Protection of Croatian As a Minority Language in Europe

chapter 26 Protection of Croatian as a Minority Language in Europe

Vesna Crnić-Grotić*

Protection of minorities has been one of the main focuses of Professor Vukas’s professional work, especially regarding treatment of the Croatian minority liv- ing in other European countries.1 I will always be grateful to him for introduc- ing me to this fascinating field of international law. Croats have been present in a number of mostly Eastern and Central European countries for centuries. They were driven from their old country by a range of reasons, be it economic, political or, on many occasions, by wars and violent changes of rulers and borders. In their new countries, nevertheless, they have managed to preserve their national and cultural identity despite sometimes hostile environments. Since the dissolution of former Yugoslavia this issue has received a new momentum – once members of one of the major- ity nations, Croats, just like other nations in former Yugoslavia (Serbs, Slovenes, Macedonians, Muslims), became members of minorities in all the new republics except Bosnia and Herzegovina.2 One of the main tokens of identity of national minorities in Europe is their proper language. Croatian, besides being the official language in Croatia, is also spoken in other European countries: Austria, Bosnia, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Italy, fyr Macedonia, Montenegro, Romania, Serbia and Slovenia. In most of them Croatian is spoken as a minority language, whereas in some of the former Yugoslav republics it is one of the co-official languages. In Bosnia and Herzegovina Croatian is one of the official languages. In practice,

* Professor of Public International Law at the University of Rijeka, Faculty of Law. 1 “The Rights of the Slovene and Croatian minorities in Austria in the light of international law”, in: Actual questions, Ljubljana, 1976, pp. 17–21; Le problème des minorités dans les rap- ports yougoslavo-autrichiens: recueil d’articles et de documents (with J. Matjaž), Beograd, 1977; “Pravila međunarodnog prava o pravnom položaju gradišćanskih Hrvata u Austriji”, in: Razprave in gradivo, Nos. 7–8, Ljubljana, 1976, pp. 49–68. 2 According to the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina three nations – Croats, Serbs and Bosniacs – are considered ‘constituent’ peoples and their languages are equal. The Constitution is an annex to the General Framework Agreement for Peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina (‘the Dayton Peace Agreement’), signed in Paris on 14 December 1995.

478 Crnić-Grotić however, the closeness to and similarity of Croatian with Serbian, Montenegrin and Bosnian may blur the distinction between the different language usages. In Slovenia Croatian is not recognized as a minority language, nor are Croatians recognized as a national minority. It is the purpose of this article to give an overview of the status of the Croatian language as a minority language under the respective national legis- lations as well as under international law. In particular, we shall look into the implementation of the Council of Europe Charter for Regional or Minority Languages (hereafter: the Charter) and the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities (hereafter: fcnm). All but two of the above listed states are parties to both of these treaties and are subject to their respect ive monitoring mechanisms. Accordingly, they are obliged to submit period ical reports about their implementation which are examined by independent expert bodies and evaluated by the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe. In this way, it is possible to acquire an objective picture of the state of the Croatian language as a minority language in other European countries. Italy and fyr Macedonia are parties only to the fcnm. Although not language- specific, this treaty also imposes certain language-related obligations with regard to minority languages. In addition, Croatia has concluded several bilateral treaties with the object ive of granting reciprocal protection to languages spoken in both kin-states. This is the case with Hungary, Italy, Serbia, Montenegro and the fyr Macedonia, so Croatian receives specific protection in these countries as a minority language. i The European Charter for Regional and Minority Languages

The Charter was signed in 1992 but it came into force in 1998 for the first five states parties. As of September 2014 it has 25 states parties and 8 signatories.3 It was conceived within the Council of Europe in an effort to preserve the multi- lingual profile of Europe, and after the attempts to integrate linguistic rights

3 European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages, ets No. 148, adopted on 5 November 1992, entered into force on 1 March 1998. The Parliamentary Assembly obliged a group of east European countries, upon their accession to the Council of Europe, to sign and ratify the Charter within a certain time-limit. However, out of eleven designated states, Albania, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Moldova, the Russian Federation and ‘the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia’ have still not ratified the Charter.