The Czech Republic’s language policy on minorities’ education rights
Linguistic and fundamental human rights of minorities are fixed in the documents of The European Charter for Regional and Minority Languages and The European Charter of Local Self-Government. These documents are the pillars of the rights of minorities. The monitoring procedure of the The European Charter is fulfilled by the Committee of Experts (COMEX). Those countries which have ratified the Charter have to submit three-yearly reports on the implementation of the Charter. The Czech Republic signed the Charter in 2000 and ratified it in 2006. By accepting the Charter the Czech Republic is responsible for submitting reports on which of their commitments have been achieved and to what extent. Since ratification, the Czech Republic has submitted its forth report. The main aim of this article is to introduce what commitments has the Czech Republic made by ratifying the Charter. Furthermore, analysis of the latest report prepared by the Committee of Experts and to what extent the commitments made in the Charter have been met and put into practice. Using the critical discursive analysis the researcher examined this report. The findings show that the Czech Republic fulfilled its expectations based on the report but still minor changes are needed.
Keywords: language policy, language policy in education, minorities, minority rights, European Charter, The European Charter for Regional and Minority Languages
