Vesna Crnić-Grotić, member of the Committee of Experts of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages, participated in this year’s Forum on “Minorities and Cohesive Societies: Equality, Social Inclusion, and Socio-economic Participation” on 30 November and 1 December 2023 in Geneva. In her intervention under item 2 on Socio-economic Empowerment, she stressed the relevance of both the Language Charter and the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities as the only legally binding multilateral instruments protecting national minorities and minority languages. She underlined their contribution to effective participation of persons belonging to national minorities in socio-economic life as a crucial factor for social cohesion. “Marginalising persons belonging to national minorities in socio-economic life has implications for the society as a whole, fueling negative stereotypes and excluding them from participation in public life. Promoting minority languages, along with official languages, in socio-economic life fosters social cohesion in raising the visibility and the sense of belonging to society”, she said.

Read the entire intervention