Minority language rights

Member states that have signed and ratified the charter.

List of Linguistic Rights in Constitutions Africa Linguistic rights in Africa have only come into focus in recent years. It is currently pending a merger Minority language rights the Court of Justice of the African Union.

OHCHR | Language Rights of Linguistic Minorities

In Article 25, it is stated that the working languages of the Union and its institutions are Arabic, English, French and Portuguese, and if possible, all African languages.

The AU also recognizes the national languages of each of its member institutions as stated in their national constitutions. Inthe AU adopted a protocol amending the Act such that working languages shall be renamed as official languages, and would encompass Spanish, Kiswahili and "any other African language" in addition to the four aforementioned languages.

However, this Amendment has yet to be put into force, and the AU continues to use only the four working languages for its publications. Provisions under this Charter are enforced every three years by a committee.

This Framework makes provisions for the right of national minorities to preserve their language in Article 5, Minority language rights the encouragement of "mutual respect and understanding and co-operation among all persons living on their territory", [30] regardless of language, especially in "fields of education, culture and the media" [30] in Article 6.

Article 6 also aims to protect persons from discrimination based on language. It also recommends language education to include languages of non-native groups in Article 8. Language rights in different countries[ edit ] See also: Australian Aboriginal languages Zuckermann et al.

Existing grant schemes to support Aboriginal languages The proposed compensation scheme for the loss of Aboriginal languages should support the effort to reclaim and revive the lost languages.

Constitution of Austria Under the Austrian Constitutional LawArticle 8 2 grants the right to maintenance and development of nationality and language to all ethnic minorities, equal rights to all languages used within the regions in domains of education, administration and public life, as well as the right to education in their own language for ethnic communities, without the necessity of acquiring a second language used in the province.

Constitution of Canada The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms grants positive linguistic rights, by guaranteeing state responsibility to the French and English language communities. Section 23 declares three types of rights for Canadian citizens speaking French or English as their mother tongue and are minorities in a region.

The second assures educational facilities for minority languages. The third endows French and English language minorities the right to maintain and develop their own educational facilities.

This control can take the form of "exclusive decision-making authority over the expenditure of funds, the appointment and direction of the administration, instructional programs, the recruitment of teachers and personnel, and the making of agreements for education and services".

Minority languages of Croatia Minority languages in Croatia official use at local level Croatian language is the stated to be the official language of Croatia in Article 3 of the Croatian constitution. The same Article of Constitution stipulates that in some of local units, with the Croatian language and Latin scriptin official use may be introduce another language and Cyrillic or some other script under the conditions prescribed by law.

The only example of the use of minority language at the regional level currently is Istria County where official languages are Croatian and Italian. In eastern Croatia, in Joint Council of Municipalitiesat local municipal level is introduced Serbian as co official language.

Each municipality, where a certain minority has more than one third of the population, can if it wants to introduce a minority language in official use. Constitution of Finland Finland has one of the most overt linguistic rights frameworks. This right applies to in courts of law and other authorities, as well as translated official documents.

There is also overt obligation of the state to provide for the "cultural and societal needs of the Finnish-speaking and Swedish-speaking populations of the country on an equal basis".

There is an additional right for the specific group, the Sami, that they may use the Sami language when communicating with authorities. The deaf community is also granted the right to sign language and interpretation or translation.Minority language educational rights, throughout Canada's development, have been challenged in many jurisdictions because of differences of opinion in interpreting these rights.

When these differences were examined by the Courts, the Courts' decisions have profound implications for . Language Minority Brochures; Outreach; Investigation of Language Minority Cases; Litigation; The Language Minority Provisions of the Voting Rights Act.

Congress enacted the language minority provisions because it found that: [T]hrough the use of various practices and procedures, citizens of language minorities have been effectively excluded from participation in the electoral process.

The language rights enshrined in the Act are a reflection of the importance that Canadians place on the development of official language communities and on the equal status of English and French.

Provides a broad view of the issues involved in language policy; seven chapters in Part III are directly concerned with language policy and minority languages, national identity, education and basic human rights of minorities, and language policy and language shift.

The condition of the Finnish language in Sweden, say critics, means that the country lacks qualified mother-tongue teachers, as well as workers in other fields, such as elderly care.

In other areas, Sweden’s Finnish minority enjoys more rights than before, according to Petra Palkio, a board member of the Sweden Finnish Delegation. The Minority Language Education Rights, or section 23 of the Charter, exists in order to preserve minority language education rights in Canada.

This section ensures that the option to attend French first language classes exists in provinces where French is not the majority language (or in English where English is not the majority language).