Fourth Report of the Republic of Armenia in Accordance with Paragraph 1 of Article 15 of the European Charter for Regional Or Minority Languages
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Strasbourg, 29 September 2015 MIN-LANG (2014) PR 7 EUROPEAN CHARTER FOR REGIONAL OR MINORITY LANGUAGES Fourth periodical report presented to the Secretary General of the Council of Europe in accordance with Article 15 of the Charter ARMENIA FOURTH REPORT OF THE REPUBLIC OF ARMENIA IN ACCORDANCE WITH PARAGRAPH 1 OF ARTICLE 15 OF THE EUROPEAN CHARTER FOR REGIONAL OR MINORITY LANGUAGES Yerevan 2015 Contents Introduction Part 1 Practical steps taken at national level summarising results of the third monitoring round of implementation of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages Analysis of the situation Part 2 Measures taken and programmes implemented after the Third Report submitted by the Republic of Armenia aimed at implementation of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. Steps taken in accordance with articles Part 3 Information on the third monitoring round of implementation of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages Concerning the comments of the Committee of Experts Part 4 Implementation of the Recommendation of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe on the application of the Charter by Armenia Annexes Annex 1 Distribution of permanent population of the Republic of Armenia by ethnic origin Annex 2 Migration dynamics by lists of national affiliation Annex 3 List of settlements where Yezidi/Kurdish language is instructed at state general education schools Annex 4 Additional information on the national minorities of the Republic of Armenia INTRODUCTION 1. Armenia’s third periodical report was due on 12 February 2011, but for objective and subjective reasons, it was submitted to the Secretary General of the Council of Europe only on 11 October 2012. The Third Report was posted on the website of the Government of the Republic of Armenia, after being sent to the Council of Europe. http://www.gov.am/u_files/file/kron/qax32-251%5B1%5D.pdf 2. According to Article 16 of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages, the Republic of Armenia submits the Fourth Report on the course of measures aimed at the implementation of the principles of the Charter and the provisions of the Charter, as well as on the results of the third round of observations of the Committee of Experts on application of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages in Armenia, on practical steps implemented at national level within the framework of the Recommendation of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe. 3. The Report has been drawn up by the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Armenia. The Report is comprised of introduction, four parts and four annexes. The following has been taken into account in the process of preparing the Fourth Report: (1) Practical steps taken at national level, summarising the results of the third monitoring round of implementation of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. Analysis of the situation; (2) Measures taken and programmes implemented after the Third Report submitted by the Republic of Armenia aimed at the implementation of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. Steps taken in accordance with articles; (3) Information on the third monitoring round of the implementation of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. Concerning the comments of the Committee of Experts; (4) Implementation of the Recommendation of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe on the application of the Charter by Armenia; (5) Annexes. 4. The Report covers issues relating to national minority languages since the issue of regional language does not exist in Armenia, and the Republic of Armenia, with the ratification of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages, has undertaken to develop policies and define an action plan aimed only at the protection and development of national minority languages /Russian, Greek, Yezidi, Kurdish, Assyrian/. It is conditioned by the fact that other ethnic groups present in Armenia, benefitting from the attention of the authorities, implement various programmes aimed at the preservation of their ethnic groups and development of the language. Pursuant to the Decision of the Government of the Republic of Armenia No 1483-N of 23 November 2007 “On establishing the procedure for preparation and approval of national reports of the Republic of Armenia in accordance with the international obligations of the Republic of Armenia”, the procedure for the preparation and approval of national reports of the Republic of Armenia in accordance with the international obligations of the Republic of Armenia was established, according to the Annex. 5. The Report was drawn up based on information provided by the Staff to the President of the Republic of Armenia and the Staff of the Government of the Republic of Armenia, the Public Council of the Republic of Armenia, ministries and marzpetarans [regional administrations] of the Republic of Armenia, and on analysis of proposals of representatives of national minorities of the Republic of Armenia. 6. The draft Report was provided to the structures responsible for the activities aimed at the application of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages, and considerations delivered thereby have been taken into account. 7. Pursuant to point 6 of the Decision of the Government of the Republic of Armenia No 1483-N of 23 November 2007, in order to prepare the National Report in accordance with the international obligations undertaken by the Republic of Armenia, an inter-agency working group was established under the Order of the Minister of Education and Science of the Republic of Armenia No 75-A/Q of 10 February 2015: - Staff to the President of the Republic of Armenia; - National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia; - Staff of the Government of the Republic of Armenia; - Civil Service Council of the Republic of Armenia; - Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Armenia; - Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Armenia; - Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Armenia; - Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Armenia; - Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs of the Republic of Armenia; - Ministry of Territorial Administration and Emergency Situations of the Republic of Armenia; - Judicial Department of the Republic of Armenia; - National Statistical Service of the Republic of Armenia; - National Commission on Television and Radio of the Republic of Armenia; - Council of the Public Television and Radio Company of the Republic of Armenia; - Ministry of Healthcare of the Republic of Armenia; - Office of the Human Rights Defender of the Republic of Armenia; - Sub-Commission on Education, Culture and Language under the Commission on the National Minorities of the Public Council of the Republic of Armenia. 8. In elaborating the Report, the working group has co-operated with non-governmental organisations of national minorities. Part 1 Practical steps taken at national level, summarising results of the third monitoring round of implementation of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages Analysis of the situation 9. Pursuant to Article 14.1 of the Constitution of the Republic of Armenia, discrimination based on sex, race, skin colour, ethnic or social origin, genetic features, language, religion, world view, political or other views, membership to a national minority, property status, birth, disability, age, or other personal or social circumstances is prohibited. 10. In Armenia, the Law of the Republic of Armenia “On the Human Rights Defender” was adopted in 2003; later the Staff to the Human Rights Defender has been established. Since 2011, a defender of the rights of the national minorities has been functioning within the Staff to the Human Rights Defender. In 2012, “Department of Vulnerable Groups Protection and Co-operation with Non-governmental Organisations” was established under the Staff to the Human Rights Defender, one of the strategic objectives of which was protection of the linguistic rights of national minorities. Since 2013, inter alia, the person responsible for protection of the rights of the national minorities has been the Adviser to the Human Rights Defender. 11. Under the Decision of the National Assembly “On ratification of the Charter”, by point 1 of Article 3 of the Charter, the Republic of Armenia declares that: “Within the meaning of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages, minority languages in the Republic of Armenia are the Assyrian, Yezidi, Greek, Russian and Kurdish languages”. As stated in the Third Report, when the Government of the Republic of Armenia has undertaken, in particular, the introduction of the Assyrian language as a national minority language in the education system, some leaders of the Assyrian ethnic community made a statement urging that they did not accept the concept “minority language”, preferring instead the expressions “native language” and “national language”, and that they consider Russian to be their native language. However, other representatives of the Assyrians consider Assyrian language to be the native language of the Assyrian ethnic community. The European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages does not specify the national minority language as ethnic, native or national language. Moreover, there is no definition as to the native language, in general, being an ethnic or national language. Pursuant to the Charter, regional or minority languages are those traditionally used within a given territory