CE Information Seminar on Minority Languages, Baku, 2 March 2001

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Subject: CE Information Seminar on Minority Languages, Baku, 2 March 2001

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Original sender: Nadir Kamaladdinov <[email protected]>

CE Information Seminar on Minority Languages, Baku, 2 March
2001


Information seminar on the European Charter for Regional or Minority
Languages
- The role of non-governmental organizations within the scope of the
Charter.

Council of Europe

Baku Azerbaijan

2 March 2001

One of the main functions of the Council of Europe is to set common
legal and political standards for legislative and other measures taken
by its member states over a whole range of fields, including regional
or minority languages.
 
The Council of Europe is organizing an informal meeting on the
European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. This meeting will
take place in Baku on March 2, 2001.

The objective of the seminar will be to have an exchange of views and
information with speakers of regional or minority languages,
non-governmental institutions and organizations that work in the field
of minority languages.

To meet the need of providing a mechanism for the promotion and
protection of regional or minority languages the Council of Europe has
adopted a Charter which entered into force on 1 March 1998. Its aim to
provide a mechanism for the protection of the different regional or
minority languages in the field of education, justice, administration,
media, culture, economics, social life and transfrontier exchanges.

The protection provided in the Charter is twofold. Firstly, Part II
(Article 7) contains general principles and objectives, applicable to
all regional or minority languages used on the territory of a state on
which the latter is required to base its legislation and practice.
Secondly, Part III translates these objectives and principles into
concrete obligations (Article 8 - 14). Part III, however, applies only
to the languages specified by the State at the time of ratification.
For these languages, states are obliged to choose at least a minimum
number of 35 paragraphs, or sub-paragraphs contained in articles 8 �
14.during the seminar the Council of Europe`s experts will present the
interest, objectives and principles of the Charter and the
implications of its provisions. They will also explain the role of its
Committee of Experts and of co-operation NGO`s in the States having
ratified the Charter.

The seminar will take place in the Grand Hotel Europe, 102530 Tbilisi
Avenue, Baku and will open promptly at 10h00.

Program

Friday 2 March 2001

10:00 Opening Remarks
Chairman: Francois Grin, Deputy-Director of the European Centre for
Minority Issues, Flesburg, Germany

10:15 The European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages and its
structure
- Mr. Rudolf Mark, Research Collaborator and Lecturer, Ost Akademy
Luneburg, Germany

10:35 the Charter, the languages and the protection provided
- Ms Regina Jensdottir, Administrator, the Council of Europe

11:00  Coffee break

11:15   The Situation of Ethnic Minorities in Azerbaijan after the
collapse of the Soviet Union
- Mr. Arif S. Yunusov, historian, former member of the Azerbaijan
Academy of Science

11:45  Discussions

12:30   Lunch

14:00 Minority language protection and promotion in the perspective of
the Charter
- Mr. Francois Grin, Deputy-Director of the European Cntre for
Minority Issues, Flensburg, Germany

14:20 The Work and Mandate of the OSCE High Commissioner on National
Minorities
- Mr. Ulrich Rainer, Democratization Office, OSCE Office, Baku

14:35   The present arrangements applying to regional or minority
languages in Azerbaijan
- Mr. Erkin Gadirov, Lecturer in Law at the Baku State University and
member of the Board of Experts at the Institute of Human Rights,
Academy of Sciences.

14:55 Discussions

16:40   Coffee break

17:00 Conclusions
- Nadir Kamaladdinov, Center of Legal and Economic Education (CLEE)

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