What is the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages?
Q: What is the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages?
A: 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.
Q: Does the treaty protect languages used by recent immigrants from other countries?
A: No, the treaty does not protect languages that are used by recent immigrants from other countries.
Q: Are local dialects of official or majority language protected under this treaty?
A: No, 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.
Q: Is Irish an example of a language covered under this treaty?
A: Yes, Irish can benefit from this treaty even if there is no "Romani region". However, it 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.
Q: Is French covered under this treaty?
A: France has signed the treaty but due to its constitution which does not allow support for any other language than French, French itself cannot benefit from this protection.
Q: How many levels of protection are offered under this Treaty?
A: There are two levels of protection offered under this Treaty - every country that signed must give all qualifying languages lower level protection while they may decide to give some higher level protection with 35 things they must do to ensure proper implementation.
