Language Research

According to the Eurolang news agency (http://www.eurolang.net), Belgium is preparing for the signature of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. The fact that the three Belgian official linguistic communities (German, French and Dutch) are actually supporting the signing seems to place no barrier to the proposal's approval. The already complex linguistic situation in Belgium may get more complicated if one takes into account the fact that there are seven more officially recognized languages in this country, although there is a common agreement on their status (as long as they are Romance and Germanic languages or dialects). This is the case with Limbourgish, which although it is recognized in some Belgian towns and villages (where even public signs are bilingual), the Dutch Academy (Taalunie) insists on considering it as a Dutch dialect.

Updated (August 2001)

On July 31, Belgium signed the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities with an attached reservation, which specified that the provisions of this international instrument should apply without prejudice to the state's Constitution and linguistic regulations. The complex socio-political situation in Belgium caused that the definition of national minority will be established by the inter-ministerial conference of foreign policy.

The Framework Convention is the first legally binding international document which intends to protect the existence of national minorities within depositary states by means of a series of principles relating to freedom of assembly, association, expression, linguistic choice, access to media, education, trans-frontier cooperation, etc, and which is opened to signature by Council of Europe state members since 1995.

Updated (April 2002)

The PACE's (Parliamentary Assembly Council of Europe) Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights has on March 25, 2002 issued a report on the Protection of Minorities in Belgium. This report welcomes the fact that Belgium recently signed the European Convention of Human Rights and the Framework Convention. However, it also states that according to a previous Venice's Commission's analysis the Framework Convention should apply in Belgium to the German-speaking community at a state level; the French-speakers in the Dutch-language and German-language regions as well as the Dutch-speakers and German-speakers in the French-language region. In addition, the report stresses the importance that Belgium ratified both the Protocol 12 and the Framework Convention, as well as recommends the signature and ratification of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages.

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Updated (September 2002)

The cultural association "Arelerland a Sprooch," representing the Luxembourgeois-speaking population in Belgium, has declared its discontent with the Belgian government.

The problem is a lack of specific legislation for the Luxembourgish minority in the state, which otherwise legally protects the Dutch, French and German linguistic minorities. Apart from asking the Belgian government to ratify the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities (signed on July 2001), the association also calls for a ratification of Protocol 12 of the European Convention on Human Rights, and a signature and ratification of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages.

Within the context of the Framework Convention the following groups are considered to be minorities in Belgium: at state level, the German speaking community and at regional level, the French speakers in the Dutch and German language region and the Dutch and German speakers in the French language region.

This definition excludes the Luxembourgeois speakers, as well as the Walloon speakers. The aim of the Luxembourgeois is to allow the use of the language in kindergartens, and to introduce bilingual German-French primary schools in the region.

According to Albert Conter, the President of "Arelerland a Sprooch," the recognition of Luxembourgophones would have a symbolic value for the region, which for more than 100 years have fought for an official recognition of their culture and language.

It is estimated that around 35,000 people in Belgium have knowledge of the Luxembourgish language.

Source: Mercator News, August 2002, http://www.troc.es/ciemen/mercator/index-gb.htm; Eurolang news, Brussels, September 11, 2002 by Eva Blassar, www.eurolang.net

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Updated (October 2002)

At the end of September, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (CoE) voted with 68 to 100 votes in favor of the adoption of the report on the protection of minorities in Belgium. The report, drafted by the Swiss rapporteur Lilli Nabholz-Haidegger, describes that in addition to the national German-speaking minority in East of Belgium, minorities on a regional level also exist. This caused controversy among 120,000 French-speakers living in the Brussels periphery, who are a part of the Flemish community and would be given a minority status within the CoE's Framework Convention.

Several representatives in the CoE Parliamentary Assembly stressed that the complicated system in Belgium was elaborated in a long and difficult negotiation process in order to keep the balance between the French and Dutch speakers in the country. "These rules have been accepted by all parties involved. It is not up to the Council of Europe to intervene," says Renzo Gubert on behalf of the group of European People's Party. The French-speaking Belgians; however, do not consider the debate in the Council of Europe as an intervention. "Consensus in Belgium is difficult to find without help of a neutral body like the Council of Europe," says Jean-Pol Henry (Socialist Group) in Strasbourg.

Belgium signed this CoE document in July 2001, with the annex that the term "minority" still has to be defined by the inter-ministerial conference of foreign policy. While this has not happened yet, the Council of Europe's Report states that a minority in Belgium is at state level, the German-speaking community and at regional level, the French-speakers in the Dutch-language and German-language Region, and the Dutch and German-speakers in the French-language Region.

The report also advises Belgium to ratify the Framework Convention as soon as possible to ensure that all national minorities in the country, at whatever level, are protected. In order to ratify the Framework Convention, an approval of all seven competent parliamentary assemblies is needed, including the Flemish parliament. Patrick Dewael, the Prime Minister of the Flemish government, announced that triumphal reactions of the French-speakers after the adoption of the report make him less ready than ever to find a common definition on minority by the inter-ministerial conference of foreign policy.

Source: Eurolang News, Strasbourg, September 27, 2002, by Margret Oberhofer, http://217.136.252.147/webpub/eurolang/pajenn.asp?ID=384 6

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Updated (November 2006)

IHF REPORTS ON LINGUISTIC ISSUES OF NATIONAL MINORITIES IN BELGIUM

The IHF has published its annual report on human rights in Belgium. The report includes, among other issues, a few cases of the violation of linguistic rights of national minorities.

As reported, Belgium signed the Council of Europe's Framework Convention on National Minorities in 2001. However, the convention was not ratified because the federated entities were not in a position to agree on the concept of "national minority." Belgium as a federal state comprises of three regions – the Walloon region, the Flemish region, and the Region of Brussels-Capital; three linguistic communities; and four linguistic regions (three monolingual and one bilingual). The 1962-1963 language laws set out the language boundaries, which were still valid as of the end of 2005.

According to the language laws, the language of the region is to be used in the public administration of monolingual regions. The inhabitants of 27 linguistically mixed communes, however, had the right, in their dealings with public authorities, to request the use of a language other than that of the region where their communes were located. Six of the 27 communes, with these so-called linguistic facilities and located on Flemish territory in the Brussels periphery, had a large proportion – sometimes a majority – of French-speaking inhabitants. Though the official language in these communes was Dutch, the inhabitants had the right to request the use of French in their dealings with public authorities. Flemish politicians, however, have repeatedly challenged this right.

Brussels is officially a bilingual region, with a majority of French-speaking inhabitants. In 2002, PACE adopted a resolution (1301(2002)) stating that Belgium is a country with "significant minorities who need to be protected and whose rights are not officially recognized." The assembly spelled out their proposals for groups in Belgium that should be considered national minorities under the Framework Convention:

1. At the federal level, German speakers should be considered a minority;

2. At local and regional levels, French-speakers should be considered a minority in the Dutch-language and German-language regions; while Dutch-speakers and German speakers should be considered minorities in the French-language region.

In October 2002, five Dutch-speaking members of the parliament of the Brussels-Capital region and local councilors petitioned the Council of Europe for the right to health care of Dutch-speakers in Brussels. In the Opinion (doc. 10009) issued by the Committee on 3 December 2003, Cilevics noted that the problem posed in Brussels was not one of legislation guaranteeing Dutch-speakers' rights, but rather the application of already-recognized rights. On 20 January 2004, 12 persons living in communes with linguistic facilities nearby Brussels lodged another petition with the Council of Europe, in which they complained of "real health discrimination against French-speaking citizens by the Flemish region." The PACE bureau joined this petition with the one from 2002 and referred both to the Social, Health and Family Affairs Committee. Minodora Cliveti (Romania, Socialist Group) was appointed as rapporteur. During her visit to Belgium on 13-15 April 2005, she held meetings with the authors of both petitions, representatives of the authorities responsible for public hospital administration in the Brussels Capital region, the relevant Dutch-speaking and French-speaking ministers within the government of the Brussels Capital region, and the president of the Commission for Language Supervision. The report on Language problems in access to public health care in this region was submitted to PACE and the debates during the autumn PACE plenary session led to the adoption of Resolution 1469 (2005), which concluded that the solution of the linguistic problem did not lie in modification of legislation, but rather in its application in practice.

To this end, the resolution recommended, inter alia, the increase of administrative and judicial measures to ensure bilingual services in Brussels hospitals as well as to improve the language skills of medical students. The resolution called on Belgian authorities to encourage communication and cultural cooperation across linguistic borders as well as the ratification of the Framework Convention.

Source: Internationa Helsinki Federation on Human Rights, IHF Human Rights in the OSCE Region: Europe, Central Asia and North America, Report 2006 (Events of 2005) http://www.ihf-hr.org/documents/doc_summary.php?sec_id=3&d_id=4255

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