Navigating the Ratification Stalemate of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages: Seeking a Breakthrough
26 June 2024
Hosted by Ljubica Djordjević
The European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages is a crucial component of European minority protection standards and has significantly influenced their codification. Drafted and opened for signature in 1992, it served as a prelude to the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities. The initial approach was to create a convention on a more universal topic—language—in a neutral tone, focusing on language as cultural heritage rather than on protecting minority rights. However, the complexity of language issues has made the Charter challenging in different contexts and regions of Europe. The number of ratifications is indicative: while 39 countries have ratified the Framework Convention, only 25 have ratified the Charter, with some signatories failing to ratify it for years.
In the Online Talk we want to discuss key obstacles to ratification and explore options for revitalizing the Charter. We’ll base the discussion on the experiences of Italy, which signet the Charter in 2000 but failed to ratify it so far, and North Macedonia, which signed it in 1996 without any indication of ratification for all these years. Moreover, we want to explore the Council of Europe’ position, and what can be done to effectively promote ratification of the Charter and break the deadlock.
Panel
Vesna Crnić-Grotić member of the Committee of Experts of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages in respect of Croatia and a former chair of the Committee of Experts of the European Charter for regional and minority languages. She is a professor of International Law and the dean of the Faculty of Law, University of Rijeka, Croatia. She was the chair of the Main Commission for Law of the National Council for Science in Croatia and the chair of the expert panel for legal science of the Croatian Science Foundation. In 2013 – 2014 she was the Agent for Croatia at the International Court of Justice, Case Concerning the Application of the Convention for the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, Croatia v. Serbia). In 2003 and 2012 she was shortlisted as a candidate for the judge of the European Court for Human Rights.
Natalija Shikova is a lawyer, Associate Professor in International Public law, at the Faculty of Law, International Balkan University in Skopje, North Macedonia.
(Research Gate profile)
Mattia Zeba is a Post-Doc Researcher at the Institute for Minority Rights at Eurac Research.
(more info)
