This afternoon, Plataforma per la Llengua took part in the United Nations Human Rights Council's Universal Periodic Review after Spain's historic first-ever acceptance on Friday of the recommendations of several countries that it should strengthen minority language rights. From Geneva, Òscar Escuder, president of the organisation, urged Spain "to apply the recommendations without delay as its democratic responsibility and in compliance with its international human rights obligations".
The president of Plataforma per la Llengua said acceptance of the recommendations is "a step forward" for language rights, which he emphasised are also fundamental human rights. Any breach of them is therefore also "a human rights violation". Escuder once again deplored the fact that "Spain does not fully respect the rights of its native language communities" and that "the former special rapporteur on minority issues, Fernand de Varennes, had already concluded that language minorities suffer discrimination from the Spanish State".
[DISCURS] | Plataforma per la Llengua exigim a l’ONU que l’estat espanyol millori els drets de les minories lingüístiques
Hem aconseguit Espanya accepti recomanacions de diversos estats. Ara, reclamem accions immediates per a dur-les a terme.
https://t.co/PGGtceNcbU pic.twitter.com/HrNbbGNI6d— Plataforma per la Llengua #ResistènciaQuotidiana (@llenguacat)
For years, Plataforma per la Llengua has been deploring this discrimination at the Universal Periodic Review (UPR), in which every four and a half years States mutually assess one another. Finally, for the first time in history, it has persuaded four States (Austria, Ireland, Samoa and the Republic of the Marshall Islands) to take up its recommendations to strengthen language rights and pass them on to Spain. Also for the first time, on Friday, Spain accepted the recommendations. But although this is a pivotal decision, it will still be insufficient if it is not accompanied by real political action to apply them. "No-one suffers any consequences for the restrictions felt by Catalan-speakers, they erode respect for diversity and justice, and they endanger the full development of Catalan-speaking communities and the future of the language," Escuder concluded.
The recommendations accepted by Spain are: to ban language discrimination by law; to promote education in Catalan; and to combat hate crime
The language rights protection organisation thanked the States that took the matter seriously and issued recommendations. Now, the ball is in Spain's court, as it has made a commitment to promote language diversity and protect language minorities' human rights, as well as to ban language discrimination by law. It has also pledged to safeguard cultural rights by promoting education in the languages of the different regions and their use and to step up its efforts to combat hate crime (including internet hate crime) against national, ethnic, religious and language minorities, as well as fighting all kinds of racism, in line with the report of the UN Special Rapporteur on Minorities.
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Ajuda'ns a defensar el català aprofitant els altaveus internacionals: fes-te soci de Plataforma per la Llengua en 3 minuts!
The recommendations Plataforma per la Llengua is passing on to all international agents
Plataforma per la Llengua is working internationally through networks with agents all over the world, and by participating in mechanisms like the Universal Periodic Review, to convince all international agents to force Spain to protect Catalan and Catalan-speakers' rights. For a year and a half, it has also been a special consultative organisation of the UN Social and Economic Council, one of the organisation's six main bodies. This allows it to access the UN's facilities, give advice, and participate in events coordinated by the IMF, WHO, UNESCO and the ILO. As well as meeting representatives of States, after the UPR session Plataforma per la Llengua also met the UN's Special Rapporteur for Minorities, the Swiss Nicolas Levrat, and repeated to him its recommendations to the international institutions.
Beyond the recommendations of the States, Plataforma per la Llengua is calling on Spain to take measures to pursue language discrimination by public servants and include the Catalan-speaking minority as a protected group under the Council of Europe's Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities. It also recommends that Spain should approve legislation to recognise the rights of speakers of official languages other than Spanish so they can use them with State employees and in the judicial system, and that it should comply with the recommendations of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages (ECRML) and the UN Special Rapporteur on Minorities. In particular, it should amend article 231 of the Judiciary Act, which establishes that in judicial proceedings civil servants must use Spanish, and that "co-official minority languages" will only be allowed if no party objects. Plataforma per la Llengua also recommends that Spain should take measures to guarantee that children can be educated in Catalan, and that hate speech on the internet and in other media against Catalan-speakers and the Catalan language should be investigated, prosecuted and punished.
