Language Research

Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities signed on April 28, 1995, ratified on December 18, 1997, enacted on April 1, 1998.

Updated (March 2007)

EUROPEAN CHARTER FOR REGIONAL OR MINORITY LANGUAGES CAME INTO FORCE IN THE CZECH REPUBLIC

The European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages (ECRML) came into force in the Czech Republic on 1 March 2007. National minorities are now entitled to use their native language in public administration and before the courts. However, under Czech law, this is permissible only where the minority comprises 10 percent of the local population. Signs indicating the names of settlements, streets, shops or institutions may also be bilingual.

This concerns the use of the Polish language in the Moravian Silesian region, where the proportion of Poles reaches 10 percent in several dozen settlements, and it is also the case of the Slovak minority population who are dispersed all over the country. Other national minorities, including Hungarians, who number around 15,000, cannot make use of the new possibilities because they do not reach the required 10 percent threshold.

The strong Polish minority (60,000 people) has a full-range educational system from nurseries to secondary schools. No demand has emerged so far for the establishment of a Polish medium institution of higher education.

According to Mr. Pospíšil, Secretary of the Council of National Minorities, the recent ratification of the ECRML will not change existing practice. "The Czech Republic ratified the Charter only after the adoption of new legislation on education and on public administration. Both new acts include provisions concerning the use of minority languages," he said.

The larger language communities are entitled to their own newspapers, radio and television programmes and to state support for their cultural activities. The State provides 30 million CZK every year to support minority newspapers, however, minorities claim that this amount has remained unchanged for years and its real value has become significantly less.

Source: Eurolang News, March 5, 2007 by Judit Solymosi http://www.eurolang.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2842&Itemid=1&lang=en

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