European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages

The European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages (ECRML) is a European treaty (CETS 148) adopted in 1992 under the auspices of the Council of Europe to protect and promote historical regional and minority languages in Europe. However, the charter does not provide any criterion or definition for an idiom to be a minority or a regional language, and the classification stays in the hands of the national state.[1]

European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages
CET 148
Member states that have signed and ratified in dark green, those that have signed but not ratified in light green, those that have neither signed nor ratified in white, non-member states of the Council of Europe in grey. Source: the list of signatories at the Council of Europe website.
Signed5 November 1992
LocationStrasbourg
Effective1 March 1998
ConditionRatification by 5 States
Signatories33
Parties25
DepositarySecretary General of the Council of Europe
LanguagesEnglish and French
Full text
European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages at Wikisource

The preparation for the charter was undertaken by the predecessor to the current Congress of Local and Regional Authorities, the Standing Conference of Local and Regional Authorities of Europe because involvement of local and regional government was essential. The actual charter was written in the Parliamentary Assembly based on the Congress' Recommendations. It only applies to languages traditionally used by the nationals of the State Parties (thus excluding languages used by recent immigrants from other states, see immigrant languages), which significantly differ from the majority or official language (thus excluding what the state party wishes to consider as mere local dialects of the official or majority language) and that either have a territorial basis (and are therefore traditionally spoken by populations of regions or areas within the State) or are used by linguistic minorities within the State as a whole (thereby including such languages as Yiddish, Romani and Lemko, which are used over a wide geographic area).

Some states, such as Ukraine and Sweden, have tied the status of minority language to the recognized national minorities, which are defined by ethnic, cultural and/or religious criteria, thereby circumventing the Charter's notion of linguistic minority.[2]

Languages that are official within regions, provinces or federal units within a State (for example Catalan in Spain) are not classified as official languages of the State and may therefore benefit from the Charter. On the other hand, Ireland has not been able to sign the Charter on behalf of the Irish language (although a minority language) as it is defined as the first official language of the state. The United Kingdom has ratified the Charter in respect to (among other languages) Welsh in Wales, Scots and Gaelic in Scotland, and Irish in Northern Ireland. France, although a signatory, has been constitutionally blocked from ratifying the Charter in respect to the languages of France.

The charter provides many actions state parties can take to protect and promote historical regional and minority languages. There are two levels of protection—all signatories must apply the lower level of protection to qualifying languages. Signatories may further declare that a qualifying language or languages will benefit from the higher level of protection, which lists a range of actions from which states must agree to undertake at least 35.

Protections

Countries can ratify the charter in respect of its minority languages based on Part II or Part III of the charter, which contain varying principles. Countries can treat languages differently under the charter, for example, in the United Kingdom, the Welsh language is ratified under the general Part II principles as well as the more specific Part III commitments, while the Cornish language is ratified only under Part II.

Part II

Part II of the Charter details eight main principles and objectives upon which States must base their policies and legislation. They are seen as a framework for the preservation of the languages concerned.[3]

  • Recognition of regional or minority languages as an expression of cultural wealth.
  • Respect for the geographical area of each regional or minority language.
  • The need for resolute action to promote such languages.
  • The facilitation and/or encouragement of the use of such languages, in speech and writing, in public and private life.
  • The provision of appropriate forms and means for the teaching and study of such languages at all appropriate stages.
  • The promotion of relevant transnational exchanges.
  • The prohibition of all forms of unjustified distinction, exclusion, restriction or preference relating to the use of a regional or minority language and intended to discourage or endanger its maintenance or development.
  • The promotion by states of mutual understanding between all the country's linguistic groups.

Part III

Part III details comprehensive rules, across a number of sectors, by which states agree to abide. Each language to which Part III of the Charter is applied must be named specifically by the government. States must select at least thirty-five of the undertakings in respect to each language. Many provisions contain several options, of varying degrees of stringency, one of which has to be chosen "according to the situation of each language". The areas from which these specific undertakings must be chosen are as follows:[3]

  • Education
  • Judicial authorities
  • Administrative authorities and public services
  • Media
  • Cultural activities and facilities
  • Economic and social life
  • Transfrontier exchanges

Languages protected under the Charter
Countries that have ratified the Charter, and languages for which the ratification was made[4]
 Armenia

ratification: 25 January 2002[5]

 Austria

ratification: 28 June 2001[5]

 Bosnia and Herzegovina

ratification: 21 September 2010[5]

 Croatia

ratification: 5 November 1997[5]

 Cyprus

ratification: 26 August 2002[5]

 Czech Republic

ratification: 15 November 2006[5]

 Denmark

ratification: 8 September 2000[5]

 Finland

ratification: 9 November 1994[6]

 Germany

ratification: 16 September 1998[5]

 Hungary

ratification: 26 April 1995[5]

 Liechtenstein

ratification: 18 November 1997[5]

  • No regional or minority languages
 Luxembourg

ratification: 22 June 2005[5]

  • No regional or minority languages[7]
 Montenegro

ratification: 15 February 2006[5]

 Netherlands

ratification: 2 May 1996[5]

 Norway

ratification: 10 November 1993[5]

 Poland

ratification: 12 February 2009[5]

 Romania

ratification 29 January 2008[5]

 Serbia

ratification: 15 February 2006[5]

 Slovakia

ratification: 5 September 2001[8]

 Slovenia

ratification: 4 October 2000[5]

 Spain

ratification: 9 April 2001[5]

 Sweden

ratification: 9 February 2000[5]

  Switzerland

ratification: 23 December 1997[5]

 Ukraine

ratification: 19 September 2005[5]

Ukraine does not specify languages by name, but rather ratifies on behalf of "the languages of the following ethnic minorities of Ukraine[10]

 United Kingdom

ratification : 27 March 2001.[5]

  • Cornish (Article 2, Part II only (Article 7))
  • Irish
    (Articles 2 and 3, Part II (Article 7) and Part III (Articles 8-14, with reservations))
  • Scots (Articles 2 and 3, Part II only (Article 7))
  • Ulster-Scots (Articles 2 and 3, Part II only (Article 7))
  • Scottish Gaelic
    (Articles 2 and 3, Part II (Article 7) and Part III (Articles 8-14, with reservations))
    (British Nationality Act 1981, Schedule 1, Article 1(1)(c), and the Gaelic Language (Scotland) Act 2005 )
  • Welsh
    (Articles 2 and 3, Part II (Article 7) and Part III (Articles 8-14, with reservations))
    (Welsh Language Act 1967 (repealed 21.12.1993) and the Welsh Language Act 1993 )
  •  Isle of Man (extension : 23 April 2003 (declaration dated 22 April 2003) The Government of the United Kingdom declares [on 23 April 2003] that the Charter should extend to the Isle of Man, being a territory for whose international relations the Government of the United Kingdom is responsible.[11][12] 27/03/2001)

See also

Notes and references
  1. Gabrielle Bernoville, Europe's forgotten words. The case of the European Regional and minority languages, La Regionisto,
  2. Hult, F.M. (2004). Planning for multilingualism and minority language rights in Sweden. Language Policy, 3(2), 181-201.
  3. "The European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages is the European convention for the protection and promotion of languages used by traditional minorities". European Charter for Regional
    or Minority Languages    .
  4. "States Parties to the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languagesand their regional orminority languages(listed by language on p.6". Council of Europe. 28 April 2020. Retrieved 5 March 2021. Updated version of the Charter
  5. "Chart of signatures and ratifications of Treaty 148". Council of Europe. 5 March 2021. Retrieved 5 March 2021.
  6. "Full list".
  7. "Report of the Committee of Experts on Luxembourg, December 2008" (PDF). Coe.int. Retrieved 2014-01-30.
  8. "Full list".
  9. "Aplicación de la Carta en España, Segundo ciclo de supervisión. Estrasburgo, 11 de diciembre de 2008. A.1.3.28 pag 7 ; A.2.2.5" (PDF). Coe.int. p. 107. Retrieved 2015-03-01.
  10. As of July 2007, Ukraine's entry on the Council of Europe site states the following Ukraine declares that the provisions of the Charter shall apply to the languages of the following ethnic minorities of Ukraine : Belarusian, Bulgarian, Gagauz, Greek, Jewish, Crimean Tatar, Moldavian, German, Polish, Russian, Romanian, Slovak and Hungarian.
  11. "Full list". Treaty Office.
  12. "Full list". Treaty Office.
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