I Raport Dla Sekretarza Generalnego Rady Europy Z
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Strasbourg, 16 February 2015 MIN-LANG (2015) PR 3 EUROPEAN CHARTER FOR REGIONAL OR MINORITY LANGUAGES Second periodical report presented to the Secretary General of the Council of Europe in accordance with Article 15 of the Charter POLAND 1 2nd REPORT FOR THE SECRETARY GENERAL OF THE COUNCIL OF EUROPE CONCERNING IMPLEMENTATION OF PROVISIONS OF THE EUROPEAN CHARTER FOR REGIONAL OR MINORITY LANGUAGES BY THE REPUBLIC OF POLAND Warsaw, 2014 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS: INTRODUCTION …………………………………………………………………………………………….….. 3 PART I: GENERAL ……………………………………………………………………………… 6 1. The number of people using minority and regional languages, according to the General Census of the Population and Households 2011 ………………………………………………………………………………………………..…. 6 2. Information on measures undertaken by the Polish government intended to implement recommendations of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, adopted on 7 December 2011……………………………………………………………………………... 8 3. Information on measures undertaken by the Polish government intended to implement recommendations of Committee of Experts for The European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages …………………………………………………………………...….… 16 PART II: INFORMATION ON IMPLEMENTING RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE COMMITTEE OF EXPERTS FOR THE EUROPEAN CHARTER FOR REGIONAL OR MINORITY LANGUAGES BY THE POLISH GOVERNMENT IN RELATION TO ARTICLE. 7 ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..…… 21 PART 3: INFORMATION ON IMPLEMENTING RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE COMMITTEE OF EXPERTS FOR THE EUROPEAN CHARTER FOR REGIONAL OR MINORITY LANGUAGES BY THE POLISH GOVERNMENT IN RELATION TO ARTICLE. 8, 10, 11, 12, 13 AND 14 …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 30 CONCLUSION ………………………………………………………………………………………….…… 103 LIST OF APPENDICES: Appendix 1 Number of booklets and leaflets transferred to particular groups of addresees in a campaign promoting the use of languages of national and ethnic minorities and a regional language. Appendix 2 Statement of submitted comments concerning the II Report for the Secretary General of the Council of Europe on implementing The European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages by the Republic of Poland which have not been included in the primary text of the Report 3 INTRODUCTION The Committee of Experts for The European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages has pointed out that the selection of provisions of The European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages which the Republic of Poland has decided to use regarding the minority and regional languages is an ambitious choice, because Poland has undertaken to implement the same measures towards all the languages. Additionally, only one signatory state has selected a number of languages greater than Poland. Most states would report a few languages, Poland has chosen 15 of them. This results from the principle of equality of all in respect of the law included in Article 32, passage 1 of the Constitution of the Republic of Poland, and from the right of everyone to be treated equally by the public authorities and, on the other hand, it is compliant with suggestions of minority and regional language users, submitted during consultation of ratification documents of the Charter. Accepting the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages, Poland sees in this convention of the Council of Europe an extremely important instrument to support solutions used in our country before, aimed at protecting the minority and regional languages. A great number of minority languages present in Poland, with small number of their users, makes practical application of provisions of the Charter by people speaking minority languages the main problem in its implementation. Poland tries to create the best (both legal and practical) conditions in this regard, and to encourage to use binding regulations and to use created options, however activity of users and finding methods to encourage them to use minority languages daily in various aspects of public life remains a problem. The European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages is an excellent instrument to protect the languages, however, due to the factors indicated previously, full implementation of all of its provisions must proceed in stages. This implementation is a goal Poland is pursuing by accepting practical solutions aimed to promote all minority and regional languages. Bearing the above in mind, the Polish government constantly undertakes actions to increase the presence of the minority languages and a regional language in public space. To implement the recommendations of the Committee of Experts, and the recommendations of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe for the Polish government regarding presentation of the I Report for the Secretary General of the Council of Europe on Implementing the Provisions of The European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages by the Republic of Poland to the Secretary General of the Council of Europe1, the text of Evaluation Report of 1 The presented document has been prepared by the minister competent for the religious denominations and the national and ethnic minorities, at present it is the Minister of Administration and Digitization. The Report presents information relating to issues included in the Report of the Committee of Experts, and in the document of April 23,2013, MIN-LANG (2013) 5. 4 the Committee of Experts has been published and submitted to entities responsible for implementing the provisions of the Charter. The content of the Report, and the scope of comments and recommendations submitted have also been subjected to a discussion between the Common Commission of the Government and National and Ethnic Minorities. Then, on June 19 2012, within preparations for an expert seminar concerning the I Report, the Ministry of Administration and Digitalization organized a meeting for government administration representatives (of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of National Education, the Ministry of Administration and Digitization) to discuss further actions related to the implementation of the Charter's provisions by Poland. On September 27 – 28 2012, an expert seminar was held in Warsaw dedicated to the implementation of the Charter's provisions by Poland. Then, on March 14, 2014, the Ministry of Administration and Digitalization organized another meeting dedicated to the preparation of II Report on implementing The European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages by Poland, which was attended by representatives of the government and local government administration bodies: The Ministry of Administration and Digitization, the Ministry of National Education, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage, the Marshal Office of the Silesian Province, and the Governor of the Podlaskie Province. It should be emphasized that the Ministry of Administration and Digitalization keeps permanent consultations with the listed institutions and with communities using regional and minority languages to agree actions for further implementation of the Charter's provisions. In addition, it should be indicated that in order to improve, in the next monitoring cycle, the grade obtained by Poland, the Ministry of Administration and Digitalization has commissioned two expert studies. The purpose of the first of them was to assess the implementation degree of the provisions of The European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages by Poland as compared to other states which have ratified the Charter. The second expert's report is intended to propose actions that the government administration should take in order to implement the recommendations formulated by the Committee of Ministers of Europe, and by the Committee of Experts, as well as actions that should be undertaken before drawing up the II Report in order to implement the Charter as fully as possible with regard to particular minority and regional languages. At the same time, measures to implement the recommendations of the Committee of Experts, and the recommendations of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe that have legislative nature are undertaken, an example of which is an amendment of the Act 5 of January 6 2005 on National and Ethnic Minorities and on regional language (Journal of Laws No.17, item 141, with later amendments) in preparation, and also preparing the Regulation of the Minister of National Education of December 18 2013 on the way of dividing parts of general educational subvention for local government units in 2014 (Journal of Laws of 2013, item 1687). Also, actions are being undertaken aimed at promoting the awareness of the minority and regional languages among the Polish population, as well as encouraging the users of the minority and regional languages to fully use their rights. An example of the said activities is a campaign being prepared by the Ministry of Administration and Digitalization to promote the usage of the languages of the national and ethnic minorities and the regional languages, by informing local authorities on obligations resulting from the Charter, promoting among teachers teaching on the aforementioned languages, encouraging the parents of children belonging to the minorities and to a community using a regional language to use options to teach the native languages or in the native languages, by showing the possibility of using the abovementioned languages as auxiliary languages in offices, and by promoting additional names of towns, physiographic names, and street names in these languages, as well