Minority Rights in Europe - European Minorities and Languages

The possibility to communicate and to be educated in one’s own language is one of the most crucial aspects of a person’s and a group’s identity. This book deals with minority languages in the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) area in a systematic way. It provides information which facilitates discussion in scientific, governmental and non-governmental circles dealing with both human rights protection and security issues and assists in finding solutions to particular situations concerning minority languages.

In the first part contributors subject a number of questions concerning the linguistic rights of minorities to scientific scrutiny. The second part deals with activities and developments within major international organizations and the third part provides a survey of relevant national legislation and documents.

A valuable source of reference and an indispensable tool in the development of rules and policies which protect the linguistic rights of persons belonging to minorities, this volume contains an extensive collection of both international and national documents and excerpts from documents relating and/or relevant to the linguistic rights of minorities.