Language, Minorities and Human Rights

Language, Minorities and Human Rights
Author: Fernand de Varennes
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 552
Release: 2021-09-27
Genre: Law
ISBN: 9004479252

One of the most vexing issues in many of the world's so-called ethnic or minority conflicts is the question of language use by the State and its citizens. While international and national law has traditionally viewed language preference to be within a State's prerogative - at least when involving governmental activities and machinery - this position has proved to be a continuous source of acrimony and conflict, and wrong in some respects. Language, Minorities, and Human Rights is the most complete book ever written on the topic, providing for the first time an analysis of every aspect of language and the law. In addition to presenting a theoretical model for language's particular position and relevance in human rights, it constitutes an invaluable reference document by including the provisions of close to 100 international, multilateral and bilateral instruments involving language rights, as well as the constitutional provisions of 140 countries dealing with language. By addressing little explored areas such as the language rights of indigenous peoples, non-citizens and even the use of script, in addition to more traditional topics such as nationalism and language, freedom of expression and non-discrimination, Language, Minorities and Human Rights proposes a complete descriptive picture of language and human rights as well as proposing a number of suggestions on how to address and balance the many problems currently caused by the linguistic demands of various individuals and the interests of states in nation building.

Monitoring State Compliance with the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child

Monitoring State Compliance with the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child
Author: Ziba Vaghri
Publisher: Springer Nature
Total Pages: 429
Release: 2022-01-03
Genre: Education
ISBN: 3030846474

This open access book presents a discussion on human rights-based attributes for each article pertinent to the substantive rights of children, as defined in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC). It provides the reader with a unique and clear overview of the scope and core content of the articles, together with an analysis of the latest jurisprudence of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child. For each article of the UNCRC, the authors explore the nature and scope of corresponding State obligations, and identify the main features that need to be taken into consideration when assessing a State’s progressive implementation of the UNCRC. This analysis considers which aspects of a given right are most important to track, in order to monitor States' implementation of any given right, and whether there is any resultant change in the lives of children. This approach transforms the narrative of legal international standards concerning a given right into a set of characteristics that ensure no aspect of said right is overlooked. The book develops a clear and comprehensive understanding of the UNCRC that can be used as an introduction to the rights and principles it contains, and to identify directions for future policy and strategy development in compliance with the UNCRC. As such, it offers an invaluable reference guide for researchers and students in the field of childhood and children’s rights studies, as well as a wide range of professionals and organisations concerned with the subject.

Promoting and Protecting Minority Rights

Promoting and Protecting Minority Rights
Author: United Nations
Publisher:
Total Pages: 188
Release: 2012
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN:

"The present guide offers information related to norms and mechanisms developed to protect the rights of persons belonging to national, ethnic, religious or linguistic minorities. It includes detailed information about procedures and forums in which minority issues may be raised to minorities and by also covering selected specialized agencies and regional mechanisms, the present Guide complements information contained in Working with the United Nations Human Rights Programme: A Handbook for Civil Society"--Introduction.

Language Policy and Linguistic Minorities in India

Language Policy and Linguistic Minorities in India
Author: Thomas Benedikter
Publisher: LIT Verlag Münster
Total Pages: 232
Release: 2009
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 3643102313

India not only is concerned with inevitable multilingualism, but also with the rights of many millions of speakers of minority languages. As the political and cultural context privileges some major languages, linguistic minorities often feel discriminated against by the current language policy of the Union and the States. They experience on a daily basis that their mother tongues are deemed worthless dialects that have little utility in modern life. Many such languages have definitively disappeared, and several more are on the brink of extinction. Is this the inevitable price to be paid for economic modernization, cultural homogenisation and the multilingual fabric of India's society at large? This book is an effort to map India's linguistic minorities and to assess the language policy towards these communities. The author, a senior researcher of the EURAC (South Tyrol, Italy), assuming linguistic rights as a component of fundamental human rights, codified in a number of international covenants and in the Indian Constitution, provides an appraisal of the extent to which language rights are respected in India's multilingual reality, which takes into consideration the experiences of minority language protection in other regions.

Language and Minority Rights

Language and Minority Rights
Author: Stephen May
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 450
Release: 2013-06-17
Genre: Education
ISBN: 113683706X

The second edition addresses new theoretical and empirical developments since its initial publication, including the burgeoning influence of globalization and the relentless rise of English as the current world language. May’s broad position, however, remains largely unchanged. He argues that the causes of many of the language-based conflicts in the world today still lie with the nation-state and its preoccupation with establishing a 'common' language and culture via mass education. The solution, he suggests, is to rethink nation-states in more culturally and linguistically plural ways while avoiding, at the same time, essentializing the language-identity link. This edition, like the first, adopts a wide interdisciplinary framework, drawing on sociolinguistics, applied linguistics, sociology, political theory, education and law. It also includes new discussions of cosmopolitanism, globalization, the role of English, and language and mobility, highlighting the ongoing difficulties faced by minority language speakers in the world today.

Language Conflict and Language Rights

Language Conflict and Language Rights
Author: William D. Davies
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 451
Release: 2018-08-09
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 1108655475

As the colonial hegemony of empire fades around the world, the role of language in ethnic conflict has become increasingly topical, as have issues concerning the right of speakers to choose and use their preferred language(s). Such rights are often asserted and defended in response to their being violated. The importance of understanding these events and issues, and their relationship to individual, ethnic, and national identity, is central to research and debate in a range of fields outside of, as well as within, linguistics. This book provides a clearly written introduction for linguists and non-specialists alike, presenting basic facts about the role of language in the formation of identity and the preservation of culture. It articulates and explores categories of conflict and language rights abuses through detailed presentation of illustrative case studies, and distills from these key cross-linguistic and cross-cultural generalizations.

Cultural and Linguistic Minorities in the Russian Federation and the European Union

Cultural and Linguistic Minorities in the Russian Federation and the European Union
Author: Heiko F. Marten
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 347
Release: 2015-01-06
Genre: Education
ISBN: 3319104551

This is the first comprehensive volume to compare the sociolinguistic situations of minorities in Russia and in Western Europe. As such, it provides insight into language policies, the ethnolinguistic vitality and the struggle for reversal of language shift, language revitalization and empowerment of minorities in Russia and the European Union. The volume shows that, even though largely unknown to a broader English-reading audience, the linguistic composition of Russia is by no means less diverse than multilingualism in the EU. It is therefore a valuable introduction into the historical backgrounds and current linguistic, social and legal affairs with regard to Russia’s manifold ethnic and linguistic minorities, mirrored on the discussion of recent issues in a number of well-known Western European minority situations.

The Rights of Minorities: Cultural Groups, Migrants, Displaced Persons and Sexual Identity

The Rights of Minorities: Cultural Groups, Migrants, Displaced Persons and Sexual Identity
Author: J. Alberto del Real Alcala
Publisher: Bentham Science Publishers
Total Pages: 321
Release: 2017-11-14
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1681085933

This volume focuses on the rights of minorities. Minorities are often subject to discrimination and individuals find themselves being rejected by the majority. In such cases, people belonging to a minority suffer through hostile situations. Minorities discussed in this book are defined in terms of cultural groups, migrants, displaced persons, sexual minorities (sexual identity). As with the previous volume, readers are informed about the concept of human rights, as an instrument through which civil society tries to eliminate the hostility and suffering of minorities and restores a situation of normality. Minorities must also accept that a democratic society is governed by majority rule and the Rule of Law. The Rights of Minorities: Cultural Groups, Migrants, Displaced Persons and Sexual Identity discusses four types of minorities: cultural groups, migrants, displaced persons, sexual minorities, and policy on minorities. The book is a detailed reference for graduates and scholars in law, human rights activism, political science, sociology and social psychology. The volume is also recommended for working professionals who operate with human rights groups and general readers (non-experts) who want to understand the discourse about human rights in a holistic (moral, legal, social, economic, and political) framework.

Does Transnational Mobilization Work for Language Minorities?

Does Transnational Mobilization Work for Language Minorities?
Author: André Michael Hein
Publisher: LIT Verlag Münster
Total Pages: 258
Release: 2014
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 3643905815

This study scrutinizes the significance of transnational mobilization for language minorities, both with regard to their ability and their motivation to undertake such action. It is designed as interpretative case study on Romanian minorities in the post-communist countries of Serbia, Bulgaria, Ukraine, and Hungary. The book concentrates on immobile and marginal groups outside the focus of international politics and research. It contributes to recent research on cosmopolitanism: only an in-depth study of actors' everyday reality can produce qualified claims on the tense relationship between local rootedness on the one hand and possibilities for international mobility on the other. This, in turn, is vital to assess the vigor of international processes such as globalization and European integration. (Series: Region - Nation - Europa - Vol. 75) [Subject: Sociology, European Studies, Minority Studies]