or minority language
as their mother tongue have the opportunity to learn the official
language sufficiently, by incorporating good practice from the teaching
of foreign and second languages into the methodological approach
adopted for teaching the official language of the State;
8.1.5. ensure that people living in widely scattered settlements
receive appropriate education in the language in question;
8.1.6. define preferential thresholds in the learning of regional
or minority languages and apply them with the necessary flexibility
in light of the interests of the community;
8.1.7. guarantee that young people speaking regional or minority
languages can sit exams in appropriate conditions, offering them
the same opportunities as the majority in the public and higher
education system;
8.1.8. organise systems with suitable funding for training highly
committed teachers, and apply specific incentives for pupils to
opt for the regional or minority languages in question or for training courses
provided in these languages;
8.1.9. endeavour in a proactive manner to produce textbooks that
meet the requirements of the speakers of regional or minority languages,
and – if that proves to be impossible – facilitate the use of textbooks
from other countries published in those languages, in co-operation
with educational regulation bodies of the countries where regional
or minority languages are used;
8.1.10. ensure that education reforms do not affect teaching in
regional or minority languages or the teaching of these languages
in a disproportionately disadvantageous manner and that they fully
respect the level of acquired rights;
8.1.11. allow communities which speak a regional or minority language
to organise teaching in that language under their own authority
and in their own institutional system, in the context of a given
education system, as is already the case in several European countries;
8.2. with regard to the administrative authorities and public
service organisations, allow the use of regional or minority languages,
irrespective of the language threshold, in the areas where their
speakers are traditionally present and where there is an interest
in using them, in line with good practice in many countries, and
in this context:
8.2.1. ensure that citizens are informed
of the possibilities for using such languages and to actively promote
users’ real exercise of this right;
8.2.2. ensure that the employees of public administrations or
services which communicate with users are able to provide information
and services in the respective regional or minority languages;
8.2.3. promote and encourage the use of regional or minority
languages at local and regional level; with this aim in mind, actively
encourage municipal authorities to ensure the use of such languages
in practice, in particular through an adequate employment policy,
providing language training for employees and making information
and services available on the internet in relevant languages;
8.2.4. ensure that place names and all topographical indications
are written in their correct form, including on signs indicating
entry into or exit from urban areas and on all other road signs providing
information;
8.2.5. ensure that companies and bodies offering public services
also use the regional or minority language in question; ensure,
even in cases where the member State has made the weakest commitment
defined in Article 10.3 of the charter, that a sufficient number
of employees speak that language in the institution offering such
services and that the necessary information for obtaining access
to such services is also provided in the language in question; if
none of the above-mentioned solutions is possible, the user should
be offered the assistance of an interpreter;
8.3. with regard to the media:
8.3.1. promote the use
of regional or minority languages by adopting legal and regulatory standards,
as well as by means of appropriate incentives in their media policy;
8.3.2. refrain from prescribing restrictive legal and political
measures, such as subtitling/translation obligations and mandatory
quotas for programmes in the official language, etc.;
8.3.3. ensure appropriate funding or grants for organisations
or media which represent minorities to enhance the quality of content,
so that they can draw the attention of the majority community to
the identity, language, history and culture of minorities;
8.3.4. allow and promote the presence of regional or minority
language media on online interfaces;
8.4. with regard to culture:
8.4.1. take into consideration
the national and regional proportion of speakers of regional or minority
languages and the number of their communities when preparing the
part of their budget allocated to culture, consult these communities
when allocating budgetary means and, where feasible, provide the
resources necessary to develop the cultural life of the minority(ies)
in question;
8.4.2. ensure that a reasonable proportion of posts in national
and regional bodies responsible for the cultural content of the
media are allocated to representatives of regional or minority languages;
8.4.3. take into consideration, when drafting legal norms and
other regulations concerning cultural grants, all artistic works
written in the country’s minority language(s) and not make it compulsory
for such publications to be translated into the official language;
8.4.4. ensure the availability of staff speaking the language
in question in cultural institutions in areas where the speakers
of regional or minority languages are traditionally present;
8.4.5. consider regional or minority languages as a factor that
enriches the national culture, and consequently take speakers of
those languages into consideration and include them in decisions
concerning the thrust and priorities of the State’s foreign cultural
policy.
9. The Assembly calls on member States to ensure mutual comprehension
between all linguistic groups in each country in order to foster
the broadest possible co-operation and cohabitation among communities
of member States.
10. The Assembly invites national parliaments to consider creating
a special working group with the task of studying practical solutions
to better protect and promote regional or minority languages.