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Council of Europe publishes report on minority languages in Slovakia

Strasbourg 28 February 2007. The Council of Europe Committee of Ministers made public the first report on the situation of minority languages in Slovakia on 21.02.07.

On the basis of this report, the Council of Europe calls on Slovakia to improve its legislative framework in favour of minority language protection. In particular, it asks the Slovak authorities to review the remaining restrictions on minority language use in all spheres of public life, including the limitation of administrative use to those municipalities where at least 20% of the population are minority language speakers.

This report has been drawn up by a committee of independent experts which monitors the application of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages.

Further to the report, the Committee of Ministers has adopted a series of recommendations addressed to Slovakia. These include:

- Improvement of the provision of minority language education
- A stronger presence of minority languages in the media
- Promotion of awareness and tolerance concerning minority languages in Slovak society at large

In Slovakia, 9 minority languages are protected under the Charter: Bulgarian, Croatian, Czech, German, Hungarian, Polish, Romany, Ruthenian and Ukrainian.

The full text of the report and the Committee of Ministers’ recommendations can be downloaded from the Charter's website: http://www.coe.int/minlang ("Reports and Recommendations" section).

Further information can also be found on the Charter's website, or by contacting the Charter Secretariat (Directorate of Co-operation for Local and Regional Democracy, DG I - Legal Affairs, Council of Europe, F-67075 Strasbourg, DG1.Minlang@coe.int)