October 2006

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IMMIGRATION, LANGUAGE RIGHTS AND SOCIAL COHESION TACKLED IN CATALONIA

October 2006 – The Mercator network hold its 5th International Symposium on Minority Languages last week in Barcelona under the title “Language Rights as a Social Inclusion Factor”. More than one hundred participants attended the 3-day long symposium organized by CIEMEN-Mercator Legislation with the support of the European Commission and Linguamón-House of Languages.

The event tackled the fundamental question of how to respect and deal with the issue of new immigrants and their languages within a developing European context. Theoretical, practical and policy issues were debated, and the Catalan innovations in terms of promoting social inclusion through the Catalan language became a central inspiration of the discussions. The experience of regional “minority” languages was used as an invaluable set of experiences to deal with the linguistic diversity, and many society’s key areas such as education, the health system, employment and the economy revealed that with a determined political effort and professional training it is possible to improve the quality of life of new migrants in real, practical ways, and in time to welcome such migrants as a permanent enrichment of societies.

Mercator-Legislation is currently preparing a publication with the papers and conclusions of the symposium, which will be made public early next year.