Tóth Károly (szerk.): Nyelvi jogok. A kisebbségi és nyelvi jogok helyzete Szlovákiában. I. Jogsegélyszolgálat 2009-2011 - Nyelvi jogok 1. (Somorja, 2013)
Kisebbségi nyelvhasználati törvény
Thomas Hammarberg ET-főbiztos levele Problems related to language issues are certainly not a new phenomenon. Indeed, norms have been developed on how to resolve them in a number of international and European human rights treaties. The Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities (FCNM) is a Council of Europe treaty which, inter alia, protects and promotes the language rights of persons belonging to national minorities. It has a monitoring body to assist the implementation by state parties: the Advisory Committee. The European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages (ECRML) protects and promotes languages as a threatened element of Europe’s cultural heritage. Implementation is monitored by the Committee of Experts. These standards are further complemented by the European Convention on Human Rights, which prohibits discrimination, for instance, on the ground of language (Article 14). The case law of the European Court of Human Rights (the Strasbourg court) is highly relevant also in this area. The OSCE has developed standards in this area which are promoted by the High Commissioner on National Minorities. One important document is the Oslo Recommendations regarding the Linguistic Rights of National Minorities (with an Explanatory Note). Among the relevant UN documents is the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights which states that persons belonging to minorities shall not be denied the right, in community with the other members of their group, to use their own language. Less binding but still highly relevant is the UN Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities. These treaties and recommendations state key principles and define governmental obligations. However, as the nature of the problems differs greatly from one country to another, there is in many cases a need to interpret the agreed framework norms in order to meet the intended purpose and to achieve the appropriate balance. There has to be a certain “margin of appreciation" - to use the language of the Strasbourg court - when applying the standards. This margin should, however, not be to avoid the obligation to respect the human rights of persons belonging to minorities. The national discussions should consider the conclusions of the various international monitoring bodies and the case law of the Strasbourg court. They provide important guidance for the political decision-makers. Personal names The Strasbourg court has stated that “the name is not only an important element of self-identification; it is a crucial means of personal identification in society at large”. In one case (Guzel Erdagöz v. Turkey, 2008) it decided that the refusal of the government authorities to accept the preferred spelling of a person’s name violated the right to respect for private life as spelled out in the European Convention (Article 8). These principles are also relevant in situations where the state language and the minority one are based on different alphabets or scripts. When visiting Lithuania recently I learned that the spelling of Polish names on passports and other official documents had became a controversial issue. However, the government in Vilnius has 470
