Analysis on the implementation of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages
Analysis on the implementation of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages
JUDr. Piroska Gyuricsek
The Government of the Slovak Republic agreed to sign the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages (hereinafter the "Charter") through Resolution No. 27 of 17 January 2001 and attached the "DECLARATION OF THE SLOVAK REPUBLIC on the signing of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages" (hereinafter the "Declaration") to this Resolution. This Declaration and the submission report to the resolution suggest that, in principle, the Slovak Republic adopted such commitments from the Charter and in such a way as they correspond with the existing legislation. However, if the objectives set out by the Charter and in the spirit of the Charter are really to be accomplished, it will be necessary to take certain legislative and other measures.
Due to the above, the Charter needs to be analysed above all in such a manner as to clarify the objectives, purpose and essence of the Charter.
In principle:
With respect to its legal nature, it is a framework multilateral international treaty of a cultural nature. The framework character of the treaty is given by the fact that the Contracting States may decide which paragraphs, or subparagraphs, they will choose from the individual articles of Part III. At the same time, it has to be borne in mind that other sections of the Charter are binding for the Contracting States. For this reason, when implementing the measures chosen from Part III of the Charter, it is necessary to always take the generally binding objectives and principles set out by the Charter in the Preamble, General Provisions (Part I), and the Objectives and Principles defined under Article 2, paragraph 1 (Part II) as a basis. Simultaneously, it needs to be realised that the provisions under Part IV (Application of the Charter) and Part V (Final Provisions) of the Charter are also binding.
From the formal standpoint, the Charter is a document aimed at creating conditions for the protection, preservation and development of regional or minority languages in the fields of education, justice, public administration, media, culture, economic and social life, and cross-border co-operation.
The Preamble specifies the reasons for having the Charter drawn up and explains its basic philosophical approach.
According to the "Explanatory Report to the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages" (hereinafter the "Explanatory Report"), which should be used as a basis in the implementation of the Charter, the objectives of the Charter include the following in particular:
"As is made clear in the preamble, the Charter's overriding purpose is cultural. It is designed to protect and promote regional or minority languages as a threatened aspect of Europe's cultural heritage. For this reason it not only contains a non-discrimination clause concerning the use of these languages but also provides for measures offering active support for regional or minority languages: the aim is to ensure, as far as reasonably possible, the use of regional or minority languages in education and the media and to permit their use in judicial and administrative settings, economic and social life and cultural activities. Only in this way can such languages be compensated, where necessary, for unfavourable conditions in the past and preserved and developed as a living facet of Europe's cultural identity." (Point 10 of the Explanatory Report)
"The Charter sets out to protect and promote regional or minority languages, not linguistic minorities. For this reason emphasis is placed on the cultural dimension and the use of a regional or minority language in all the aspects of the life of its speakers. The Charter does not establish any individual or collective rights for the speakers of regional or minority languages. Nevertheless, the obligations of the parties with regard to the status of these languages and the domestic legislation which will have to be introduced in compliance with the Charter will have an obvious effect on the situation of the communities concerned and their individual members." (Point 11 of the Explanatory Report)
The Explanatory Report further states that: "… it should be stressed that the Charter does not conceive the relationship between official languages and regional or minority languages in terms of competition or antagonism. Rather, it deliberately adopts an intercultural and multilingual approach in which each category of language has its proper place. This approach corresponds fully to the values traditionally upheld by the Council of Europe and its efforts to promote closer relations between peoples, increased European co-operation and a better understanding between different population groups within the state on an intercultural basis." (Point 14 of the Explanatory Report)
From the perspective of the Constitution of the Slovak Republic, the Charter is an international treaty for the execution of which a law is required (Article 7 (4)).
When exploring the possibilities for implementation of the Charter, attention also needs to be focused on the clarification of two basic terms – "regional or minority languages" and "territory in which the regional or minority language is used". The authors also considered these to be the basic terms. Article l of the Charter defines them as follows:
"For the purposes of this Charter:
a. 'regional or minority languages' means languages that are:
i) traditionally used within a given territory of a State by nationals of that State who form a group numerically smaller than the rest of the State's population; and
ii) different from the official language(s) of that State,
it does not include either dialects of the official language(s) of the State or the languages of migrants;
b. The Explanatory Report comments on another key expression, "the number of people justifying the adoption of the various protective and promotional measures", as follows:
"The authors of the Charter avoided establishing a fixed percentage of speakers of a regional or minority language at or above which the measures laid down in the Charter should apply. They preferred to leave it up to the state to assess, within the spirit of the Charter, according to the nature of each of the measures provided for, the appropriate number of speakers of the language required for the adoption of the measure in question" (Point 35 of the Explanatory Report).
However, the following is stated under point 3 of the Declaration:
"With respect to Article 1 b), the Slovak Republic declares that, in accordance with the legal system of the Slovak Republic, the term 'territory in which the regional or minority language is used' relates to municipalities under Ordinance of the Government of the Slovak Republic No. 221/1999 Coll. of 25 August 1999 issuing the list of municipalities in which citizens of the Slovak Republic belonging to a national minority represent at least 20 per cent of the population."
Although the Slovak Republic hence satisfied the requirement under the Charter to define the "territory in which the regional or minority language is used", this definition will cause a number of problems in the implementation of the Charter. It is limit
As regards another key phrase, "as far as this is reasonably possible", the Explanatory Report states the following:
"The undertakings of the parties in paragraphs 1 and 3 are qualified by the phrase 'as far as this is reasonably possible'. This proviso is not intended to be a substitute for the exercise of the faculty, accorded to the parties by Articles 2, paragraph 2 and 3, paragraph 1, of omitting some of the provisions of Part III of the Charter from their undertakings in respect of each particular language. However, it does seek to take account of the fact that some of the measures provided for have significant implications in terms of finance, staffing or training. An acceptance of a particular provision with respect to a given language necessarily entails a commitment to provide the resources and make the administrative arrangements required to render it effective. Nevertheless, it is recognised that there may be some circumstances in which total and unqualified application of the provision in question is not, or not yet, realistic. The phrase 'as far as this is reasonably possible' allows the parties, in the implementation of the relevant provisions, to determine in individual cases whether such circumstances obtain."
Under the legal system of the Slovak Republic, the "administrative authorities of the state" are state administration authorities, which are divided into central state administration authorities and local state administration authorities. According to Act No. 575/2001 Coll. on the Organisation of the Government's Operation and Organisation of State Administration, central state administration authorities are ministries and other (non-ministerial) central state administration authorities. Due to the proportion of the minority defined by § 2 (1) of Act No. 184/1999 Coll., even though they perform state administration and decide on citizens' rights and interests protected by law, this act does not apply to these authorities. Nevertheless, the Charter contains no such provision either. According to Act No. 222/1996 Coll. as amended, local state administration authorities are district and regional state administration offices. District offices are first-instance local state administration a> However, their proceedings are almost entirely covered by special procedural regulations, therefore, the citizens are virtually unable to exercise their right to submit a written application and receive reply in other than the official language in contact with them.
There is another serious problem related to the issuance of official decisions. § 2 (4) of Act No. 184/1999 Coll. states the following: "Decisions in administrative proceedings of public administration authorities in municipalities defined under section (1) shall be issued in the official language and, upon request, as an authentic copy (rovnopis) in a minority language. In case of doubt, the text of the decision in the official language shall be binding." Rovnopis is not a legal term. It is also inappropriate because it is questionable how an authentic copy in other than the official language can exist. Literal grammatical interpretation of the term eventually leads to the conclusion that the issuance of the decisions in other than the state language is not possible at all.
Municipalities also decide in administrative proceedings, if state administration responsibilities have been delegated to them. However, prior to public administration reform, the majority of responsibilities were held by local state administration authorities, in particular district state administration offices. This included decisions on social benefits, issuance of trade licences, offence proceedings, cadastre proceedings, and many other cases. As a result, the scope of municipalities' decision-making in administrative proceedings was negligible.
The following commitments were assumed from Article 10 Administrative Authorities and Public Services (Part III of the Charter) concerning the activities of territorial self-government authorities:
(2) "In respect of the local and regional authorities on whose territory the number of residents who are users of regional or minority languages is such as to justify the measures specified below, the Paters, reports, official records, public information, etc.)."
Act No. 184/1999 Coll. on the Use of National Minority Languages "balanced out" this provision only by the provisions under § 4 (2) and (3), which read as follows:
"(2) In municipalities defined under § 2 (1), important information, in particular warning, protection and health notices, shall be displayed in publicly accessible places both in the official and the minority language.
(3) Public administration authorities in municipalities defined under § 2 (1) shall, within the scope of their competences in the municipality, provide information about generally binding legal regulations in the relevant minority language upon request." That is, only information.
§ 6 (5) of Act No. 211/2000 Coll. on Free Access to Information and on Amendment and Supplementation of Certain Laws (Freedom of Information Act), reads as follows:
"In municipalities defined by a special law11), the obliged person shall also disclose this information in the language of national minorities.
Reference 11) refers to Act No. 184/1999 Coll. on the Use of National Minority Languages.
According to § 19 (3) of Act No. 154/1994 Coll. on Registrar Offices as amended: "The name in the birth certificate of a person of other than Slovak nationality whom this official extract concerns and whose name was entered in the registrar in Slovak shall be stated in his or her language if so requested in writing."
§ 19 (5) of Act No. 154/1994 Coll. on Registrar Offices as amended reads as follows: “The surname of a female person shall be entered without the Slovak grammatical ending in her birth or marriage certificate, if she so requests in writing."
The above interpretation is therefore not only mistaken, but also discriminatory, because the law makes no difference between a single and married woman and does not forbid the correction of the entry of the mother's surname. The argument that a married woman does not use her birth name is also completely false, because the opposite is true – many legal regulations directly require that the name at birth be stated. Equally, the act does not impose any obligation to indicate the applicant's specific nationality when submitting the request.
Separate notes on other articles of Part II and III of the Charter:
Education:
In this area, the commitments under Article 7 (1) f) and h) of the Charter are applicable. These are not optional and therefore need to be respected. "e. i) to make available university and other higher education in regional or minority languages (commitment assumed for Hungarian)." According to point 5 of the Declaration: "The Slovak Republic declares that Article 8 (1) e) (i) relates to the training of teachers, theologians, and cultural and educational workers, without detriment to education in the official language, where the majority of subjects, including major subjects, are taught in the majority language, while respecting the legal standards of the Slovak Republic in the field of university education. This declaration is problematic in that the term "teaching" probably does not comply with and narrows the objectives, principles and spirit of the Charter. In this context, it should be mentioned that there is neither a special faculty for the Hungarian language nor for the training of teachers, even though there is no obstacle to the establishment by law of a separate university where education would be provided in Hungarian, in compliance with the universities act. The above suggests that it is necessary to prepare and adopt an act on the establishment of such a university. The following commitment from Article 8 (1) e) was also assumed: "ii) to provide facilities for the study of these languages as university and higher education subjects" (the commitment was assumed for Bulgarian, Croatian, Czech, German, Polish, Roma, Ruthenian and Ukrainian). According to the Education Information and Prognoses Institute publication "Excerpt from the Statistical Yearbook on Education in Slovakia 2000, Universities" published in 2001 in Bratislava, the following languages were university education subjects: Hungarian, German, Ukrainian, Polish and Bulgarian. With a view to the above, it will be necessary to provide funding for the study of these languages in compliance with the commitment assumed. The following commitments were also assumed under Article 8 (1): "f. i) to arrange for the provision of adult and continuing education courses which are taught mainly or wholly in the regional or minority languages (commitment assumed for Hungarian), ii) to offer such languages as subjects of adult and continuing education (the commitment was assumed for Bulgarian, Croatian, Czech, German, Polish, Roma, Ruthenian and Ukrainian), g. to make arrangements to ensure the teaching of the history and the culture which is reflected by the regional or minority language (commitment assumed for all languages), h. to provide the basic and further training of the teachers required to implement those of paragraphs a to g accepted by the Party (commitment assumed for all languages), i. 'territory in which the regional or minority language is used' means the geographical area in which the said language is the mode of expression of a number of people justifying the adoption of the various protective and promotional measures provided for in this Charter;
c. 'non-territorial languages' means languages used by nationals of the State which differ from the language or languages used by the rest of the State's population but which, although traditionally used within the territory of the State, cannot be identified with a particular area thereof."
Therefore, regional or minority languages are languages, which are "traditionally used" by a "numerically smaller group" and are "different" from the official language. Another characteristic is the "territory", in which they are used.
Article 3 (l) (Part I of the Charter), which is another key provision, reads as follows:
"Each Contracting State shall specify in its instrument of ratification, acceptance or approval, each regional or minority language, or official language which is less widely used on the whole or part of its territory, to which the paragraphs chosen in accordance with Article 2, paragraph 2, shall apply."
The Explanatory Report states the following regarding the terminology used: "The adjective 'regional' denotes languages spoken in a limited part of the territory of a state, within which, moreover, they may be spoken by the majority of the citizens. The term 'minority' refers to situations in which either the language is spoken by persons who are not concentrated on a specific part of the territory of a state or it is spoken by a group of persons, which, though concentrated on part of the territory of the state, is numerically ssize="3">to set up a supervisory body or bodies responsible for monitoring the measures taken and progress achieved in establishing or developing the teaching of regional or minority languages and for drawing up periodic reports of their findings, which will be made public (commitment assumed for all languages).
In this respect, it should be mentioned that, through Resolution No. 27 of 17 January 2001 (point B.1.), the Government of the Slovak Republic established the Council of the Government of the Slovak Republic for National Minorities and Ethnic Groups as an advisory body to the Government pursuant to Article 7 (4) of the Charter.
Article 7 (4) of the Charter reads as follows:
"In determining their policy with regard to regional or minority languages, the Parties shall take into consideration the needs and wishes expressed by the groups which use such languages. They are encouraged to establish bodies, if necessary, for the purpose of advising the authorities on all matters pertaining to regional or minority languages."
In a way, the above resolution could be understood as a reservation to this article. However, it should definitely not be excluded that the needs and desires formulated by, for instance, professional associations of teachers or representative associations of individual minorities will be taken into consideration.
The following commitments were assumed from Article 9 Judicial Authorities (Part III of the Charter):
(1)
In this case again, only one provision in the Slovak legal system is applicable – § 18 of the Code of Civil Procedure – to which both of the language laws refer and which reads as follows: “The participants of civil court proceedings have equal status. They have the right to use their mother tongue in court actions. The court shall ensure equal conditions for the exercise of their rights."
With a view to the "lex specialis" nature of Article 34 of the Constitution and the fact that Article 47 (4) of the Constitution is, from the systemic standpoint, included under the seventh part Right to Protection by the Court and Other Legal Protection, it can be derived that it is a right guaranteed in general, including to foreigners, and not a specific right of national minorities and ethnic groups, even though under this article of the Constitution: "Anyone who declares that he or she does not have a command of the language in which the proceedings according to section (2) are conducted has the right to an interpreter."
"d. to take steps to ensure that the application of sub-paragraphs i and iii of paragraphs b and c above and any necessary use of interpreters and translations does not involve extra expense for the persons concerned" (this commitment was assumed for all languages).
(2)
The Parties undertake:In this context, it should be mentioned that these laws were supposed to be amended. The following provisions were proposed according to parliamentary paper no. 698-I and no. 699-I: "To an appropriate extent, Slovak Television shall broadcast programming in the languages of national minorities and ethnic groups living in Slovakia. The production and purchase of content for this programming shall be ensured by separately operating organisational units of Slovak Television. The scope and funding for the broadcasting of this programming shall be approved by the Council upon proposal from the general director on the basis of the principle of proportionate representation of the individual national minorities and ethnic groups living in the territory of the Slovak Republic. The organisational framework for the production or purchase of the content for this programming shall be specified by the general director depending on the scope of this programming approved by the Council" (§ 4 (6)).
The draft act on Slovak Radio contains identical provisions in § 5 (5).
Eventually, the two laws were not amended. The Parliament rejected them, even though for different reasons. Nevertheless, this issue will need to be dealt with. In connection with this, it will be necessary to take into account the commitment assumed under Article 7 (4) of the Charter, i.e. to ensure that the needs and wishes expressed by the groups using regional or minority languages are taken into consideration, as well as a similar commitment assumed under (3) of this Article.
The following further commitments were assumed from Article 11 (1):
"In respect of territories other than those in which the regional or minority languages are traditionally used, the Parties undertake, if the number of users of a regional or minority language justifies it, to allow, encourage and/or provide appropriate cultural activities and facilities in accordance with the preceding paragraph."
(3)
"The Parties undertake to make appropriate provision, in pursuing their cultural policy abroad, for regional or minority languages and the cultures they reflect."
The compulsory use of the official language in the means of mass media, at cultural events and public assemblies is laid down by § 5 of Act No. 270/1995 Coll. Exempted from the compulsory use of the official language are cultural events of language minorities, visiting foreign artists and music works with original lyrics, however, the accompanying introduction must be first provided in the official language (section 7). As regards the broadcasting of regional or local television stations, radio stations and radio facilities, other than the official language can only be used before and after the given programme is broadcast in the official language. Specific printed materials for the public, such as gallery, museum and library catalogues, cinema, theatre, and concert programmes and programmes of other cultural events are published in the official language. If necessary, they can contain translations into other languages.
In this context, I must mention that the so-called theatre act (Act No. 384/1997 Coll. on Theatre Activities as amended by Act No. 416/2001 Coll.) contains no special provisions on minority theatres; therefore, minority theatres exist without an explicit basis in the law. This equally applies to minority museums, galleries, libraries, etc. for the benefit of regional or minority languages, to facilitate and/or promote co-operation across borders, in particular between regional or local authorities in whose territory the same language is used in identical or similar form" (this commitment was assumed only for Hungarian, Ukrainian, Czech, German, and Polish).
As regards the application of existing bilateral and multilateral agreements, it is necessary to recall the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, which, in its preamble, as well as in Article 26, emphasises the basic principle of the international law of treaties, which is the "pacta sunt servanda" principle: i.e. pacts must be respected. This is expressed in Article 26 using the following words: "Every treaty in force is binding upon the parties to it and must be performed by them in good faith."
Article 27 is of equal importance with respect to the observance of treaties: "A party may not invoke the provisions of its internal law as justification for its failure to perform a treaty."
Since this Convention needs to be borne in mind in the implementation of the Charter, it is necessary to take measures in compliance with the mission, objectives, principles and the spirit of the Charter.
The control mechanism, laid down in Part IV of the Charter, also must not be forgotten in this context.
Through his Decision No. 250/2001, the President of the Slovak Republic delegated the preparation and negotiation of international treatiesmaller than the population in this region which speaks the majority language of the state. Both adjectives therefore refer to factual criteria and not to legal notions and in any case relate to the situation in a given state (for instance, a minority language in one state may be a majority language in another state)." (Point 14 of the Explanatory Report)
Point 4 of the Declaration states the following:
"Under Article 3 (1) of the European Charter for Regional and Minority Languages, the following are minority languages in the Slovak Republic: Bulgarian, Croatian, Czech, German, Hungarian, Polish, Roma, Ruthenian and Ukrainian." For the application of the provisions of the Charter pursuant to Article 2 (2), these languages are divided into the three groups below:
– Bulgarian, Croatian, Czech, German, Polish and Roma are included in the first group,
– Ruthenian and Ukrainian are included in the second group, and
– Hungarian forms a separate, third group."
Subparagraphs were chosen from Part III of the Charter and its articles for the individual groups of languages at three different levels.
The above, however, also suggests that the Slovak Republic failed to accept the fact that not only minority languages, but also a regional language exists in its territory. According to the submission report to the stated Resolution, the languages listed were selected on the basis of an opinion from the Slovak Academy of Sciences and are referred to by the overall term "minority" because, according to this opinion, no language used in the territory of the Slovak Republic is regional. The reason for this conclusion could be the fact that citizens speaking a regional or minority language were considered above all as citizens belonging to national minorities. Nevertheless, as stated before, this Charter does not deal with the rights of national minorities – its objective is the preservation, protection and development of these languages by means of a variety of measures. In the spirit of the Charter, a difference should be made between persons speaking regional or minority languages and persons belonging to national minorities because, among other things, as is generally known, a person belonging to a minority may have a different mother tongue and may use this language, as well as affiliate him- or herself with the users of this language. This means that the terms "nationality" and "language" do not always overlap. In the spirit of the Charter and according to the stated interpretation of the term "regional language", Hungarian can definitely be regarded as a regional language. For instance, if we consider this in terms of districts, which can be regarded as a "limited part of the territory of a state", it is indisputable that there are districts where the number of Hungarians exceeds 50%, meaning that it is certain that the majority of the local population speak Hungarian. According to the "2001 Census of the Population, Houses and Flats" published by the Slovak Statistical Office, there are 83.3% of Hungarians in the district of Dunajská Streda and 69.1% in the district of Komárno. If we look at this in terms of a geographical territory, such as the Žitný ostrov region, which is formed by the districts of Dunajská Streda and Komárno and can be regarded as a part of the state territory clearly delineated by two rivers, the second condition is also met here – the majority of the local population in this territory speak Hungarian.
If we take the Charter and the Declaration as a basis, it is critical to examine the relationship between Article 3 (1) and Article 2 (2) of the Charter.
Article 2 (Part I of the Charter) reads as follows:
"(1) Each Party undertakes to apply the provisions of Part II to all the regional or minority languages spoken within its territory and which comply with the definition in Article 1.
(2) In respect of each language specified at the time of ratification, acceptance or approval, in accordance with Article 3, each Party undertakes to apply a minimum of 35 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 and 12 and one from each of the Articles 9, 10, 11 and 13."
This means that the Article distinguishes between two main parts of the Charter, namely Part II and Part III (this is also stated under point 38 of the Explanatory Report). "Part II is general in scope and applies in its entirety to all regional or minority languages spoken on the territory of a State Party." (Point 39 of the Explanatory Report) "The Charter does not compel acceptance of both Parts II and III, since a state could confine itself to ratifying the convention without selecting any language for the purposes of the application of Part III. In such a case, only Part II would apply. In general, the spirit of the Charter would require that states make use of the possibilities offered by Part III, which constitutes the essence of the protection afforded by the Charter." (Point 49 of the Explanatory Report)
As shown by this statement, the Slovak Republic has clearly selected 9 languages for the application of Part III of the Charter. For this reason, it is necessary to adopt legislative and other measures enabling the practical implementation of the commitments assumed under Part III of the Charter for each of the languages specified in the Declaration.
In this context, we cannot leave out the issue of territory in which the regional or minority languages are used. Under Article 1 b) of the Charter, territory is one of the determining characteristics of regional and minority languages.
According to the Explanatory Report: "The languages covered by the Charter are primarily territorial languages, that is to say languages which are traditionally used in a particular geographical area. That is why the Charter seeks to define the 'territory in which the regional or minority language is used'. It is not only the territory within which that language is dominant or spoken by the majority, since many languages have become minority languages even in the areas where they have their traditional territorial base. The reason why the Charter is mainly concerned with languages which have a territorial base is that most of the measures which it advocates necessitate the definition of a geographical field of application other than the state as a whole. Obviously there are situations in which more than one regional or minority language is spoken on a given territory; the Charter also covers these situations" (Point 33 of the Explanatory Report.)
The Explanatory Report continues:
"The territory referred to is that where a regional or minority language is spoken to a significant extent, even if only by a minority, and which corresponds to its historical base. Since the terms used in the Charter in this respect are inevitably fairly flexible, it is up to each state to define more precisely, in the spirit of the Charter, the notion of 'regional or minority languages territory', taking into account the provisions of Article 7, paragraph (1) b), regarding protection of the territory of regional or minority languages' (Point 34 of the Explanatory Report).
Article 7 (1) b) (Part II of the Charter), which is fully binding, reads as follows:
"1. In respect of regional or minority languages, within the territories in which such languages are used and according to the situation of each language, the Parties shall base their policies, legislation and practice on the following objectives and principles:
b. the respect of the geographical area of each regional or minority language in order to ensure that existing or new administrative divisions do not constitute an obstacle to the promotion of the regional or minority language in question."
The Explanatory Report states the following on this provision:
"Although the Charter considers it desirable to ensure a consistency between the territory of a regional or minority language and an appropriate territorial administrative entity, it is clear that this objective cannot be achieved in all cases, since settlement patterns may be too complex and the determination of territorial administrative entities may legitimately depend on other considerations than the use of a language. Accordingly, the Charter does not require that the territory of a regional or minority language should in all cases coincide with an administrative unit." (Point 59 of the Explanatory Report)
"On the other hand, the Charter does condemn practices which devise territorial divisions so as to render the use or survival of a language more difficult or to fragment a language community among a number of administrative or territorial units. If administrative units cannot be adapted to the existence of a regional or minority language, they must at least remain neutral and not have a negative effect on the language. In particular, local or regional authorities must be in a position to discharge their responsibilities in relation to these languages" (Point 60 of the Explanatory Report).
The territorial and administrative division of the Slovak Republic is dealt with in Act No. 221/1996 Coll. on the Territorial and Administrative Division of the Slovak Republic, under which self-governing territorial units are municipalities and higher territorial units (§ 2 (1)). Administrative units of the Slovak Republic are regions (kraje) and districts (okresy), or municipalities, if state administration responsibilities have been delegated to them through a special law (§ 7). It should be added that territorial self-government authorities perform their responsibilities at the level of self-governing territorial units and state administration authorities at the level of administrative units.
Despite the generally known settlement pattern of the citizens speaking Hungarian, Act No. 221/1996 Coll. on the Territorial and Administrative Division of the Slovak Republic divides a geographical territory such as the Žitný ostrov region into two regions - the district of Dunajská Streda into the Trnava region and the district of Komárno into the Nitra region. Moreover, only a single settlement (Ladice) from the former district of Nitra was included in the district of Zlaté Moravce. The district of Senec was included in the Bratislava region, i.e. the geographical area of the capital city and Záhorie. The geographical territory of Gemer was included in the Banská Bystrica region and the individual settlements where Hungarian is the prevailing language were divided into five districts – two settlements (Nové Hony and Pinciná) from the former district of Lučenec where included in the district of Poltár and 16 settlements from the former district of Rimavská Sobota in the district of Revúca. The same approach was used in the case of the Bodrog River and Uh River areas. These geographical territories from the former district of Trebišov were divided into two districts. The Uh River region (17 settlements) was included in the district of Michalovce.
This means that this administrative division divided the language community into a number of administrative units and made the use and preservation of the language more complex, which is explicitly condemned by the Charter. As a result, according to the "2001 Census of the Population, Houses and Flats" published by the Slovak Statistical Office, the proportion of the population who identified themselves with the Hungarian national minority amounted to 83.3% in the district of Dunajská Streda, 38.6% in the district of Galanta, 20.4% in the district of Senec, 69.1% in the district of Komárno, 27.9% in the district of Levice, 6.7% in the district of Nitra, 38.3% in the district of Nové Zámky, 35.7% in the district of Šaľa, 27.6% in the district of Lučenec, 22% in the district of Revúca, 41.3% in the district of Rimavská Sobota, 27.4% in the district of Veľký Krtíš, 13.2% in the district of Košice okolie, 11.7% in the district of Michalovce, 30.6% in the district of Rožňava, and 29.3% in the district of Trebišov.
Even though, as was already mentioned, according to the commitment assumed under Part II, Article 7 (1) b) of the Charter, the Parties should base their policies, legislation and practice, inter alia, on the principle of respect of the geographical area of each regional or minority language in order to ensure that administrative divisions do not constitute an obstacle to the promotion of the language in question, the opposite is true at present. A correction of this situation is therefore necessary.
Act No. 302/2001 Coll. on the Self-Government of Higher Territorial Units (Self-Governing Regions) left this situation unchanged, which means that the same applies for regional self-government territories as for the administrative division.
With a view to the fact that Act No. 221/1996 Coll. on the Territorial and Administrative Division of the Slovak Republic, as well as Act No. 302/2001 Coll., apparently fail to respect this requirement of the Charter in a number of cases where the language situation in no way justifies this and these laws fail to comply with the commitments adopted, an amendment of these two laws within the spirit of the Charter and the commitments assumed is necessary.
As was already stated, the term "territory in which the regional or minority languageing because such definition may be an obstacle to the practical implementation of all of the measures adopted for each of the languages acknowledged as regional or minority languages in this Declaration. This conclusion is justified by the fact that the said governmental ordinance was issued on the basis of § 2 (2) of Act No. 184/1999 Coll. on the Use of National Minority Languages, which was issued in order to specify the conditions for the exercise of the right of the national minorities guaranteed under Article 34 (2) b) of the Constitution of the Slovak Republic. This concerns the right of persons belonging to national minorities or ethnic groups to use their languages in official contact. This act does not deal with other areas of life at all; it only refers to special regulations. Act No. 270/1995 Coll. on the Official Language of the Slovak Republic refers to the same special regulations, yet defines official contact for the purposes of the compulsory use of the official language in a much broader scope, while intervening in other areas of life of the minorities.
Under § 2 (1), Act No. 184/1999 Coll. restricts the practical exercise of the right of minorities to use their own language in official contact to the territory of municipalities where persons belonging to a national minority represent at least 20% of the population according to the last census. As a consequence, the use of Bulgarian, Croatian and Polish is automatically and entirely excluded from the practical exercise of this right, since persons belonging to these minorities do not reach such a concentration in any municipality. According to the annex to Governmental Ordinance No. 221/1999 Coll., of the current total of 2920 municipalities in Slovakia (which includes 22 town districts in Bratislava and 17 town districts in Košice) there are 655 municipalities where minorities reach the specified threshold. According to the annex to the said governmental ordinance, of this number, in 512 towns or settlements it is the Hungarian minority, in 18 settlements the Ukrainian minority, in 68 settlements the Ruthenian minority and in 57 settlements the Roma minority, the second largest minority at the national level. Eventually, there is only one settlement where the threshold is reached by Germans.
Under § 6 of Act No. 184/1999 Coll.: "In the application of this Act, the use of the Czech language in official contact shall be deemed to satisfy the requirement of basic comprehensibility with the official language, unless specified otherwise in an international treaty binding for the Slovak Republic." Through this provision, Czech was acknowledged as a "quasi official language".
Article 7 (1) d) of the Charter, which is fully binding, reads as follows:
"In respect of regional or minority languages, within the territories in which such languages are used and according to the situation of each language, the Parties shall base their policies, legislation and practice on the following objectives and principles:
"d. the facilitation and/or encouragement of the use of regional or minority languages, in speech and writing, in public and private life."
The Explanatory Report comments on this provision as follows:
"… promotion must include action in favour of the possibility to use regional or minority languages freely, both orally and in writing, not only in private but also in community life, that is to say within the framework of institutions, social activities and economic life. The place which a regional or minority language may occupy in public contexts will obviously depend on its own particular features and will vary from one language to another. The Charter does not lay down precise objectives in this respect but is content to call for an effort of promotion" (Point 62).
Article 10 Administrative Authorities and Public Services (Part III) is decisive with respect to the use of regional or minority languages in contact with state administration authorities and territorial self-government authorities.
The Explanatory Report states the following on Article 10 of the Charter:
"The purpose of this article is to allow the speakers of regional or minority languages to exercise their rights as citizens and fulfil their civic duties in conditions that respect their mode of expression" (Point 100)
"The provisions [under Article 10] are mainly designed to improve communication between the public authorities and those who use regional or minority languages. It is true that social and cultural situations have evolved in such a way that the very great majority of the people speaking these languages are bilingual and able to use an official language in order to communicate with the public authorities. However, allowing the use of regional or minority languages in relations with those authorities is fundamental to the status of these languages and their development and also from a subjective standpoint. Clearly, if a language were to be completely barred from relations with the authorities, it would in fact be negated as such, for language is a means of public communication and cannot be reduced to the sphere of private relations alone. Furthermore, if a language is not given access to the political, legal or administrative sphere, it will gradually lose all its terminological potential in that field and become a 'handicapped' language, incapable of expressing every aspect of community life."
Under this Article, the Charter distinguishes, in the types of action taken by the public authorities, three categories:
"– action by administrative authorities of the state: that is to say the traditional acts of the public authorities, especially in the form of the exercise of public prerogatives or powers under ordinary law (paragraph 1);
– action by local and regional authorities, that is general sub-national territorial authorities with powers of self-government (paragraph 2); and
– action by bodies providing public services, whether under public or private law, where they remain under public control: postal services, hospitals, electricity, transport, and so on (paragraph 3)." (Point 102 of the Explanatory Report)
The following commitments were made under Article 10 Administrative Authorities and Public Services (Part III) concerning the action by administrative authorities:
(1) Within the administrative districts in which the number of residents who are users of regional or minority languages justifies the measures specified below and according to the situation of each language, the Parties undertake, as far as this is reasonably possible:
a.
ii) to ensure that such of their officers as are in contact with the public, use the regional or minority languages in their relations with persons applying to them in these languages;
(for Hungarian; however, a declaration was attached to this provision)
iii) to ensure that users of regional or minority languages may submit oral or written applications and receive a reply in these languages; or
iv) to ensure that users of regional or minority languages may submit oral or written applications in these languages;
(for Bulgarian, Croatian, Czech, German, Polish, Roma, Ruthenian and Ukrainian)
uthorities and regional offices are the appealing authorities.
With respect to Article 10 (1) a) ii), point 6 of the Declaration states that the Slovak Republic will interpret this provision "without detriment to the use of the official language in compliance with the Constitution of the Slovak Republic and in accordance with the provisions of Act No. 184/1999 Coll. of 10 July 1999 on the Use of National Minority Languages", which means that the situation should remain unchanged.
This declaration means that the Slovak Republic makes a reservation under Article 21 Part V of the Charter, which the contracting parties are allowed to do with respect to paragraphs 2 to 5 of Article 7. With a view to the approach to this issue under Act No. 184/1999 Coll. on the Use of National Minority Languages, the reservation in this form probably does not comply with the objectives, principles and spirit of the Charter.
Here, I would like to mention the general rule of interpretation of international treaties contained in Article 31 (1) of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, which states the following:
"A treaty shall be interpreted in good faith in accordance with the ordinary meaning to be given to the terms of the treaty in their context and in the light of its object and purpose."
According to Ministry of Foreign Affairs Notice No. 53/1994 Coll., the Slovak Republic succeeded to this Convention effective from 1 January 1993. The Convention was promulgated through Minister of Foreign Affairs Decree No. 15/1988 Coll. Due to the above, the Convention is binding for the Slovak Republic.
Article 7 (2) of the Charter reads as follows:
"The Parties undertake to eliminate, if they have not yet done so, any unjustified distinction, exclusion, restriction or preference relating to the use of a regional or minority language and intended to discourage or endanger the maintenance or development of it. The adoption of special measures in favour of regional or minority languages aimed at promoting equality between the users of these languages and the rest of the population or which take due account of their specific conditions is not considered to be an act of discrimination against the users of more widely-used languages."
Since citizens speaking a regional or minority language fail to reach the 20% threshold in any of the regional capitals, Act No. 184/1999 Coll. does not provide for the possibility that officers at regional offices would use regional or minority languages, not even in the case of Hungarian. Moreover, pursuant to § 7 (1) of this Act, employees of public administration authorities (this act uses this legislative shortcut for state and public administration authorities) only 'may' use a minority language.
The above equally applies to the scope of use of regional or minority languages by the staff of district state administration offices. In this context, it is necessary to point to the commitment arising from Article 7 (1) g), which is not optional. This concerns the provision of facilities enabling non-speakers of a regional or minority language living in the area where this language is used to learn it if they so desire.
Due to the concentration of language minorities in regional capitals, they do not have the right to submit written applications in other than the official language to any of the regional state administration offices nor receive reply in their own language. This applies to all regional or minority languages. In some cases, district offices have their branch offices or registrar offices outside the district capital. To a certain extent, the branch offices compensate for the fact that the administrative division in areas where large districts where retained (in southern Slovakia) made state administration more distant from the citizens. Of the 79 district capitals, there are 8 where the Hungarian minority reaches the 20% threshold. The Ruthenian minority reaches the threshold only in one district. Other minorities fail to reach this threshold in any of the district capitals. For this reason, the possibility to submit oral or written applications to district state administration offices is completely excluded for other languages. Obviously, the same is true about the possibility of receiving reply in these languages.
In the case of Hungarian, there are a total of 15 branch offices located outside district capitals. There are none in the case of other languages. This determines the possibilities of submitting oral or written applications, as well as receiving reply in regional or minority languages with respect to these languages.
The main activity of registrar offices at district state administration offices is the issuance of public documents. Under Act No. 184/1999 Coll. and Act No. 270/1995 Coll., the issuance of these documents in other than the official language is completely impermissible. This means that in this case the citizens have the right to submit a written application in other than the official language, yet they can only receive the "reply", i.e. the public document, in the official language.
As regards the issuance of decisions in administrative proceedings, these can be considered a "reply" pursuant to Ministry of the Interior Instruction No. 203-99/04594 of 08.09.1999. The problem is that this is only an instruction that can be modified at any time and that Act No. 184/1999 Coll., in § 2 (4), only refers to the general procedural regulation – the Code of Administrative Procedure. This general procedural regulation is only used in a subsidiary manner, i.e. secondarily, when a special procedural regulation does not specify otherwise. Due to the extensive diversity of the issue, besides some rare exceptions, a special procedural regulation exists for each area of administrative proceedings and the number of decisions issued purely on the basis of the Code of Administrative Procedure is very small.
In addition to regional and district state administration offices, there are also other, so-called specialised state administration authorities. For instance, tax offices, according to Act No. 254/1993 Coll. on Territorial Financial Authorities as amended, and customs offices, according to Act No. 240/2001 Coll. on Customs State Administration Authorities as amended by Act No. 422/2002 Coll., are also local state administration authorities.
a. the use of regional or minority languages within the framework of the regional or local authority; (only for Hungarian)
b. the possibility for users of regional or minority languages to submit oral or written applications in these languages;
c. the publication by regional authorities of their official documents also in the relevant regional or minority languages;
d. the publication by local authorities of their official documents also in the relevant regional or minority languages;
e. the use by regional authorities of regional or minority languages in debates in their assemblies, without excluding, however, the use of the official language(s) of the State;
g. the use or adoption, if necessary in conjunction with the name in the official language(s), of traditional and correct forms of place-names in regional or minority languages."
(the commitments under b) through g) were chosen for all languages)
The Explanatory Report states the following concerning the terms "allow and/or encourage":
"The terms of paragraph 2, and in particular the undertaking of the parties to "allow and/or encourage", are drafted so as to take account of the principle of local and regional autonomy. They do not signify that less importance is attached to the application of the provisions set out therein, which concern the public authorities closest to the citizen. Generally said, the CAHLR (Committee of Experts on Regional or Minority Languages in Europe) was aware that the application of some of the Charter’s provisions falls within the competence of local or regional authorities and may entail substantial costs for these authorities. The parties should ensure that the implementation of the Charter respects the principle of local autonomy as defined in the European Charter of Local Self-Government, and in particular its Article 9, paragraph 1, which stipulates that: 'Local authorities shall be entitled, within national economic policy, to adequate financial resources of their own, of which they may dispose freely within the framework of their powers.'" (Point 105 of the Explanatory Report)
Under the legal system of the Slovak Republic, "local and regional authorities" are territorial self-government authorities, which are divided into the local self-government and regional self-government. Under Act No. 369/1990 Coll. on Municipalities as amended, local self-government is constituted by towns and settlements. In the sense of this act, the authorities of a municipality are: the council and mayor of the settlement or, in the case of towns, the town council and the mayor of the town. Under Act No. 302/2001 Coll. on the Self-Government of Higher Territorial Units (Self-Governing Regions), regional self-government is constituted by self-governing regions. According to § 2 of this Act, regional self-government authorities are the assemblies and heads of self-governing regions.
With a view to the stated facts, the use of regional or minority languages, including Hungarian, within the system of local authorities is possible only at the level of local self-government authorities meeting the condition under § 2 (l) of Act No. 184/1999 Coll., i.e. in municipalities listed in the annex to Governmental Ordinance No. 221/1999 Coll. This possibility is completely ruled out at the level of regional self-government authorities (letter a.).
This is equally true about the possibility of submitting oral or written applications in these languages, with the exception that, besides Hungarian, this possibility is available at the level of local self-government also for Roma, Ukrainian, Ruthenian and, in one settlement, for German to the extent described above (letter b.).
As regards the commitments assumed under c. and d., i.e. the publication of official documents by regional and local authorities also in the relevant regional or minority languages, several facts should be considered.
Under Act No. 369/1990 Coll. on Municipalities as amended, this is applicable above all to the resolutions of municipal councils and generally binding ordinances of municipalities. Under Act No. 302/2001 Coll. on Self-governing Regions, this concerns primarily the resolutions and generally binding ordinances of assemblies of self-governing regions. Generally binding ordinances of municipalities and self-governing regions are legal regulations binding in their jurisdictions. In other words, they are normative legal acts ("local laws") issued in order to meet the self-government's tasks or on the basis of authorisation given by law and within the limits of the law.
According to § 3 of Act No. 270/1995 Coll. on the Official Language of the Slovak Republic:
"The official language shall be used:
a) to publish laws, governmental ordinances and other generally binding regulations, including regulations of territorial self-government authorities, decisions and other public documents,
c) to maintain all official records (registrars, records, resolutions, statistics, regis: 0cm 0cm 0pt; TEXT-INDENT: 14.2pt">According to § 1 (1) of Act No. 211/2000 Coll., municipalities are also an obliged person. Under § 5 (1) e) of this Act, this information includes an outline of regulations, orders, instructions and interpretations, which the obliged person uses in decision-making or which define the rights and obligations of natural persons and legal entities in respect of the obliged person. That is, only an outline, not the actual official documents.
The publication of the official documents of local territorial self-government authorities is currently possible to this extent. In the case of regional self-government authorities, this is out of question entirely even though this may have to do with the possibility of exercising the right of minorities to receive information in their mother tongue guaranteed by the Constitution (Article 34 (1)). This individual right should not be limited to the municipalities where the proportion of minorities reaches 20%.
The situation is even worse with respect to the commitments assumed under e) and f), i.e. the use of regional or minority languages by regional authorities in debates in their assemblies, without excluding the use of the official language, because under 3 (3) b) of Act No. 270/1995 Coll. on the Official Language of the Slovak Republic, debates of public and legal authorities are conducted in the official language. According to § 3 (1) of Act No. 184/1999 Coll., "the debates of territorial self-government authorities in municipalities defined under § 2 (1) can be conducted in a minority language providing that this is agreed upon by everyone present." In this context, it should be mentioned that debates of territorial self-government authorities are, as a matter of principle, always public. As a result, it may occur that if a single person present at a debate in a municipality where the proportion of minorities reaches 20% disagrees with the unanimous decision of the members of the municipal council to conduct the debate in other than the official language, he or she can prevent the use of other than the official language in the debate. Even § 3 (2) of the said Act cannot compensate for the requirement of consent from everyone present: "The members of municipal councils in municipalities defined under § 2 (1) have the right to use the minority language in the debates of this body. Interpreting shall be provided for by the municipality."
Another problem related to regional assemblies is the fact that under Act No. 303/2001 Coll. on Elections to Regional Self-Government Bodies, the elections are to be conducted using the majority electoral system. As a result, Hungarian MPs reached a proportion exceeding 50% only in one self-governing region (Nitra) in the first elections to regional self-government bodies.
In this situation, it is questionable to what extent the right to participate in affairs related to national minorities and ethnic groups guaranteed by the Constitution can be exercised.
The Slovak Republic's legal system deals with issue of the use or adoption of traditional and correct forms of place-names in regional or minority languages (a commitment assumed under Article 10 (2) g) of the Charter) as follows:
According to § 3 (3) d) of Act No. 270/1995 Coll. on the Official Language of the Slovak Republic:
"The official language shall be used: … for the official names of municipalities and their parts, streets and other public places, other place-names, as well as for information on state maps, including cadastre maps; the use of names of municipalities in other than the official language is governed by a special law6)."
§ 4 (1) of Act No. 184/1999 Coll. on the Use of National Minority Languages states the following:
"Municipalities defined under § 2 (1) can use names of streets and other local place-names in the minority language."
Under reference 6), Act No. 270/1995 Coll. specifies Act No. 191/1994 Coll. on the Indication of Names of Municipalities in National Minority Languages.
As the title of the act suggests, it does not concern the official recognition of the names of municipalities in other languages, but only the indication of the beginning and end of municipalities where the proportion of members of a national minority is at least 20% on a separate road sign; individual parts of these municipalities cannot be indicated in this way. (§ 1 (1))
Under § 2 of this act: "In official contact, especially in public documents, municipality stamps and cartographic works, the names of the municipalities in the official language shall be used exclusively."
The annex to this act contains a list of municipalities where the road signs in minority languages are to be used. The list includes 425 municipalities to be indicated in Hungarian (there are 512 of them according to Governmental Ordinance No. 221/1999 Coll.). The list includes a total of 96 municipalities to be indicated in Ruthenian or Ukrainian (there are a total of 86 of them according to the above governmental ordinance). As regards the indication of municipalities in German, the list contains 2 settlements, but this governmental ordinance contains only 1 settlement. As regards the indication of settlements in Roma, the list contains no such settlements at all. In this respect, however, it is questionable whether historical names of municipalities in this language exist. Nevertheless, it can be definitely stated that there are differences between this list and the annex to the governmental ordinance in the case of Hungarian, Ruthenian, Ukrainian and German. In addition, the municipalities are divided by districts as defined in Act No. 517/1990 Coll. on the Territorial and Administrative Division of the Slovak Republic, which was abolished through Act No. 221/1996 Coll.
Under § 3 (2) and (3) of Act No. 191/1994 Coll., municipalities can decide in a local referendum to change the municipality name stated in the annex to this act or determine the name of a municipality if it is not included in the list. For the referendum to be valid, more than a half the municipality's eligible voters must participate. The decision is approved if 80% of valid votes in the referendum are for it.
A serious problem is the fact that under § 3 (3) of this Act, this does not apply to municipalities whose names were changed between 1867 and 1918 and between 1938 and 1945. This is for instance the case of the towns of Bernolákovo, Gabčíkovo, Štúrovo and Sládkovičovo. These names have nothing in common with the history of these municipalities.
This problem is serious because this provision deprives the populations of these municipalities – unlike the populations of other municipalities, which meet this criterion – of the possibility to decide using the means of direct democracy. They are disadvantaged and discriminated against, even though this is condemned by the Charter.
For the above reason, it is necessary to also amend Act No. 191/1994 Coll. to align it with the Charter and the commitments assumed.
The following measures were chosen from Article 10 Administrative Authorities and Public Services for the field of public services:
(3) "With regard to public services provided by the administrative authorities or other persons acting on their behalf, the Parties undertake, within the territory in which regional or minority languages are used, in accordance with the situation of each language and as far as this is reasonably possible:
b. to allow users of regional or minority languages to submit a request and receive a reply in these languages, (the commitment was assumed only for Hungarian) or
c. to allow users of regional or minority languages to submit a request in these languages." (this commitment was assumed for the other minority languages)
Under the legal system of the Slovak Republic, "authorities providing public services", which are under public control, are mainly public law institutions, which, according to the relevant laws, for instance include health insurance companies, the Social Insurance Agency and labour offices.
Act No. 184/1999 Coll. did not include them in the legislative shortcut "public administration authorities" (§ 2 (3)) at all.
On the contrary, Act No. 270/1995 Coll. included them in the legislative shortcut "public law authority", which also covers public law institutions (§ 3 (1)).
For the above reason, it is entirely impossible at present to use other than the official language in contact with these institutions.
This means that Act No. 270/1995 Coll. and Act No. 184/1999 Coll. also need to be amended.
The following commitments were assumed from paragraph 4 of Article 10 Administrative Authorities and Public Services for all regional or minority language:
"With a view to putting into effect those provisions of paragraphs 1, 2 and 3 accepted by them, the Parties undertake to take one or more of the following measures:
a. translation or interpretation as may be required
c. compliance as far as possible with requests from public service employees having a knowledge of a regional or minority language to be appointed in the territory in which that language is used." The need to amend both of the language law can therefore also be seen in this case.
Paragraph 5 of Article 10 Administrative Authorities and Public Services was adopted for all regional or minority languages to the full extent:
"The Parties undertake to allow the use or adoption of family names in the regional or minority languages, at the request of those concerned."
The issue of the use of names and surnames is addressed in two laws in the legal system of the Slovak Republic – Act No. 300/1993 Coll. on Names and Surnames as amended and Act No. 154/1994 Coll. on Registrar Offices as amended.
Under § 2 (1) of Act No. 300/1993 Coll., a person born in the territory of the Slovak Republic can be given more names, including foreign names, however, no more than three names.
Act No. 154/1994 Coll. deals with the issue of the use of names and surnames in regional or minority languages by including provisions that are restitutional in nature and allow for the correction of the first entry of the name in the registrar, as well as the removal of the Slovak grammatical ending in female surnames, if a person of other than Slovak nationality requests so; this procedure is not subject to charges (§ 19 (3) and (5) to (7)).
It can therefore be stated that the issue of using names and surnames in regional or minority languages is addressed satisfactorily in these two acts.
The problem, however, is their practical application.
The document Conclusions from the Meeting of State Citizenship and Registrar Offices Staff of District Offices held on 13 and 14 October 1994 in Bardejov, by which the registrar offices of district offices abide, states the following, among other things: "At the same time, we would like to note the fact that the use of a female surname without the relevant grammatical ending in the registrar or extract from the registrar (§ 19 (5)) is only possible for the surname currently used by the applicant. This possibility is not applicable to the applicant's earlier surnames that are no longer used (e.g. surname at birth)."
Examples: Upon marriage, after 01.07.1994, Mrs. Szabová, who is of Hungarian nationality, requested that her surname be entered in the registrar without the grammatical ending. The engaged couple agreed to use the same surname "Nagy – Nagy" after marriage. In this case, the request of the named person only related to the surname adopted upon marriage, i.e. "Nagy". This means that the applicant's surnames will be stated in the book of marriages, as well as on the marriage certificate, as follows: surname at birth "Szabová" and the surname that the engaged couple agreed to use after marriage: "Nagy – Nagy". The surname of the applicant's mother cannot be modified either."
Moreover, according to the Conclusions, the applicants are required to specifically state their nationality in the declaration, which in any case goes beyond the framework of the law.
Article 7 (1) f) and h) (Part II of the Charter) read as follows:
"In respect of regional or minority languages, within the territories in which such languages are used and according to the situation of each language, the Parties shall base their policies, legislation and practice on the following objectives and principles:
f. the provision of appropriate forms and means for the teaching and study of regional or minority languages at all appropriate stages,
h. the promotion of study and research on regional or minority languages at universities or equivalent institutions."
The following commitments from Article 8 (Part III of the Charter) Education were adopted:
(1)
"With regard to education, the Parties undertake, within the territory in which such languages are used, according to the situation of each of these languages, and without prejudice to the teaching of the official language(s) of the State:
a.
i) to make available pre-school education in the relevant regional or minority languages (commitment assumed for Hungarian) or
ii) to make available a substantial part of pre-school education in the relevant regional or minority languages (commitment assumed for Ruthenian and Ukrainian)
iii) to apply one of the measures provided for under i) and ii) above at least to those pupils whose families so request and whose number is considered sufficient (commitment assumed for Bulgarian, Croatian, Czech, German, Polish and Roma)
b.
i) to make available primary education in the relevant regional or minority languages (commitment assumed for Hungarian)
ii) to make available a substantial part of primary education in the relevant regional or minority languages (commitment assumed for Ruthenian and Ukrainian)
iii) to provide, within primary education, for the teaching of the relevant regional or minority languages as an integral part of the curriculum (commitment assumed for Bulgarian, Croatian, Czech, German, Polish and Roma)
c.
i) to make available secondary education in the relevant regional or minority languages (commitment assumed for Hungarian)
ii) to make available a substantial part of secondary education in the relevant regional or minority languages (commitment assumed for Ruthenian and Ukrainian)
iii) to provide, within secondary education, for the teaching of the relevant regional or minority languages as an integral part of the curriculum (commitment assumed for Bulgarian, Croatian, Czech, German, Polish and Roma)
d.
i) to make available technical and vocational education in the relevant regional or minority languages (commitment assumed for Hungarian) or
ii) to make available a substantial part of technical and vocational education in the relevant regional or minority languages (commitment assumed for Ruthenian and Ukrainian)
iii) to provide, within technical and vocational education, for the teaching of the relevant regional or minority languages as an integral part of the curriculum (commitment assumed for Bulgarian, Croatian, Czech, German, Polish and Roma).
The Slovak Republic's legal system contains only one law, which concerns the issue of the use of minority languages at the level of primary and secondary education. It is Act No. 29/1984 Coll. on the System of Primary and Secondary Schools (Schools Act) as amended, which both language laws only refer to.
§ 3 (1) of the above Act reads as follows:
"Education and schooling are conducted in Slovak. The right of the citizens of Czech, Hungarian, German, Polish and Ukrainian (Ruthenian) nationality to education in their language shall be secured to an extent appropriate to the interests of their national development."
This provision allows for broad interpretation, provides no guarantees and can be described as very unspecific and flexible.
According to Ministry of Education data, the network of nursery, primary and secondary schools currently contains: 277 state nursery schools with Hungarian as the language of instruction, 101 with Slovak and Hungarian as the languages of instruction, 22 with Ukrainian as the language of instruction, 3 with Slovak and Ukrainian as the languages of instruction and 1 with Slovak and German as the languages of instruction; 2 church nursery schools with Hungarian as the language of instruction; 259 state primary schools with Hungarian as the language of instruction, 29 with Slovak and Hungarian as the languages of instruction, 7 with Ukrainian as the language of instruction, 1 with Slovak and Ukrainian as the languages of instruction, 1 with German as the language of instruction; 1 private primary school with Bulgarian as the language of instruction and 12 church primary schools with Hungarian as the language of instruction; 11 state gymnasia with Hungarian as the language of instruction, 8 with Slovak and Hungarian as the languages of instruction, 1 with Ukrainian as the language of instruction; 1 private gymnasium with Hungarian as the language of instruction, 4 church gymnasia with Hungarian as the language of instruction; 6 state secondary vocational schools with Hungarian as the language of instruction, 14 with Slovak and Hungarian as the languages of instruction, 1 private secondary vocational school with Hungarian as the language of instruction, 5 state secondary apprentice schools with Hungarian as the language of instruction, 22 with Slovak and Hungarian as the languages of instruction; 3 private secondary apprentice schools with Hungarian as the language of instruction; and, 14 state special schools with Hungarian as the language of instruction and 17 with Slovak and Hungarian as the languages of instruction.
The following commitment under Article 8 (1) of the Charter was also assumed in the field of education:
"The Parties undertake, in respect of those judicial districts in which the number of residents using the regional or minority languages justifies the measures specified below, according to the situation of each of these languages and on condition that the use of the facilities afforded by the present paragraph is not considered by the judge to hamper the proper administration of justice:
a. in criminal proceedings
ii) to guarantee the accused the right to use his/her regional or minority language; and/or
iii) to provide that requests and evidence, whether written or oral, shall not be considered inadmissible solely because they are formulated in a regional or minority language" (these commitments were assumed for all languages)
Only one provision in the Slovak legal system is applicable in this case – § 2 (14) of the Penal Code – which reads as follows:
"Every person is entitled to use his/her mother tongue before authorities involved in criminal proceedings."
"b. in civil proceedings
ii) to allow, whenever a litigant has to appear in person before a court, that he or she may use his or her regional or minority language without thereby incurring additional expense, and/or
iii) to allow documents and evidence to be produced in the regional or minority languages (these commitments were assumed for all languages)
c. in proceedings before courts concerning administrative matters
ii) to allow, whenever a litigant has to appear in person before a court, that he or she may use his or her regional or minority language without thereby incurring additional expense to this party, and/or
iii) to allow documents and evidence to be produced in the regional or minority languages, if necessary by the use of interpreters and translations" (these commitments were assumed for all languages).
"a. not to deny the validity of legal documents drawn up within the State solely because they are drafted in a regional or minority language; (this commitment was assumed only for Hungarian)
(3)
The Parties undertake to make available in the regional or minority languages the most important national statutory texts and those relating particularly to users of these languages, unless they are otherwise provided" (this commitment was assumed for Hungarian, Ukrainian and Ruthenian).
With respect to this article, it needs to be mentioned that the issue of territory in which the regional or minority languages are used arises here again, since court districts are not identical with the territory of municipalities where the proportion of persons using regional or minority language reaches 20%. This fact again points to the need to amend Act No. 270/1995 Coll. on the Official Language of the Slovak Republic and Act No. 184/1999 Coll. on the Use of National Minority Languages.
The following commitments were assumed from Article 11 Media:
(1)
"The Parties undertake, for the users of the regional or minority languages within the territories in which those languages are spoken, according to the situation of each language, to the extent that the public authorities, directly or indirectly, are competent, have power or play a role in this field, and respecting the principle of the independence and autonomy of the media:
a. to the extent that radio and television carry out a public service mission:
iii) to make adequate provision so that broadcasters offer programmes in the regional or minority languages (this commitment was assumed for all languages)
b.
ii) to encourage and/or facilitate the broadcasting of radio programmes in the regional or minority languages on a regular basis (this commitment was assumed for all languages)
c.
ii) to encourage and/or facilitate the broadcasting of television programmes in the regional or minority languages on a regular basis (this commitment was assumed for all languages)
d.
to encourage and/or facilitate the production and distribution of audio and audiovisual works in the regional or minority languages" (this commitment was assumed for all languages).
The area of public television and public radio is governed by Act No. 254/1991 Coll. on Slovak Television as amended and Act No. 255/1991 Coll. on Slovak Radio as amended. In § 5 (1), Act No. 270/1995 Coll. on the State Language refers to them stating that broadcasting in the languages of national minorities and ethnic groups is governed by special regulations. They only contain one provision concerning broadcasting in other languages.
§ 3 (3) of Act No. 254/1991 reads as follows:
"By means of television broadcasting in their mother tongue, Slovak Television ensures the exercise of the interests of nationalities and ethnic groups living in the Slovak Republic."
§ 5 (2) of Act No. 255/1991 Coll. reads as follows:
"By means of radio broadcasting in their mother tongue, Slovak Radio ensures the exercise of the interests of nationalities and ethnic groups living in the Slovak Republic."
"e.
i) to encourage and/or facilitate the creation and/or maintenance of at least one newspaper in the regional or minority languages; (this commitment was assumed for all languages) or
f.
i) to cover the additional costs of those media which use regional or minority languages, wherever the law provides for financial assistance in general for the media, (this commitment was assumed only for Hungarian) or
ii) to apply existing measures for financial assistance also to audiovisual productions in the regional or minority languages" (this commitment was assumed for Bulgarian, Croatian, Czech, German, Polish, Roma, Ruthenian and Ukrainian).
As regards the press, the Slovak legal system deals with this issue in Act No. 81/1966 Coll. on Periodical Press and Other Means of Mass Media as amended. This law, however, contains no language-related provisions. Despite this, § 5 (5) of Act No. 270/1995 Coll. on the Official Language of the Slovak Republic refers to this act.
Periodical and non-periodical press in regional or minority languages does de facto exist, but has no basis in any law. This also concerns the issue of financing minority cultures, which is yet to be regulated by a law. Periodical and non-periodical press is financed from the Ministry of Culture budget using a special purpose transfer under the Ministry's budget chapter and according to rules drawn up by the Ministry.
For this reason, the area of financing will need to be comprehensively addressed by a law.
The following commitments from Article 11 Media were also assumed:
(2)
"The Parties undertake to guarantee freedom of direct reception of radio and television broadcasts from neighbouring countries in a language used in identical or similar form to a regional or minority language, and not to oppose the retransmission of radio and television broadcasts from neighbouring countries in such a language. They further undertake to ensure that no restrictions will be placed on the freedom of expression and free circulation of information in the written press in a language used in identical or similar form to a regional or minority language. The exercise of the above-mentioned freedoms, since it carries with it duties and responsibilities, may be subject to such formalities, conditions, restrictions or penalties as are prescribed by law and are necessary in a democratic society, in the interests of national security, territorial integrity or public safety, for the prevention of disorder or crime, for the protection of health or morals, for the protection of the reputation or rights of others, for preventing disclosure of information received in confidence, or for maintaining the authority and impartiality of the judiciary" (this commitment was assumed for all languages).
(3)
"The Parties undertake to ensure that the interests of the users of regional or minority languages are represented or taken into account within such bodies as may be established in accordance with the law with responsibility for guaranteeing the freedom and pluralism of the media" (this commitment was assumed for all languages).
From Article 12 of the Charter (Part III):
Cultural Activities and Facilities – equal commitments were assumed for all languages:
(1)
"With regard to cultural activities and facilities especially libraries, video libraries, cultural centres, museums, archives, academies, theatres and cinemas, as well as literary work and film production, vernacular forms of cultural expression, festivals and the culture industries, including inter alia the use of new technologies - the Parties undertake, within the territory in which such languages are used and to the extent that the public authorities are competent, have power or play a role in this field:
a. to encourage types of expression and initiative specific to regional or minority languages and foster the different means of access to works produced in these languages;
b. to foster the different means of access in other languages to works produced in regional or minority languages by aiding and developing translation, dubbing, post-synchronisation and subtitling activities;
c. to foster access in regional or minority languages to works produced in other languages by aiding and developing translation, dubbing, post-synchronisation and subtitling activities;
d. to ensure that the bodies responsible for organising or supporting cultural activities of various kinds make appropriate allowance for incorporating the knowledge and use of regional or minority languages and cultures in the undertakings which they initiate or for which they provide backing;
e. to promote measures to ensure that the bodies responsible for organising or supporting cultural activities have at their disposal staff who have a full command of the regional or minority language concerned, as well as of the language(s) of the rest of the population; (see the Declaration below)
f. to encourage direct participation by representatives of the users of a given regional or minority language in providing facilities and planning cultural activities;
g. to encourage and/or facilitate the creation of a body or bodies responsible for collecting, keeping a copy of and presenting or publishing works produced in the regional or minority languages."
(2)
Theatres and museums of national minorities and ethnic groups, as well as civic associations, foundations, interest association and other organisations focusing on their cultural activities, are financed from the budget of the Ministry of Culture, the budget regional self-governments and the special transfer under the Ministry of Culture budget chapter according to rules drawn up by the Ministry, as was already stated.
Equal commitments for all languages were assumed from Article 13 Economic and Social Life:
(1)
"With regard to economic and social activities, the Parties undertake, within the whole country:
a. to eliminate from their legislation any provision prohibiting or limiting without justifiable reasons the use of regional or minority languages in documents relating to economic or social life, particularly contracts of employment, and in technical documents such as instructions for the use of products or installations;
b. to prohibit the insertion in internal regulations of companies and private documents of any clauses excluding or restricting the use of regional or minority languages, at least between users of the same language;
c. to oppose practices designed to discourage the use of regional or minority languages in connection with economic or social activities."
(2)
"With regard to economic and social activities, the Parties undertake, in so far as the public authorities are competent, within the territory in which the regional or minority languages are used, and as far as this is reasonably possible (…):
c. to ensure that social care facilities such as hospitals, retirement homes and hostels offer the possibility of receiving and treating in their own language persons using a regional or minority language who are in need of care on grounds of ill-health, old age or for other reasons."
Point 8 of the Declaration states the following:
"The Slovak Republic declares that Article 12 (1) e) and Article 13 (2) c) can be applied providing that the effects of their application are not at variance with other provisions within the legal system of the Slovak Republic concerning the prohibition of discrimination against the citizens of the Slovak Republic in labour law relations in the territory of the Slovak Republic."
Act No. 270/1995 Coll. deals with the area of economic and social life in § 8 as follows:
(1) "In the interest of consumer protection, the use of the official language shall be compulsory in the labelling of the composition of domestic or imported goods, in user instructions, in particular for foodstuffs and medicines, in the terms of the warranty and other consumer information.
(2) Written legal documents related to labour relations shall be made out in the official language.
(3) Financial and technical documentation, Slovak technical standards, and statutes of associations, unions, political parties and movements, and companies shall be made out in the official language.
(4) All documentation of healthcare establishments shall be maintained in the official language. The communication between healthcare professionals and patients shall be usually conducted in the official language; if the patient is a citizen or foreigner who does not have a command of the official language, it can be conducted in a language that makes communication with the patient possible.”
Transfrontier exchanges
In the field of international co-operation, the following commitment made under Article 7 (1) i) of the Charter (Part II) should be mentioned:
"In respect of regional or minority languages, within the territories in which such languages are used and according to the situation of each language, the Parties shall base their policies, legislation and practice on the following objectives and principles:
(…)
i) the promotion of appropriate types of transnational exchanges, in the fields covered by this Charter, for regional or minority languages used in identical or similar form in two or more States."
The following commitments were assumed from Article 14 Transfrontier Exchanges (Part III of the Charter):
"The Parties undertake:
a) to apply existing bilateral and multilateral agreements which bind them with the States in which the same language is used in identical or similar form, or if necessary to seek to conclude such agreements, in such a way as to foster contacts between the users of the same language in the States concerned in the fields of culture, education, information, vocational training and permanent education; (this commitment was assumed for all languages)
b)
Within the Slovak legal system, the conclusion of agreements on cross-border co-operation is possible under Act No. 369/1990 Coll. on Municipalities as amended and under Act No. 222/1996 Coll. on the Organisation of Local State Administration as amended, within the scope of their competence. Such international co-operation is also possible at the level of regional self-governments pursuant to Act No. 302/2001 Coll. on the Self-Government of Higher Territorial Units (Self-Governing Regions Act).