European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages

The European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages (ECRML) is a European treaty that was adopted in 1992.

It was designed by the Council of Europe to protect and promote historical regional and minority languages in Europe. It applies only to languages traditionally used by the nationals of the State Parties that are very different from the majority or official language. The treaty does not protect languages that are used by recent immigrants from other countries. Also, the treaty does not protect local dialects of the official or majority language.

To be protected, a language must be spoken either by the people living in a region or area of the country or by a minority in the country as a whole (languages such as Yiddish and Romani are covered by the treaty even if there is no "Romani region").

National official languages are not covered by the treaty, but some regional official languages are. For example, Catalan is official only in a region of Spain and so can benefit from the treaty. However, Irish cannot because it is an official language in Ireland even if it is a minority language. However, Irish is protected in Northern Ireland because it is not an official or national language of the United Kingdom.

France has signed the treaty, but the French constitution does not allow the government to support a language other than French.

There are two levels of protection. Every country that signed the treaty must give all qualifying languages the lower level of protection. Countries may decide to give some languages the higher level of protection. Countries then must do 35 things.

 Languages protected under the Charter 

Here are the countries that have ratified the Charter and the languages for which the ratification was made:

ratification: 25 January 2002

 Assyrian
 Greek
 Russian
 Kurdish as Yazidis' language

ratification: 28 June 2001Austria has ratified the Charter for each language in respect of specific Länder

 Croatian of Burgenland
 Slovene (in Carinthia and Styria)
 Hungarian (in Burgenland and Vienna)
 Czech (in Vienna)
 Slovak (in Vienna)
 Romani (in Burgenland)

ratification: 21 September 2010
 Albanian
 Montenegrin
 Czech
 Italian
 Hungarian
 Macedonian
 German
 Polish
 Romanian
 Rusyn
 Slovak
 Slovene
 Turkish
 Ukrainian
 Jewish languages (Yiddish and Ladino)

ratification: 5 November 1997

 Czech
 Hungarian
 Italian
 Rusyn
 Serbian
 Slovak
 Ukrainian

ratification: 26 August 2002

 Armenian
 Cypriot Maronite Arabic

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)

ratification: 8 September 2000Notes Verbales accompanying the Danish ratification specified that, whilst the Charter was not going to be ratified in respect of the two languages, Faroese and Greenlandic are each official in their respective territories

 German (in Southern Jutland)

ratification: 9 November 1994

Karelian
Sami
Swedish (co-official language)

ratification: 16 September 1998Germany has ratified the Charter for each language in respect of specific Länder

 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)
 Low Rhenish (in Northrhine-Westphalia)

ratification: 26 April 1995

 Armenian
 Boyash
 Bulgarian
 Croatian
 German
 Greek
 Polish
 Romani
 Romanian
 Rusyn
 Serbian
 Slovak
 Slovene
 Ukrainian

ratification: 18 November 1997

 No regional or minority languages

ratification:   22 June 2005

 No regional or minority languages

ratification: 15 February 2006

 Albanian
 Romani

ratification: 2 May 1996

 West Frisian (in Friesland)
 Limburgish (in Limburg)
 Low Saxon (across the Netherlands)
 Romani (across the Netherlands)
 Yiddish (across the Netherlands)

ratification: 10 November 1993

 Sami (parts II and III)
 Kven (part II only)
 Romani (part II only)
 Scandoromani (part II only)

ratification: 12 February 2009

 Belarusian
 Czech
 Hebrew
 Yiddish
 Karaim
 Kashub
 Lithuanian
 Lemko
 German
 Armenian
 Romani
 Russian
 Slovak
 Tatar
 Ukrainianratification 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

ratification: 15 February 2006Ratified as Serbia and Montenegro on December 22, 2005 
Web page of Council of Europe, Reservations and Declarations for Treaty No.148 - European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages
 Albanian
 Bosnian
 Bulgarian
 Croatian
 Hungarian
 Romani
 Romanian
 Rusyn
 Slovak
 Ukrainian

ratification: 5 September 2001

 Bulgarian
 Croatian
 Czech
 German
 Hungarian
 Polish
 Romani
 Rusyn
 Ukrainian

ratification: 4 October 2000

Hungarian
Italian
Romani

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)

ratification: 9 February 2000

 Finnish
 Meänkieli
 Sami
 Romani
 Yiddish

ratification: 23 December 1997

Italian
Romansh

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": 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. Not counted are Rusyns (Ruthenians), because 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

ratification : 1 July 2001 (effective; ratified 27 March 2001)
 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.

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))
Scots as 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 )
Manx (Manx Gaelic)  (Article 2, Part II only (Article 7))

Related pages
 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

 References 

 Other websites 

 European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages page (Legal Affairs, Council of Europe)
 More information 

Languages
*
Category:European Union