News about the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages
Impressions on minorities and minority languages in a changing Europe
The conclusions and impressions of the 20th anniversary conference of the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities and the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages are now available in the form of a brochure. The leaflet features the conclusions and final remarks...
Serbia: minority language education should be strengthened
The Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe published a new report on the application of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages (ECRML) in the Republic of Serbia and the recommendations to the Serbian authorities. The Charter applies to Albanian, Bosnian, Bulgarian,...
Committee of Experts meets in plenary
The Committee of Experts of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages is meeting in Strasbourg, France, for its 62nd plenary session during the week of 18-22 March 2019. Among other things, it will discuss the the evaluation reports on the application of the Charter in Luxembourg,...
Chairs of Monitoring Bodies meet SG
At the start of February, the Chairs of the Council of Europe's monitoring and advisory bodies met with the Secretary General to exchange on work done and to look into further cooperation, followed by a working lunch in the Blue Restaurant.
Education of regional and minority languages needs improvement and their use in certain fields should be strengthened, expert group reports
Germany: evaluation report published
In its sixth report on Germany, the Committee of Experts of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages praises steps taken to protect and promote regional or minority languages (Danish, Lower Sorbian, Upper Sorbian, North Frisian, Sater Frisian, Low German and Romani), including...
Conference celebrating 100th anniversary of the Royal Academy of the Basque Language
Mr Sixto Molina, Head of the Secretariat of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages, participated in the conference “Tutelar las Lenguas Minorizadas”, organised by Euskalzaindia on 17-18 January 2019 in Pamplona, Spain, in the framework of the 100th anniversary of the Royal...
Experts in Spain for monitoring visit
A delegation of experts from the Charter's Committee of Experts visited Spain from 10-14 December in the framework of the 5th cycle of monitoring of the application of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages by Spain.
Georgia: workshop for minority language media
On 27 November 2018, a workshop for minority language media in Tbilisi was organised. The event gathered representatives of newspapers, TV stations, radios and news portals publishing and broadcasting in Georgia in minority languages, such as Armenian, Azerbaijani, German and Russian. Council of...
Ladin language meeting
On 19 November, an exchange took place in the Council of Europe premises between experts Mr Fernando Ramallo and Ms Claudine Brohy, of the Committee of Experts of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages, and professors from Italy dealing with the Ladin language. The main objective...
Sweden: Follow-up dialogue
On 13 November, members of the Committee of Experts of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages and the Advisory Committee on the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities, together with the Swedish Ministry of Culture, organised a seminar to discuss the two...
Moldovan capital inaugurates signage in minority languages
On 13 November, the Mayor of Chişinău and representatives of the Council of Europe, the EU, the Moldovan authorities and national minorities inaugurated the city’s new multilingual pedestrian signage. Chişinău is one of the Republic of Moldova’s pilot municipalities for the application of the...
Ireland: experts & officials meet
Prof. Dr Vesna Crnic-Grotic and Dr Aleksandra Oszmianska-Pagett, representing the Bureau of the Committee of Experts of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages, alongside Mr Sixto Molina, Head of the Secretariat of the Charter, participated on Friday in an exchange organised by...
Finland: minority language awareness in education and media needs to be improved
While the Committee of Experts of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages acknowledges the efforts undertaken by the authorities in protecting regional and minority languages spoken in Finland, it recommends that further measure are needed, according to a report published today....
Experts visit German section of grammar school in Czech Republic
The Committee of Experts working group on the Czech Republic visited the F. X. Šalda Grammar School's German Section in Liberec during its recent on-the-spot visit to the country. The experts, comprised of rapporteur Mr Matthew MacIver, national expert Ms Mahulena Hofmannová as well as Ms Andrea...
Sign Languages & the Charter
Ms Claudine Brohy, the Swiss member of the Committee of Experts of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages, participated on 19 September 2018 in a hearing in Paris entitled Making Sign Language One of Europe's Official Languages organised by the PACE Committee on Equality and...
Kiel celebrates 20th Anniversary of Charter
On 13 September, the Land of Schleswig-Holstein in Germany organised a conference to mark the 20th anniversary of the entry into force of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. After the opening by the Land Commissioner on National Minority Affairs, a representative of the...
Language Policy Conference, Italy
The Chair of the Committee of Experts of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Langauages, Professor Vesna Crnić-Grotić, and the Head of the Charter Secretariat participated in the first NPLD-Coppieters Campus on Planning and Evaluation of Language Policies on 12-13 September in Udine....
Regional or minority languages protected in Norway, but further efforts needed
Report on Norway published
Progress has been made in promoting regional and minority languages in Norway, such as the Sami languages, Kven/Finnish and Romani/Romanes, according to the COMEX report. Almost all undertakings are fulfilled concerning the North Sami language but difficulties persist with the use of special...
20 years of protecting minority rights and minority languages
The Council of Europe celebrated the 20th anniversary of the entry into force of the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities and the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages with a conference organised under the chairmanship of the Republic of Croatia of the...
Spain conference: Towards a multilingual society
The Secretariat of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages participated in the High-Level Conference organised by the NPLD in Valencia on 24 May entitles “Towards a multilingual society: the value of teaching and learning heritage, home and regional languages at an early age"....
Text of the Charter
