Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities
Posted by sociolingo on August 23, 2007
Received from a colleague:
It’s amazing what riches are out there that fail to come to our attention. I have just discovered the Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1992.
Article 4.2 refers to language development thus: “States shall take measures to create favourable conditions to enable persons belonging to minorities to express their characteristics and to develop their culture, language, religion, traditions and customs, except where specific practices are in violation of national law and contrary to international standards.”
Article 4.3 says “States should take appropriate measures so that, wherever possible, persons belonging to minorities may have adequate opportunities to learn their mother tongue or to have instruction in their mother tongue.”
While SIL has not traditionally promoted language development or mother tongue education on the basis of human rights it is encouraging to know that such rights exist. While nations are legally bound to respect treaties they have ratified this is a declaration, which carries moral rather than legal weight.
