September 2005

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THE COUNCIL OF EUROPE PUBLISHES A REPORT ON MINORITY LANGUAGES IN CROATIA

September 2005 – Through a report issued on September 8th, the Council of Europe (CoE) expressed its concerns that the number of citizens who speak the language of minorities in Croatia is decreasing. According to the report, the citizens whose mother tongue is Croatian tend to be more tolerant to minority languages, "but as a whole, Croatia does not show enough respect for languages". The report also pinpoints a special problem with the Serbian language. At the same time, it welcomes new laws to protect linguistic minorities in Croatia, although it points out that some provisions may still lead to restrictions incompatible with the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. The report has been drawn up by a committee of independent experts for the second evaluation of Croatia’s application of the European Charter for Regional or Minority languages.

Its observations, endorsed by the Committee of Ministers of the CoE, include a recommendation that advises Croatian authorities to promote awareness and tolerance towards minority languages and the culture they represent so that they can be considered an integral part of the Croatian heritage. It also recommends to offer pre-school education in the Ruthenian and Ukrainian languages and, regarding primary and secondary education, at least the teaching of Ruthenian, Slovak and Ukrainian. The report points out that Croatia should develop a coherent strategy in the field of teacher training and provide adequate teaching materials for minority language education. According to the document, the Croatian government is advised to take the necessary measures to ensure that the legal possibility for the speakers to use their regional or minority languages in relations with the relevant branches of the State administration is fully implemented in practice. Moreover, it also calls for all relevant place names to be used bilingually, to increase the presence of minority languages on television and radio stations and to clarify the traditional presence of Slovenian language in Croatian co-operation with the speakers.