Strasbourg, 15 March 1999 MIN-LANG/PR (99) 2 THE EUROPEAN CHARTER FOR REGIONAL OR MINORITY LANGUAGES Initial Periodical Report presented to the Secretary General of the Council of Europe in accordance with Article 15 of the Charter THE NETHERLANDS The Netherlands: Frisian EUROPEAN CHARTER FOR REGIONAL OR MINORITY LANGUAGES Report on the measures taken by the Netherlands with regard to the Frisian language and culture Fryske Akademy 1999 I. Introduction 1.1. The Government of the Kingdom of the Netherlands officially notified the Council of Europe on 2 May 1996 that the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages (ETS 148) had been accepted for the Netherlands, after a Bill to this effect had been passed by the Lower House of the Dutch Parliament on 19 October 1995 and by the Upper House on 23 January 1996 (Bulletin of Acts and Orders ( Staatsblad ) 1996, 136). The Netherlands was thus the fourth member State of the Council of Europe to accept or ratify the Charter. The Charter had previously been accepted or ratified by Finland (9 November 1994), Hungary (26 April 1995) and Norway (10 November 1993). By the end of 1997 three other member States had accepted or ratified the Charter, namely Croatia (5 November 1997), Liechtenstein (18 November 1997) and Switzerland (23 December 1997). 1.2. The Charter entered into force on 1 March 1998 when - in accordance with the provisions of Article 19 - the requirement that the Charter be accepted, ratified or approved by at least five member States of the Council of Europe had been fulfilled. Each member State of the Council of Europe that consents to be bound by the Charter is at least bound to apply the provisions of Part II of the Charter, unless one or more reservations have been made as referred to in Article 21, paragraph 1. In addition, a member State may also undertake to apply provisions of Part III of the Charter, in accordance with Article 2, paragraph 2. 1.3. The text of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages of 5 November 1992 was done in English and French. The Government of the Kingdom of the Netherlands published both texts in the 1993 volume of the Dutch Treaty Series ( Tractatenblad ), no. 1. The Dutch translation was published in the 1993 volume of the Dutch Treaty Series, no. 199. No. 20 (at letter C) of the 1998 volume of the Dutch Treaty Series is also relevant to the Dutch translation. 1.4. When accepting the Charter in 1996, the Netherlands undertook to apply the provisions of Part II of the Charter to the following regional or minority languages spoken within its territory: • Frisian • Low Saxon languages • Yiddish • the languages of the Romany. The provisions of the Charter entered into force for the Kingdom of the Netherlands on 1 March 1998. As far as the constituent parts of the Kingdom of the Netherlands are concerned, the Charter will apply only to the Netherlands in Europe (cf. Dutch Treaty Series 1998, 20). 1 1.5. The Government of the Kingdom of the Netherlands gave an additional undertaking to the Council of Europe on 19 March 1997 concerning the official recognition of the language of Limburg as a regional language within the meaning of Article 2, paragraph 1, of the Charter. The Netherlands thereby consented to be bound by the principles of Part II of the Charter in relation to the language of Limburg too (cf. Dutch Treaty Series, 1998 vol., no. 20). 1.6. As regards the Frisian language in the province of Fryslân (Friesland), the Netherlands also undertook - in accordance with Article 2, paragraph 2 of the Charter - to apply a minimum of thirty-five paragraphs or sub-paragraphs chosen from among the provisions of Part III of the Charter, including at least three chosen from each of the Articles 8 (education) and 12 (cultural activities and facilities) and one from each of the Articles 9 (judicial authorities), 10 (administrative authorities and public services), 11 (media) and 13 (economic and social life). 1.7. When accepting the Charter the Netherlands undertook, in accordance with the ”menu‘ system described in the previous subsection, to apply 48 provisions. The provisions to be accepted were chosen on the basis of the existing government policy on the Frisian language and culture. The following provisions were chosen (cf. Dutch Treaty Series, 1998 vol., no. 20): 9 provisions from Article 8 ( education ) Art. 8, paragraph 1, sub-paragraph (a) (ii) pre-school education Art. 8, paragraph 1, sub-paragraph (b) (ii) primary education Art. 8, paragraph 1, sub-paragraph (c) (iii) secondary education Art. 8, paragraph 1, sub-paragraph (e) (ii) university and higher education Art. 8, paragraph 1, sub-paragraph (f) (i) adult and continuing education Art. 8, paragraph 1, sub-paragraph (g) teaching of the history and culture reflected by Frisian Art. 8, paragraph 1, sub-paragraph (h) basic and further training of teachers Art. 8, paragraph 1, sub-paragraph (i) supervisory body for Art. 8 Art. 8, paragraph 2 educational facilities outside the province of Fryslân 6 provisions from Article 9 ( judicial authorities ) Art. 9, paragraph 1, sub-paragraph (a) (ii) in criminal proceedings: right of accused to use Frisian Art. 9, paragraph 1, sub-paragraph (a) (iii) in criminal proceedings: requests and evidence, whether written or oral Art. 9, paragraph 1, sub-paragraph (b) (iii) in civil proceedings: documents and evidence in the language Art. 9, paragraph 1, sub-paragraph (c) (ii) in proceedings before the administrative courts: oral Art. 9, paragraph 1, sub-paragraph (c) (iii) in proceedings before the administrative courts: documents and evidence Art. 9, paragraph 2, sub-paragraph (b) validity of legal documents 2 12 provisions from Article 10 ( administrative authorities and public services ) Art. 10, paragraph 1, sub-paragraph (a)(v) in relation to central government bodies Art. 10, paragraph 1, sub-paragraph (c) in relation to central government bodies Art. 10, paragraph 2, sub-paragraph (a-f) in relation to local and regional authorities Art. 10, paragraph 2, sub-paragraph (g) use of place-names Art. 10, paragraph 4, sub-paragraph (a) additional measures: translation/ interpretation Art. 10, paragraph 4, sub-paragraph (c) additional measures: public service employees Art. 10, paragraph 5 family names 5 provisions from Article 11 ( media ) Art. 11, paragraph 1, sub-paragraph (a)(iii) broadcasting organisations Art. 11, paragraph 1, sub-paragraph (b)(ii) radio programmes Art. 11, paragraph 1, sub-paragraph (c)(iii) television programmes Art. 11, paragraph 1, sub-paragraph (f)(ii) audiovisual productions Art. 11, paragraph 2 broadcasts in Frisian from neighbouring countries 9 provisions from Article 12 ( cultural activities and facilities ) Art. 12, paragraph 1, sub-paragraph (a) general cultural promotion Art. 12, paragraph 1, sub-paragraph (b) translations from regional language into another language Art. 12, paragraph 1, sub-paragraph (d) bodies responsible for organising or supporting various forms of cultural activity Art. 12, paragraph 1, sub-paragraph (e) staff working for the above bodies Art. 12, paragraph 1, sub-paragraph (f) involvement in planning of cultural activities Art. 12, paragraph 1, sub-paragraph (g) repository body Art. 12, paragraph 1, sub-paragraph (h) translation and terminological research services Art. 12, paragraph 2 facilities for users of Frisian beyond the provincial borders Art. 12, paragraph 3 cultural policy abroad 5 provisions from Article 13 ( economic and social life ) Art. 13, paragraph 1, sub-paragraph (a) contracts of employment, instructions for use etc. Art. 13, paragraph 1, sub-paragraph (c) practices designed to discourage use of regional language Art. 13, paragraph 1, sub-paragraph (d) general encouragement Art. 13, paragraph 2, sub-paragraph (b) economic and social sectors directly under control of public authorities Art. 13, paragraph 2, sub-paragraph (c) social care facilities: retirement homes, hospitals etc. 2 provisions from article 14 ( transfrontier exchanges ) Art. 14, paragraph (a) cultural agreement with neighbouring country in which the same language is spoken Art. 14, paragraph (b) international exchange and co- operation. 3 1.8. With a view to the preparation of the periodical report prescribed in Article 15 of the Charter, an inventory of the measures taken by the Netherlands to apply the provisions of Part III accepted by the Netherlands in relation to the Frisian language has been prepared by the Fryske Akademy (Frisian Academy of Arts and Sciences) at the request of the Dutch Ministry of the Interior. 1.9. The Committee of Ministers, as referred to in Article 15 of the Charter, has not yet taken a decision on the form of the report. The inventory referred to in section 1.8 above is confined to the provisions of Part III of the Charter that have been accepted by the Netherlands in relation to the Frisian language. The following report deals with the matters in the same order as in the above- mentioned Part III. First of all, however, the report contains a brief chapter on Frisian as a language since the Middle Ages (chapter II) and a chapter on the current use of Frisian in the province of Fryslân (chapter III). Chapters IV-X provide a survey of the measures taken by the Netherlands to encourage the use of Frisian in public life in accordance with the undertakings given pursuant to Article 2, paragraph 2, of the Charter: • education chapter IV • judicial authorities chapter V • administrative authorities and public services chapter VI • media chapter VII • cultural activities and facilities chapter VIII • economic and social life chapter IX • transfrontier exchanges chapter X The report also contains four annexes giving a concise survey of the increasing attention paid by the Dutch authorities to the Frisian language and culture in the period from 1937 to 1998.