Having regard to the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights which, in its
preamble, expresses its "faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth
of the human person and in the equal rights of men and women"; and which, in its
second article, establishes that "everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms
regardless of race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national
or social origin, property, birth or other status";
 
Having regard to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights of 16
December 1966 (Article 27), and the International Covenant on Economic, Social
and Cultural Rights of the same date which, in their preambles, state that human
beings cannot be free unless conditions are created which enable them to enjoy
both their civil and political rights and their economic, social and cultural rights;
 
Having regard to Resolution 47/135 of 18 December 1992 of the General Assembly
of the United Nations Organization which adopted the Declaration on the Rights of
Persons belonging to National, Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities;

Having regard to the declarations and conventions of the Council of Europe, such
as the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental
Freedoms, of 4 November 1950 (Article 14); the Convention of the Council of
Ministers of the Council of Europe, of 29 June 1992, approving the European
Charter for Regional or Minority Languages; the Declaration on National Minorities
made by the Summit Meeting of the Council of Europe on 9 October 1993; and the
Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities of November 1994;

Having regard to the Santiago de Compostela Declaration of the International PEN
Club and the Declaration of 15 December 1993 of the Translations and Linguistic
Rights Committee of the International PEN Club concerning the proposal to hold a
World Conference on Linguistic Rights;

Considering that, in the Recife, Brazil, Declaration of 9 October 1987, the 12th
Seminar of the International Association for the Development of Intercultural
Communication recommended the United Nations Organization to take the
necessary steps to approve and implement a Universal Declaration of Linguistic
Rights;

Having regard to Convention 169 of the International Labour Organization of 26 June
1989 concerning Indigenous and Tribal Peoples in Independent Countries;

Having regard to the Universal Declaration of the Collective Rights of Peoples,
Barcelona, May 1990, which declared that all peoples have the right to express and
develop their culture, language and rules of organization and, to this end, to adopt
political, educational, communications and governmental structures of their own,
within different political frameworks;

Having regard to the Final Declaration adopted by the General Assembly of the
International Federation of Modern Language Teachers in Pecs (Hungary) on 16
August 1991, which recommended that linguistic rights be considered as
fundamental rights of the individual;

Having regard to the report of the Human Rights Commission of the United Nations
Economic and Social Council, of 20 April 1994, concerning the draft Declaration on
the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, which viewed individual rights in the light of
collective rights;

Having Regard to the draft Declaration of the Inter-American Human Rights
Commission on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, approved at session 1278 on 18
September 1995;

Considering that the majority of the world's endangered languages belong to
non-sovereign peoples and that the main factors which prevent the development of
these languages and accelerate the process of language substitution include the
lack of self-government and the policy of states which impose their political and
administrative structures and their language;

Considering that invasion, colonization, occupation and other instances of political,
economic or social subordination often involve the direct imposition of a foreign
language or, at the very least, distort perceptions of the value of languages and give
rise to hierarchical linguistic attitudes which undermine the language loyalty of
speakers; and considering that the languages of some peoples which have attained
sovereignty are consequently immersed in a process of language substitution as a
result of a policy which favours the language of former colonial or imperial powers;

Considering that universalism must be based on a conception of linguistic and
cultural diversity which prevails over trends towards homogenization and towards
exclusionary isolation;

Considering that, in order to ensure peaceful coexistence between language
communities, overall principles must be found so as to guarantee the promotion and
respect of all languages and their social use in public and in private;

Considering that various factors of an extralinguistic nature (historical, political,
territorial, demographic, economic, sociocultural and sociolinguistic factors and
those related to collective attitudes) give rise to problems which lead to the
extinction, marginalization and degeneration of numerous languages, and that
linguistic rights must therefore be examined in an overall perspective, so as to apply
appropriate solutions in each case;

In the belief that a Universal Declaration of Linguistic Rights is required in order to
correct linguistic imbalances with a view to ensuring the respect and full
development of all languages and establishing the principles for a just and equitable
linguistic peace throughout the world as a key factor in the maintenance of
harmonious social relations;

HEREBY DECLARE THAT:

PREAMBLE

The situation of each language, in view of the foregoing considerations, is the result
of the convergence and interaction of a wide range of factors of a political and legal,
ideological and historical, demographic and territorial, economic and social, cultural,
linguistic and sociolinguistic, interlinguistic and subjective nature.

At the present time, these factors are defined by:

 - The age-old unifying tendency of the majority of states to reduce diversity and
foster attitudes opposed to cultural plurality and linguistic pluralism.

 - The trend towards a worldwide economy and consequently towards a worldwide
market of information, communications and culture, which disrupts the spheres of
interrelation and the forms of interaction that guarantee the internal cohesion of
language communities.

 - The economicist growth model put forward by transnational economic groups which
seeks to identify deregulation with progress and competitive individualism with
freedom and generates serious and growing economic, social, cultural and linguistic
inequality.

Language communities are currently threatened by a lack of self-government, a
limited population or one that is partially or wholly dispersed, a fragile economy, an
uncodified language, or a cultural model opposed to the dominant one, which make it
impossible for many languages to survive and develop unless the following basic
goals are taken into account:

 - In a political perspective, the goal of conceiving a way of organizing linguistic
diversity so as to permit the effective participation of language communities in this
new growth model.

 - In a cultural perspective, the goal of rendering the worldwide communications
space compatible with the equitable participation of all peoples, language
communities and individuals in the development process.

 - In an economic perspective, the goal of fostering sustainable development based
on the participation of all and on respect for the ecological balance of societies and
for equitable relationships between all languages and cultures.

For all these reasons, this Declaration takes language communities and not states
as its point of departure and is to be viewed in the context of the reinforcement of
international institutions capable of guaranteeing sustainable and equitable
development for the whole of humanity. For these reasons also it aims to encourage
the creation of a political framework for linguistic diversity based upon respect,
harmonious coexistence and mutual benefit.

PRELIMINARY TITLE - Concepts

Article 1

1. This Declaration considers as a language community any human society
established historically in a particular territorial space, whether this space be
recognized or not, which identifies itself as a people and has developed a common
language as a natural means of communication and cultural cohesion among its
members. The term language proper to a territory refers to the language of the
community historically established in such a space.

2. This Declaration takes as its point of departure the principle that linguistic rights
are individual and collective at one and the same time. In defining the full range of
linguistic rights, it adopts as its referent the case of a historical language community
within its own territorial space, this space being understood, not only as the
geographical area where the community lives, but also as the social and functional
space vital to the full development of the language. Only on this basis is it possible
to define the rights of the language groups mentioned in point 5 of the present article,
and those of individuals living outside the territory of their community, in terms of a
gradation or continuum.

3. For the purpose of this Declaration, groups are also deemed to be in their own
territory and to belong to a language community in the following circumstances:

i. when they are separated from the main body of their community by political or
administrative boundaries;
 
ii. when they have been historically established in a small geographical area
surrounded by members of otherlanguage communities; or

iii. when they are established in a geographical area which they share with the
members of other language communities with similar historical antecedents.

4. This Declaration also considers nomad peoples within their areas of migration and
peoples established in geographically dispersed locations as language communities
in their own historical territory.

5. This Declaration considers as a language group any group of persons sharing the
same language which is established in the territorial space of another language
community but which does not possess historical antecedents equivalent to those of
that community. Examples of such groups are immigrants, refugees, deported
persons and members of diasporas.

Article 2

1. This Declaration considers that, whenever various language communities and
groups share the same territory, the rights formulated in this Declaration must be
exercised on a basis of mutual respect and in such a way that democracy may be
guaranteed to the greatest possible extent.

2. In the quest for a satisfactory sociolinguistic balance, that is, in order to establish
the appropriate articulation between the respective rights of such language
communities and groups and the persons belonging to them, various factors,
besides their respective historical antecedents in the territory and their
democratically expressed will, must be taken into account. Such factors, which may
call for compensatory treatment aimed at restoring a balance, include the coercive
nature of the migrations which have led to the coexistence of the different
communities and groups, and their degree of political, socioeconomic and cultural
vulnerability.

Article 3

1. This Declaration considers the following to be inalienable personal rights which
may be exercised in any situation:

the right to be recognized as a member of a language community;

the right to the use of one's own language both in private and in public;

the right to the use of one's own name;

the right to interrelate and associate with other members of one's language

community of origin;

the right to maintain and develop one's own culture;

and all the other rights related to language which are recognized in the International
Covenant on Civil and Political Rights of 16 December 1966 and the International
Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights of the same date.

2. This Declaration considers that the collective rights of language groups may
include the following, in addition to the rights attributed to the members of language
groups in the foregoing paragraph, and in accordance with the conditions laid down
in article 2.2:

the right for their own language and culture to be taught;

the right of access to cultural services;

the right to an equitable presence of their language and culture in the
communications media;

the right to receive attention in their own language from government bodies and in
socioeconomic relations.

3. The aforementioned rights of persons and language groups must in no way hinder
the interrelation of such persons or groups with the host language community or
their integration into that community. Nor must they restrict the rights of the host
community or its members to the full public use of the community's own language
throughout its territorial space.

Article 4

1. This Declaration considers that persons who move to and settle in the territory of
another language community have the right and the duty to maintain an attitude of
integration towards this community. This term is understood to mean an additional
socialization of such persons in such a way that they may preserve their original
cultural characteristics while sharing with the society in which they have settled
sufficient references, values and forms of behaviour to enable them to function
socially without greater difficulties than those experienced by members of the host
community.

2. This Declaration considers, on the other hand, that assimilation, a term which is
understood to mean acculturation in the host society, in such a way that the original
cultural characteristics are replaced by the references, values and forms of
behaviour of the host society, must on no account be forced or induced and can
only be the result of an entirely free choice.

Article 5

This Declaration is based on the principle that the rights of all language communities
are equal and independent of the legal or political status of their languages as
official, regional or minority languages. Terms such as regional or minority
languages are not used in this Declaration because, though in certain cases the
recognition of regional or minority languages can facilitate the exercise of certain
rights, these and other modifiers are frequently used to restrict the rights of
language communities.

Article 6

This Declaration considers that a language cannot be considered proper to a
territory merely on the grounds that it is the official language of the state or has been
traditionally used within the territory for administrative purposes or for certain cultural
activities.

TITLE ONE - General Principles

Article 7

1. All languages are the expression of a collective identity and of a distinct way of
perceiving and describing reality and must therefore be able to enjoy the conditions
required for their development in all functions.

2. All languages are collectively constituted and are made available within a
community for individual use as tools of cohesion, identification, communication and
creative expression.

Article 8

1. All language communities have the right to organize and manage their own
resources so as to ensure the use of their language in all functions within society.

2. All language communities are entitled to have at their disposal whatever means
are necessary to ensure the transmission and continuity of their language.

Article 9

All language communities have the right to codify, standardize, preserve, develop
and promote their linguistic system, without induced or forced interference.

Article 10

1. All language communities have equal rights.

 
2. This Declaration considers discrimination against language communities to be
inadmissible, whether it be based on their degree of political sovereignty, their
situation defined in social, economic or other terms, the extent to which their
languages have been codified, updated or modernized, or on any other criterion.

3. All necessary steps must be taken in order to implement this principle of equality
and to render it effective.

Article 11

All language communities are entitled to have at their disposal whatever means of
translation into and from other languages are needed to guarantee the exercise of
the rights contained in this Declaration.

Article 12

1. Everyone has the right to carry out all activities in the public sphere in his/her
language, provided it is the language proper to the territory where s/he resides.

2. Everyone has the right to use his/her language in the personal and family sphere.

Article 13

1. Everyone has the right to acquire knowledge of the language proper to the
territory in which s/he lives.

2. Everyone has the right to be polyglot and to know and use the language most
conducive to his/her personal development or social mobility, without prejudice to
the guarantees established in this Declaration for the public use of the language
proper to the territory.

Article 14

The provisions of this Declaration cannot be interpreted or used to the detriment of
any norm or practice deriving from the internal or international status of a language
which is more favourable to its use within the territory to which it is proper.

SECOND TITLE - Overall linguistic regime

Section I - Public administration and official bodies

Article 15

1. All language communities are entitled to the official use of their language within
their territory.

2. All language communities have the right for legal and administrative acts, public
and private documents and records in public registers which are drawn up in the
language of the territory to be valid and effective and no one can allege ignorance of
this language.

Article 16

All members of a language community have the right to interrelate with and receive
attention from the public authorities in their own language. This right also applies to
central, territorial, local and supraterritorial divisions which include the territory to
which the language is proper.

Article 17

1. All language communities are entitled to have at their disposal and to obtain in
their own language all official documents pertaining to relations which affect the
territory to which the language is proper, whether such documents be in printed,
machine-readable or any other form.

2. Forms and standard administrative documents, whether in printed,
machine-readable or any other form, must be made available and placed at the
disposal of the public in all territorial languages by the public authorities through the
services which cover the territories to which each language is proper.

Article 18

1. All language communities have the right for laws and other legal provisions which
concern them to be published in the language proper to the territory.

2. Public authorities who have more than one territorially historic language within
their jurisdiction must publish all laws and other legal provisions of a general nature
in each of these languages, whether or not their speakers understand other
languages.

Article 19

1. Representative Assemblies must have as their official language(s) the
language(s) historically spoken in the territory they represent.

2. This right also applies to the languages of the communities established in
geographically dispersed locations referred to in Article 1, Paragraph 4.

Article 20

1. Everyone has the right to use the language historically spoken in a territory, both
orally and in writing, in the Courts of Justice located within that territory. The Courts
of Justice must use the language proper to the territory in their internal actions and,
if on account of the legal system in force within the state, the proceedings continue
elsewhere, the use of the original language must be maintained.

2. Everyone has the right, in all cases, to be tried in a language which s/he
understands and can speak and to obtain the services of an interpreter free of
charge.

Article 21

All language communities have the right for records in public registers to be drawn
up in the language proper to the territory.

Article 22

All language communities have the right for documents authenticated by notaries
public or certified by other authorized public servants to be drawn up in the language
proper to the territory where the notary or other authorized public servant performs
his/her functions.

Section II - Education

Article 23

1. Education must help to foster the capacity for linguistic and cultural
self-expression of the language community of the territory where it is provided.

2. Education must help to maintain and develop the language spoken by the
language community of the territory where it is provided.

3. Education must always be at the service of linguistic and cultural diversity and of
harmonious relations between different language communities throughout the world.

4. Within the context of the foregoing principles, everyone has the right to learn any
language.

Article 24

All language communities have the right to decide to what extent their language is to
be present, as a vehicular language and as an object of study, at all levels of
education within their territory: preschool, primary, secondary, technical and
vocational, university, and adult education.

Article 25

All language communities are entitled to have at their disposal all the human and
material resources necessary to ensure that their language is present to the extent
they desire at all levels of education within their territory: properly trained teachers,
appropriate teaching methods, text books, finance, buildings and equipment,
traditional and innovative technology.

Article 26

All language communities are entitled to an education which will enable their
members to acquire a full command of their own language, including the different
abilities relating to all the usual spheres of use, as well as the most extensive
possible command of any other language they may wish to know.

Article 27

All language communities are entitled to an education which will enable their
members to acquire knowledge of any languages related to their own cultural
tradition, such as literary or sacred languages which were formerly habitual
languages of the community.

Article 28

All language communities are entitled to an education which will enable their
members to acquire a thorough knowledge of their cultural heritage (history,
geography, literature, and other manifestations of their own culture), as well as the
most extensive possible knowledge of any other culture they may wish to know.

Article 29

1. Everyone is entitled to receive an education in the language proper to the territory
where s/he resides.

2. This right does not exclude the right to acquire oral and written knowledge of any
language which may be of use to him/her as an instrument of communication with
other language communities.

Article 30

The language and culture of all language communities must be the subject of study
and research at university level.

Section III - Proper names

Article 31

All language communities have the right to preserve and use their own system of
proper names in all spheres and on all occasions.

Article 32

1. All language communities have the right to use place names in the language
proper to the territory, both orally and in writing, in the private, public and official
spheres.

 
2. All language communities have the right to establish, preserve and revise
autochthonous place names. Such place names cannot be arbitrarily abolished,
distorted or adapted, nor can they be replaced if changes in the political situation, or
changes of any other type, occur.

Article 33

All language communities have the right to refer to themselves by the name used in
their own language. Any translation into other languages must avoid ambiguous or
pejorative denominations.

Article 34

Everyone has the right to the use of his/her own name in his/her own language in all
spheres, as well as the right, only when necessary, to the most accurate possible
phonetic transcription of his/her name in another writing system.

Section IV - Communications media and new technologies

Article 35

All language communities have the right to decide the extent to which their language
is be present in the communications media in their territory, whether local and
traditional media, those with a wider scope, or those using more advanced
technology, regardless of the method of dissemination or transmission employed.
 
Article 36

All language communities are entitled to have at their disposal all the human and
material resources required in order to ensure the desired degree of presence of
their language and the desired degree of cultural self-expression in the
communications media in their territory: properly trained personnel, finance,
buildings and equipment, traditional and innovative technology.

Article 37

All language communities have the right to receive, through the communications
media, a thorough knowledge of their cultural heritage (history, geography, literature
and other manifestations of their own culture), as well as the greatest possible
amount of information about any other culture their members may wish to know.

Article 38

The languages and cultures of all language communities must receive equitable and
non-discriminatory treatment in the communications media throughout the world.

Article 39

The communities described in Article 1, paragraphs 3 and 4, of this Declaration, and
the groups mentioned in paragraph 5 of the same article, are entitled to an equitable
representation of their language in the communications media of the territory where
they are established or where they migrate. This right is to be exercised in harmony
with the rights of the other language groups or communities in the territory.

Article 40

In the field of information technology, all language communities are entitled to have
at their disposal equipment adapted to their linguistic system and tools and products
in their language, so as to derive full advantage from the potential offered by such
technologies for self-expression, education, communication, publication, translation
and information processing and the dissemination of culture in general.

Section V - Culture

Article 41

1. All language communities have the right to use, maintain and foster their
language in all forms of cultural expression.

2. All language communities must be able to exercise this right to the full without any
community's space being subjected to hegemonic occupation by a foreign culture.

Article 42

All language communities have the right to full development within their own cultural
sphere.

Article 43

All language communities are entitled to access to the works produced in their
language.

Article 44

All language communities are entitled to access to intercultural programmes,
through the dissemination of adequate information, and to support for activities such
as teaching the language to foreigners, translation, dubbing, post-synchronization
and subtitling.

Article 45

All language communities have the right for the language proper to the territory to
occupy a pre-eminent position in cultural events and services (libraries,
videotheques, cinemas, theatres, museums, archives, folklore, cultural industries,
and all other manifestations of cultural life).

Article 46

All language communities have the right to preserve their linguistic and cultural
heritage, including its material manifestations, such as collections of documents,
works of art and architecture, historic buildings and inscriptions in their own
language.

Section VI - The socioeconomic sphere

Article 47

1. All language communities have the right to establish the use of their language in
all socioeconomic activities within their territory.

2. All members of a language community are entitled to have at their disposal, in
their own language, all the means necessary for the performance of their
professional activities, such as documents and works of reference, instructions,
forms, and computer equipment, tools and products.

3. The use of other languages in this sphere can only be required in so far as it is
justified by the nature of the professional activity involved. In no case can a more
recently arrived language relegate or supersede the use of the language proper to
the territory.

Article 48

1. Within the territory of his/her language community, everyone has the right to use
his/her own language with full legal validity in economic transactions of all types,
such as the sale and purchase of goods and services, banking, insurance, job
contracts and others.

2. No clause in such private acts can exclude or restrict the use of the language
proper to the territory.

3. Within the territory of his/her language community, everyone is entitled to have
the documents required for the above-mentioned operations at his/her disposal in
his/her own language. Such documents include forms, cheques, contracts,
invoices, receipts, delivery notes, order forms, and others.

Article 49

Within the territory of his/her language community, everyone has the right to use
his/her own language in all types of socioeconomic organizations such as labour
and union organizations, and employers', professional, trade and craft associations.

Article 50

1. All language communities have the right for their language to occupy a
pre-eminent place in advertising, signs, external signposting, and in the image of the
country as a whole.

2. Within the territory of his/her language community, everyone has the right to
receive full oral and written information in his/her own language on the products and
services proposed by commercial establishments, such as instructions for use,
labels, lists of ingredients, advertising, guarantees and others

3. All public indications affecting the safety of persons must be expressed at least in
the language proper to the territory, in conditions which are not inferior to those of
any other language.

Article 51

1. Everyone has the right to use the language proper to the territory in his/her
relations with firms, commercial establishments and private bodies and to be served
or receive a reply in the same language.

2. Everyone has the right, as a client, customer, consumer or user, to receive oral
and written information in the language proper to the territory from establishments
open to the public.
 
Article 52

Everyone has the right to carry out his/her professional activities in the language
proper to the territory unless the functions inherent to the job require the use of other
languages, as in the case of language teachers, translators or tourist guides.

ADDITIONAL DISPOSITIONS

First

The public authorities must take all appropriate steps to implement the rights
proclaimed in this Declaration within their respective areas of jurisdiction. More
specifically, international funds must be set up to foster the exercise of Linguistic
Rights in communities which are demostrably lacking in resources. Thus the public
authorities must provide the necessary support so that the languages of the various
communities may be codified, transcribed, taught, and used in the administration.

Second

The public authorities must ensure that the offial bodies, organizations and persons
concerned are informed of the rights and correlative duties arising from this
Declaration.

Third

The public authorities must establish, in the light of existing legislation, the sanctions
to be applied in cases of violation of the linguistic rights laid down in this Declaration.

FINAL DISPOSITIONS

First

This Declaration proposes the creation of a Council of Languages within the United
Nations Organization. The General Assembly of the United Nations Organization is
to be responsible for setting up this Council, defining its functions and appointing its
members, and for creating a body in international law to protect language
communities in the exercise of the rights recognized in this Declaration.

Second

This Declaration recommends and promotes the creation of a World Commission
on Linguistic Rights, a non-official, consultative body made up of representatives of
non-governmental organizations and other organizations working in the field of
linguistic law.

Barcelona, June 1996