EBLUL - European Bureau for Lesser-used Languages
EBLUL es una structura oficial de Commicion Europea en carga de promouvir la diversitat lenguistica en Europa
NOVEL >> França encara condamnada per Europa 23/05/2007
France fails to implement UN recommendations on 'regional' languages
Wednesday, 23 May 2007EBLUL France are at the UN in Geneva this week calling for the implementation of its 2001 Report on ‘regional’ language rights in France to the UN’s Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. Six years later and France has failed to implement any of the Report, despite UN recommendations to do so.
In November 2001, EBLUL and the NGO “Pour Que Vivent Nos Langues” (Promoting our Languages) submitted a short report. The UN Committee made observations which among others asked France to; acknowledge minority groups and their right to exist; ratify the Council of Europe’s Framework Convention on the Protection of National Minorities (FCNM) and Charter on Regional or Minority languages (ECRML); step up its efforts to preserve regional and minority languages and cultures; and to take steps to improve the teaching of these languages.
It also asked the French state to circulate these observations widely at all levels of state and to involve non-governmental organisations in the preparation of its third periodic report.Writing in response, and in a new Report, EBLUL-France President Tangi Louarn said: “At present, six years later, it is clear that very few of these observations have been applied: the state has not issued any information about its services concerning the Committee’s observations; the state has not ratified the ECRML and is one of the three last states (out of 47) within the Council of Europe with Turkey and the Principality of Andorra (whose co-prince is French head of state) not to have signed the FCNM.
“The state still does not recognise any minority group or people on its territory. The dogma of the ‘unity’ of the French people (as the constitutional court says) still prevails, and with a restrictive interpretation.
“The use of these languages is ostracised in particular in education and the media in increasingly virulent forms, and contrary to the demands by the populations involved which intensify as they face the increasing risk of the complete disappearance of their languages and cultures.
“To summarise, the treatment of our 2001 report reflects the disregard shown by the French state both for the populations concerned and international organisations such as the UN. In addition, this can be supported with specific examples of discrimination and the negation of rights suffered by the populations concerned (annexed to our report), and the keenness with which the state opposes any action which these populations and their elected representatives attempt to take in order to defend their languages and cultures and to guarantee their survival and development.”
The Basque organisation Behatokia has also submitted a report to the Committee. Underlining the effects of French state policy against ‘regional’ languages it notes that Basque has lost 15,000 speakers over the last ten years, added to both a decline in Basque-French bilinguals and bilingualism generally.
The visit to the UN comes at the same time as the UN’s announcement that 2008 will be the Year of Languages. (Davyth Hicks, Eurolang 2007)
EBLUL France 2007 Report (En)
http://www.ohchr.org/english/bodies/cescr/docs/info-ngos/EBLUL.pdfEBLUL France 2007 Rapport (Fr)
http://www.ohchr.org/english/bodies/cescr/docs/info-ngos/EBLUL_fr.pdfBehatokia Report on Basque
http://www.ohchr.org/english/bodies/cescr/docs/cescrwg38/basque_en.pdfUN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
http://www.ohchr.org/english/bodies/cescr/cescrwg38.htm________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
EBLUL - France protests to the UN over everyday linguistic discrimination in the French state
Thursday, 17 March 2005Brussel - Bruxelles, by Davyth Hicks
The French committee of the European Bureau for Lesser Used Languages (EBLUL) intervened in Geneva on Wednesday during the 66th session of the Committee for the Elimination of all the forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD), part of the UN, in order to protest about discrimination suffered by the speakers of the various minoritised languages under the French state.
Speaking to the press EBLUL-France said: "France is varied. But the French state continues to deny this diversity officially. It does not recognize the same rights [as it does to monoglot French speaking citizens] to the various cultural expressions, and in particular to the languages, which constitute the expression of many citizens in various areas, as it does to monoglot French speaking citizens.
"This policy results in particular in the refusal to ratify the European Charter of the Regional or Minority Languages. Thus for example, Basque, Catalan, and Occitan are co-official in Spain or Italy but are very far from gaining any official support in France, none more so than Breton, the sister language of Welsh, Cornish and Scottish Gaelic, which are recognized in the United Kingdom.
"This refusal to protect this living inheritance is leading to the disappearance of these languages in France, which itself claims to support worldwide linguistic diversity."
The Regional Council of Brittany, represented by its Vice-President responsible for European and international relations, Kristian Guyonvarc'h, intervened to support the step taken by the French Committee so that France recognizes and protects juridically its ‘regional’ or minority languages.
He underlined the obstacles which various French state policies present to the implementation by the Regional Council of its plan for linguistic policy to promote the three languages of Brittany and general plurilingualism, voted on December 17th, 2004, and passed unanimously.
The delegation submitted its report to the committee of experts of the CERD, simultaneously with representatives of Berber, the French League for Human Rights, and the European Centre for Roma rights. All these NGOs were supported by the International Federation of Human Rights.
The event follows uproar at the publication of French Government research which attempts to deter parents from teaching their children minoritised indigneous languages, referred to as "patois", and immigrant languages, saying that to do so will make their children "delinquent" and lead to "undesirable behaviour". (Eurolang © 2005)
EBLUL - Charter for regional or minority languages: can the EU constitution help France ratify ?
Thursday, 17 March 2005Douarnenez 1/26/2005 , by Yann Rivallain
Yesterday, the French parliament began to examine a revised constitutional law, in anticipation of the adoption of the new European constitution. Minority language organizations have seized this opportunity to put forward an amendment to the future law which would allow France to legally ratify the charter for minority languages.
As has been the case with the adoption of previous EU treaties and international agreements, such as the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages (ECRML), the French constitutional court had ruled that the proposed EU treaty was not compatible with the French Constitution.
Minority language organizations met earlier in January to discuss ways of adding a reference to minority languages to the French Constitution on this occasion. Previous attempts to modify Article 2, which states that the language of the Republic is French, had been blocked.
Under the auspices of EBLUL France, language organizations agreed to propose that the following straightforward sentence be added to Article 53 : “The French Republic can ratify the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages of the Council of Europe”.
According to Tangi Louarn, the newly elected president of EBLUL France, “Since Article 53 refers to international agreements, it is logical to include the European Charter in this section. Another attempt to change Article 2 would have been less likely to be accepted since it would have had wider consequences”. In July 1999, a similar sentence was added to Article 53 of the French constitution which allowed “the Republic to recognize jurisdiction by the International court of justice”.
In Brittany, where the Regional Council recently officially recognized the Breton language through a development plan, a letter urging them to support the proposed amendment was sent to 35 members of the National assembly. It argues that “respect for linguistic and cultural diversity is one of the principles of this constitutional treaty” and that it is therefore necessary “to modify the French Constitution to allow ratification of the language Charter so that France can in effect respect the principles and practices regarding linguistic and cultural diversity which underpin the proposed European Constitution”. If everything goes according to plan, this amendment should be brought to discussion during the day.
Speaking to Eurolang, Tangi Louarn felt that the outcome of this initiative was uncertain as the previous attempt, in 2002, had failed due to the opposition of most UMP (conservative) parliamentarians. However, this time, it looks as if the amendment will be supported by both socialists and conservative MP’s in Brittany and other regions giving it a real chance to be accepted.
“We can however hope that the new articles in the European constitution referring to the respect of linguistic diversity and non-discrimination on language grounds will convince French parliamentarians that France can not carry on going against international provisions and disregard its own diversity”, added Tangi Louarn. It is somehow ironic “to see that while Brittany had now officially recognized three languages on its territory, French, Breton and Gallo, France recognized only one language”.
With growing concern about France’s policy towards minorities among its European neighbours and at international level, if the outcome of today’s discussion is once again negative, next time round, the proposed amendment may well read “the French Republic can “not anymore not ratify” the European Charter for regional and minority languages”. (Eurolang © 2005)
(Article 3, Part I of the draft constitution states that the EU “shall respect its rich cultural and linguistic diversity, and shall ensure that Europe's cultural heritage is safeguarded and enhanced.”)
Charte des langues minoritaires : deux constitutions valent mieux qu’une (Version française)Le Parlement français a débuté hier l’examen du projet de loi révisant la Constitution française, en prévision de l’adoption éventuelle de la Constitution européenne en juin prochain. Les défenseurs des langues minoritaires ont saisi cette opportunité pour proposer un amendement à la future loi constitutionnelle, qui, s’il est adopté, permettra à la France de ratifier la Charter européenne des langues régionales ou minoritaires.
Comme souvent lors de l’adoption de traités européens ou de la signature d’accords internationaux, tels que la Charte des langues, le Conseil constitutionnel a estimé que le texte proposé n’était pas compatible avec la loi fondamentale de la République. Celle-ci doit donc être modifiée.
Les représentants des organisations de promotion des langues minoritaires de France tentent de saisir l’opportunité de cette révision pour y insérer une référence à la diversité linguistique. Des tentatives précédentes visant à compléter l’article 2 de la Constitution, qui stipule que « le français et la langue de la République » avaient été rejetés par les parlementaires français. Sous l’égide du Bureau européen des langues minoritaires (EBLUL France), les délégués ont décidé de proposer que la simple phrase suivante soit ajouté à l’article 53 de la Constitution : « La République française peut ratifier la Charte européenne des langues régionales ou minoritaires du Conseil de l’Europe ».
Selon Tangi Louarn, récemment élu président d’EBLUL France, « dans la mesure où l’article 53 porte sur les engagements internationaux de la France, il était logique de faire référence à la charte dans cette section. Il aurait été plus risqué de tenter de faire réviser l’article 2, car la portée d’un tel amendement aurait probablement suscité davantage d’opposition ». A noter qu’en juillet 1999, une phrase similaire avait été ajoutée à ce même article 53 pour permettre à la France de reconnaître la juridiction de la Cour pénale internationale.
En Bretagne, où le Conseil régional a récemment officiellement reconnu les langues bretonnes et gallo à travers un plan de développement, une lettre leur demandant de soutenir cet amendement lors du débat qui se tiendra aujourd’hui a été adressée à trente-cinq membres de l’Assemblée nationale. Elle explique que « parmi les principes de ce traité constitutionnel figure notamment le respect de la diversité linguistique et culturelle […] et qu’il est donc nécessaire de modifier également la Constitution française pour permettre la ratification de la Charte européenne des langues régionales ou minoritaires, et faire que la France s’inscrive aussi réellement dans les principes et la pratique de la diversité linguistique et culturelle qui sous-tend le projet de Constitution européenne ».
Interrogé par Eurolang sur les chances de parvenir à faire adopter cet amendement, Tangi Louarn a reconnu que « l’issue de cette tentative est incertaine, car la dernière, en 2002, avait échouée en raison de l’opposition de la majorité UMP. » Il semble cependant que cet amendement sera cette fois soutenu par des députés de l’opposition comme de la majorité, ce qui lui donne de réelles chances d’être accepté. Selon lui, « on peut également espérer que les nouveaux articles portant sur la diversité linguistique dans la Constitution européenne parviennent à convaincre les députés que la France ne peut continuer indéfiniment à refuser les accords internationaux respectés par tous, et feindre d’ignorer sa propre diversité. Il est paradoxal de constater que la région Bretagne reconnaît désormais officiellement trois langues sur son territoire, le français, le breton et le gallo, tandis que la France n’en reconnaît qu’une ».
L’attitude de la France vis-à-vis de ses minorités suscite de plus en plus d’interrogations chez ses voisins et au sein des organismes internationaux. En cas de nouvel échec et à force de retarder les échéances, les amendements futurs pourraient bien stipuler que « La République française « ne peut plus » ne pas ratifier la Charte européenne des langues régionales et minoritaires ».(Eurolang © 2005)
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Brussel - Bruxelles,
Tuesday,19 July 2005 by Davyth Hicks
A new Report published last week has come out strongly in favour of establishing an autonomous Agency for Linguistic Diversity and Language Learning. The feasibility study follows the almost unanimous backing from the European Parliament in 2003 for an Agency following an initiative made by EBLUL.
Mai d'informaçio >>> www.eblul.org