In its third evaluation report on Bosnia and Herzegovina the Council of Europe’s Committee of Experts states that a clearly detectable lack of co-ordination among multiple levels of authority continues to hamper the implementation of the European Charter for Regional and Minority Languages (ECRML). The Committee also calls for more awareness-raising of the protection offered under the Charter among the speakers of the languages and for reinvigorated efforts to ensure the presence of these languages in media, administration and in daily life.

Reminding that the ECRML in Bosnia and Herzegovina applies to 15 languages - Albanian, Czech, German, Hungarian, Italian, Ladino, Polish, Romani, Romanian, Ruthenian, Slovak, Slovenian, Turkish, Ukrainian and Yiddish – the Committee regrets a generally low level of awareness of the Charter among the speakers of these languages and the members of their associations.

The state authorities are urged to do more to raise awareness of the ECRML and minority languages in society at large as well as to discuss the Committee’s recommendations with all stakeholders and consult with minority language speakers on how to implement the Charter effectively.

The experts underline that minority languages are largely absent from public broadcasting, public education and judicial and administrative proceedings, insisting that the authorities should reinvigorate their efforts to improve the situation, in particular by securing proper financial resources and training.