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Application of the Charter in Bosnia and Herzegovina Strasbourg, 11 October 2016 ECRML (2016) 3 EUROPEAN CHARTER FOR REGIONAL OR MINORITY LANGUAGES APPLICATION OF THE CHARTER IN BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA 2nd monitoring cycle A. Report of the Committee of Experts on the Charter (adopted on 18 March 2016) B. Recommendation of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe on the application of the Charter by Bosnia and Herzegovina (adopted on 5 October 2016) ECRML(2016)3 2 The European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages provides for a control mechanism to evaluate how the Charter is applied in State Parties with a view to, where necessary, making recommendations for improving their legislation, policy and practices. The central element of this procedure is the Committee of Experts, set up under Article 17 of the Charter. Its principal purpose is to report to the Committee of Ministers on its evaluation of compliance by a Party with its undertakings, to examine the real situation of regional or minority languages in the State and, where appropriate, to encourage the Party to gradually reach a higher level of commitment. To facilitate this task, the Committee of Ministers adopted, in accordance with Article 15, paragraph 1, an outline for periodical reports that a Party is required to submit to the Secretary General. This outline requires the State to give an account of the concrete application of the Charter, the general policy for the languages protected under Part II and, in more precise terms, all measures that have been taken in application of the provisions chosen for each language protected under Part III of the Charter. The Committee of Experts’ first task is therefore to examine the information contained in the periodical report for all the relevant regional or minority languages on the territory of the State concerned. The periodical report shall be made public by the State in accordance with Article 15, paragraph 2. The Committee of Experts’ role is to evaluate the existing legal acts, regulations and real practice applied in each State for its regional or minority languages. It has established its working methods accordingly. The Committee of Experts gathers information from the respective authorities and from independent sources within the State, in order to obtain a fair and just overview of the real language situation. After a preliminary examination of a periodical report, the Committee of Experts submits, if necessary, a number of questions to each Party to obtain supplementary information from the authorities on matters it considers insufficiently developed in the report itself. This written procedure is usually followed up by an on-the-spot visit by a delegation of the Committee of Experts to the State in question. During this visit the delegation meets bodies and associations whose work is closely related to the use of the relevant languages, and consults the authorities on matters that have been brought to its attention. This information-gathering process is designed to enable the Committee of Experts to evaluate more effectively the application of the Charter in the State concerned. Having concluded this process, the Committee of Experts adopts its own report. Once adopted by the Committee of Experts, this evaluation report is submitted to the authorities of the respective State Party for possible comments within a given deadline. Subsequently, the evaluation report is submitted to the Committee of Ministers, together with suggestions for recommendations that, once adopted by the latter, will be addressed to the State Party. The full report also contains the comments which the authorities of the State Party may have made. 3 ECRML(2016)3 CONTENTS A. Report of the Committee of Experts on the application of the Charter in Bosnia and Herzegovina .................................................................................................................................. 4 Executive Summary ...................................................................................................................... 4 Chapter 1 Background information ............................................................................................. 5 1.1. The Charter’s ratification by Bosnia and Herzegovina ........................................................ 5 1.2. The work of the Committee of Experts ................................................................................ 5 1.3. Presentation of the regional or minority language situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina ......................................................................................................................... 5 1.4. General issues arising in the evaluation of the application of the Charter in Bosnia and Herzegovina .................................................................................................................. 6 Chapter 2 Conclusions of the Committee of Experts on how the authorities of Bosnia and Herzegovina have reacted to the recommendations of the Committee of Ministers ............... 9 Chapter 3 The Committee of Experts' evaluation in respect of Part II and Part III of the Charter ......................................................................................................................................... 10 3.1. Evaluation in respect of Part II of the Charter .................................................................... 10 3.2. Evaluation in respect of Part III of the Charter ................................................................... 15 Chapter 4 Findings of the Committee of Experts in the second monitoring cycle ................. 34 Appendix I: Instrument of ratification ........................................................................................ 36 Appendix II: Comments from the authorities of Bosnia and Herzegovina .............................. 37 B. Recommendation of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe on the application of the Charter by Bosnia and Herzegovina ............................................................ 39 ECRML(2016)3 4 A. Report of the Committee of Experts on the application of the Charter in Bosnia and Herzegovina adopted by the Committee of Experts on 18 March 2016 and presented to the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe in accordance with Article 16 of the Charter Executive Summary 1. Given the small size of most of its minority language groups, Bosnia and Herzegovina has opted for a rather high level of undertakings in its instrument of ratification. These languages, on paper, enjoy a high level of recognition in the minority laws at both national and entity levels, which provide, in principle, for an ambitious scheme of protection. The complex government structure of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with its four levels of government (state; Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Republika Srpska; cantons; municipalities), does not always facilitate the implementation of the Charter and gives rise to co-ordination problems. As part of the establishment of the legal basis for the protection and promotion of these languages, Bosnia and Herzegovina has also initiated the creation of Councils of National Minorities which have the status of consultative bodies to the parliaments at national level, in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and in the Republika Srpska as well as in some cantons. These councils are plagued by a number of problems related to their composition and operation. 2. The relevant legislation at state, entity and cantonal level works with very high thresholds for the official use of minority languages. In addition, the legislation on education sets quite demanding thresholds for teaching in minority languages, but also for offering teaching of minority languages. The statutory thresholds are practically never met. This makes the legal arrangements largely inoperative. As a result, the practical measures on the protection and promotion of minority languages are limited and often of an ad hoc nature. This results in non-fulfilment of most undertakings. 3. At present, the infrastructure necessary to ensure implementation of the Charter does not exist. The authorities should draw up a mid-term strategy on the implementation of the Charter in respect of the minority languages. In view of the present lack of implementation of many of the undertakings chosen, the authorities need to devise flexible and innovative measures. 4. The need for flexible and innovative measures is evident in the field of education, where, with the exception of the teaching of German, Italian, Turkish and Ukrainian at some levels, the minority languages are absent. There are neither trained teachers who would be able to teach the minority languages at all the levels relevant for the implementation of the Charter, nor teaching materials. The authorities, at present, largely limit themselves to supporting language courses initiated and organised by minority associations. 5. As far as the use of the minority languages before judicial authorities and by administrative authorities is concerned, the domestic legal set-up is not in conformity with the Charter. In addition, there is almost no practice in using minority languages before judicial and administrative authorities. 6. Television and radio programmes use the minority languages only to a very limited extent. There is a clear need to increase the use of the minority languages in broadcasting, ensuring the regularity of programmes in these languages. 7. A dedicated scheme providing regular and stable financial support to cultural
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