European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages

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 white, non-member states of the Council of Europe grey

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. 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), 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 and Romani, which are used over a wide geographic area).

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, the Republic of 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 of (among other languages) Welsh in Wales and Irish in Northern Ireland. France, although a signatory, has been constitutionally blocked from ratifying the Charter in respect of the languages of France.

The charter provides a large number of different 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.

Languages protected under the Charter

Countries that have ratified the Charter, and languages for which the ratification was made:

Armenia ratification: 25 January 2002 Assyrian Greek Russian Kurdish as Yazidi language Austria ratification: 28 June 2001 Croatian of Burgenland Slovene (in Carinthia and Styria) Hungarian (in Burgenland and Vienna) Czech (in Vienna) Slovak (in Vienna) Romani (in Burgenland) Bosnia and Herzegovina ratification: 21 September 2010 Albanian language Montenegrin language Czech language Italian language Hungarian language Macedonian language German language Polish language Romanian language Rusin language Slovak language Slovene language Turkish language Ukrainian language Jewish languages (Yiddish language and Ladino language) Croatia ratification: 5 November 1997 Italian Serbian Hungarian Czech Slovak Rusyn Ukrainian Cyprus ratification: 26 August 2002 Armenian Cypriot Maronite Arabic Czech Republic ratification: 15 November 2006 Slovak (parts II and III, across the whole territory) Polish (part II; and part III in Moravia-Silesia, in districts Frydek-Místek and Karviná) German (part II only) Romani (part II only) Denmark ratification: 8 September 2000 German (in Southern Jutland) Finland ratification: 9 November 1994 Sami Swedish (co-official language) Germany ratification: 16 September 1998 Danish (in Schleswig-Holstein) Upper Sorbian (in the Free State of Saxony) Lower Sorbian (in Brandenburg) North Frisian (in Schleswig-Holstein) Saterland Frisian (in Lower Saxony) Romani (across Germany) Low German (part III in Bremen, Hamburg, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Lower Saxony and Schleswig-Holstein); (part II in Brandenburg, Northrhine-Westphalia and Saxony-Anhalt) Hungary ratification: 26 April 1995 Croatian German Romanian Serbian Slovak Slovene Liechtenstein ratification: 18 November 1997 No regional or minority languages Luxembourg ratification: 22 June 2005 No regional or minority languages Montenegro ratification: 15 February 2006 Albanian Romani Netherlands ratification: 2 May 1996 West Frisian (in Friesland) Limburgish (in Limburg) Low Saxon (across the Netherlands) Romani (across the Netherlands) Yiddish (across the Netherlands) Norway ratification: 10 November 1993 Sami (parts II and III) Kven (part II only) Romanes (part II only) Romani (part II only)

Poland ratification: 12 February 2009 Belarusian Czech Hebrew Yiddish Karaim Kashub Lithuanian Lemko German Armenian Romani Russian Slovak Tatar Ukrainian Romania ratification 24 October 2007 Part II applied to: Albanian Armenian Greek Italian Macedonian Polish Romani Rusyn Tatar Yiddish Part III applied to: Bulgarian Croatian Czech German Hungarian Russian Serbian Slovak Turkish Ukrainian Serbia ratification: 15 February 2006 Albanian Bosnian Bulgarian Croatian Hungarian Romani Romanian Rusyn Slovak Ukrainian Slovakia ratification: 5 September 2001 Bulgarian Croatian Czech German Hungarian Polish Romani Rusyn Ukrainian Slovenia ratification: 4 October 2000 Hungarian Italian Romani Spain ratification: 9 April 2001 Aragonese, luenga propia in Aragon Astur-Leonese, present in Asturias; and in part of Leon, Zamora, Cantabria and Extremadura (recognized in Asturias, Castile and León and Miranda do Douro) Basque (official in the Basque Country and part of Navarre) Catalan, official in the Balearic Islands and Catalonia; llengua propia in Aragon. Valencian (A dialect of Catalan, official in Valencia) Galician, present in Galicia; and in part of Asturias, Leon and Zamora provinces (official in Galicia) Sweden ratification: 9 February 2000 Finnish Meänkieli Sami Romani Chib Yiddish Switzerland ratification: 23 December 1997 Italian Romansh Ukraine ratification: 19 September 2005 Ukraine does not specify languages by name, but rather ratifies on behalf of "the languages of the following ethnic minorities of Ukraine": Not counted are Rusyns (Ruthenians), since Ukraine (unlike neighboring countries) denies them separate ethnic and linguistic status. Belarusian Bulgarian Crimean Tatar Gagauz Greek German Hungarian Jewish/Yiddish Moldavian Polish Romanian Russian Slovak United Kingdom ratification : 27 March 2001 All languages are ratified as applicable to the territory of United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, except Manx, which is ratified on behalf of the Crown dependency of the Isle of Man. Cornish Irish Manx (ratified on behalf of Government of the Isle of Man) Scots in Scotland and Northern Ireland (Ulster Scots) Scottish Gaelic Welsh

See also

• European languages
• Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities
• Languages of the European Union
• Language policy in France
• Universal Declaration of Linguistic Rights
• Vergonha
• Linguistic rights
• List of Linguistic Rights in Constitutions (Europe)

External links

• European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages text
• More information on the treaty
• Charter website
• Eurolang (News agency about minority languages in Europe)
• Explanatory Report on the Charter