Fourth Report of the Federal Republic of Germany in accordance with Article 15 (1) of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages 2010 1 Contents No. Introduction Part A General situation and general framework 00101-00122 Part B Recommendations of the Committee of 00200-00401 Ministers Part C Protection of regional or minority 00701-00793 languages under Part II (Article 7) of the Charter Part D Implementation of the obligations 00800–61400 undertaken with regard to the various languages D.1 General policy remarks regarding the 00800-01400 various articles of the Charter D.2.1 Danish Danish in the Danish language area in 10801-11404 Schleswig-Holstein Art. 8 10801-10838 Art. 9 10901-10904 Art. 10 11001-11005 Art. 11 11101-11126 Art. 12 11201-11210 Art. 13 11301-11303 Art. 14 11401-11404 D.2.2 Sorbian Sorbian (Upper and Lower Sorbian) in the 20000-21313 Sorbian language area in Brandenburg and Saxony Art. 8 20801-20869 Art. 9 20901-20925 Art. 10 21001-21037 Art. 11 21101-21125 Art. 12 21201-21206 Art. 13 21301-21313 D.2.3 North North Frisian in the North Frisian language 30801-31403 Frisian area in Schleswig-Holstein Art. 8 30801-30834 2 Art. 9 30901-30903 Art. 10 31001-31009 Art. 11 31101-31115 Art. 12 31201-31217 Art. 13 31301 Art. 14 31401-31403 D.2.4 Sater Sater Frisian in the Sater Frisian language 40801-41302 Frisian area in Lower Saxony Art. 8 40801-40825 Art. 9 40901-40903 Art. 10 41001-41025 Art. 11 41101-41120 Art. 12 41201-41212 Art. 13 41301-41302 D.2.5 Romani Romani in the language area of the 50801-51403 Federal Republic and of the various Länder Art. 8 50001-50847 Art. 9 50901-50903 Art. 10 51001-51013 Art. 11 51101-51117 Art. 12 51201-51218 Art. 13 51301-51303 Art. 14 51401-51402 D.2.6 Low Low German in the various Länder 60000-61400 German Art. 8 60801-60887 Art. 9 60901-60903 Art. 10 61000-61032 Art. 11 61100-61147 Art. 12 61200-61251 Art. 13 61300-61315 Art. 14 61400 Part E Comments by the minorities/language groups Annex Recent legislation, agreements and other regulations, publications and comments relevant to the implementation of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages and not yet included in any State Report 3 4 Introduction: Like the previous reports, this report was produced by the Federal Ministry of the Interior in cooperation with the responsible Land authorities and federal associations of the speakers of the languages protected by the Charter. An implementation conference held in Berlin on 3–4 December 2009 facilitated cooperation and participation. The federal associations were given another opportunity to express their views on the protection of their languages, which do not have to correspond to the views of federal and state authorities. Section E of this report includes their comments. Part A General situation and general framework A.1 General situation 00101 For information about the general situation, please refer to the Third Report of the Federal Republic of Germany in accordance with Article 15 (1) of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages (Third State Report), Nos. 1 – 4. A.2 The Charter’s scope of application in Germany; reporting requirements 00102 The Second State Report, Nos. 5 to 16, already explained that Germany has limited the Charter’s scope to the regional language Low German and the languages of its national minorities, i.e. autochthonous groups (the Danish minority, the Frisian ethnic group, the Sorbian people, and the German Sinti and Roma). A.3 Detailed information on the individual languages: 00103 See the Second State Report, Nos. 17 to 45, for an overview of the Low German regional language and the minority languages Danish, Sorbian (Upper and Lower Sorbian), Frisian (North Frisian and Sater Frisian) and Romani of the German Sinti and Roma. A.4 Bodies at federal and Länder level A.4.1 Government agencies, other public authorities and commissioners 5 00104 For information on the responsibilities of the federal ministries, in particular of the Federal Ministry of the Interior and the Federal Ministry of Justice, and on the tasks of the Federal Government Commissioner for Matters Related to Repatriates and National Minorities, see Nos. 46 to 50 in the Second State Report; for the responsibilities of government agencies in the Länder see Nos. 51 to 58 in the Second State Report. The following changes were indicated in No. 4 in the Third State Report: - in the State Chancellery of Hesse, a coordination office is responsible for relations with the Sinti and Roma. The head of unit chairs a coordination group made up of representatives of Hesse’s ministry for social and cultural affairs and education to ensure that requests are addressed by the responsible ministry; and - in Schleswig-Holstein, effective 2010 the title is Minister-President’s Commissioner for Minorities. A.4.2 Councils, institutions, and/or round tables at federal level 00105 Federal associations of language communities are involved in government decision-making through conferences on implementing the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities (Framework Convention) and the Charter referred to here. They also participate through advisory committees at the Federal Ministry of the Interior for the Danish minority, the Sorbian people, the Frisians and speakers of Low German and through the Foundation for the Sorbian People. The German Bundestag may convene an ad hoc discussion group on national minorities as needed (cf. Nos. 59 ff. and 68 to 75 in the Second State Report as well as Nos. 5 and 6 in the Third State Report). 00106 00107 For the German Sinti and Roma, no similar bodies are planned. Although the Sinti Alliance Germany has repeatedly expressed its willingness to work with the other umbrella organization of the ethnic group in such a body, it is not clear how the Central Council of German Sinti and Roma and the Sinti Alliance of Germany could cooperate productively. In any case, the two organizations regularly have the opportunity to discuss their concerns with the president of the German Bundestag and representatives of the Länder governments. Since 1994, the last plenary session of the Bundesrat before the Christmas break each year is devoted to remembering the Sinti and Roma victims of Nazi persecution. Following this session, separate meetings chaired by the president of the Bundestag are held with the Central Council of German Sinti and Roma and the Sinti Alliance of Germany. 6 A.4.3 Bodies established for the various languages (Land bodies and organizations) A.4.3.1 The Danish language 00108 Information about Danish minority organizations and speakers of Danish can be found in Nos. 60 to 67 of the Second State Report. Most of this information remains applicable; any relevant changes are noted in Part D. 00109 In No. 40 of its Third Evaluation Report, the Committee of Experts commented in particular on the “Day of the Danish Language” referred to in No. 1023 of the Third State Report. This event was held in the cities of Flensburg, Husum, Leck and Schleswig on 9 February 2006 under the patronage of the president of the Land parliament and offered the public a wide range of offerings to become acquainted with the Danish language. A.4.3.2 The Sorbian language 00109 Information about the Council for Sorbian Affairs in Saxony and Brandenburg and about the Foundation for the Sorbian People, in particular its legal and financial situation, tasks and institutions it funds, can be found in Nos. 68 – 75 of the Second State Report. For information about funding agreements, see No. 00729. A.4.3.3 The Frisian language 00110 The umbrella organizations of the three Friesland regions - North (in Schleswig-Holstein), - East (in Lower Saxony), and - West (in the Netherlands), work together in the Inter-Frisian Council. For a description, see No. 77 in the Second State Report. 00111 Information about the organizations of the Frisian ethnic group in Schleswig- Holstein and Lower Saxony is provided in Nos. 76, 78, and 80 – 84 of the Second State Report. Most of this information remains applicable; any relevant changes are noted in Part D. A.4.3.4 The Romani language 7 00112 In its Nos. 85 to 93, the Second State Report notes that the responsible authorities are aware of two umbrella organizations currently representing German Sinti and Roma: the Central Council of German Sinti and Roma, which includes several associations at Land level and receives federal institutional funding (Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media); and the Sinti Alliance of Germany. Nos. 12 and 13 of the Third State Report also noted that there are no bodies to protect and promote the Romani language because these two organizations have sometimes very different ideas about how their ethnic groups and their history should be represented. 00113 For further information, see No. 13 in the Third State Report. 00114 A third group mentioned in the Third State Report is no longer active in public: This group, which described itself as mainly composed of German Sinti, in 2006 filed a petition with the Federal Ministry of the Interior. Bearing 400 signatures, the petition argued that the Romani spoken by German Sinti was internal to their culture and should not be protected by the Charter or taught at public schools. The petition asked that young German Sinti should receive remedial German language tuition instead in order to overcome general education deficits. 00115 This introduction can only note that the difficulties, described in No. 15a of the Third State Report, of meeting Charter requirements when speakers want to preserve their language in its unwritten form for exclusive use within the group continue to exist, and that the 2005 framework agreement concluded between the government of Rhineland-Palatinate and the Rhineland-Palatinate Land association of German Sinti and Roma continues to be used to take advantage of the limited possibilities to meet these requirements.