DiKE Europäische Charta der Regional- oder Minderheitensprachen

This hand commentary provides the first comprehensive German-language legal examination of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. Its structure follows the architecture of the Charter. The individual sections take into account practical examples and specific issues in the Charter states, establish the international legal context, and offer a comprehensive presentation of the mechanisms of the Charter. In detail, the commentary answers what the Language Charter achieves and where its limitations lie. It is aimed equally at speakers of indigenous non-state languages, their organizations, state administrations, the judiciary, politics, and not least, academia. In 1992, the Council of Europe enacted the Language Charter. Since then, 25 states have ratified the agreement, including Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. The regular state reports on one hand and the reports of the expert committee on the other reveal significant inconsistencies in implementation practices, which can be attributed in part to uncertainties regarding the legal consequences of the Charter obligations. The need for legal guidance is also evidenced by the explicit support for this initiative, the financial backing, and the active assistance from the relevant secretariat of the Council of Europe, the Federal Ministry of the Interior in Germany, as well as the umbrella organizations of minorities and the speakers of the regional language Low German.