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.