Monday, July 25, 2005
Human Cultural Rights
In April 2002 Scanian organisations met in Stockholm with a delegation from the Council of Europe – The Expert Committee of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. Sweden ratified the Charter on 9 February 2000. Three prominent organisations from Scania met with the committee – Stiftelsen Skånsk Framtid, Skånska Akademien and the Scanian Regional Institute. The three organisations delivered a presentation on the situation in Scania.The Committee’s subsequent report, published in June 2003, the following paragraphs were included:
§ 30. During its "on-the-spot visit" to Sweden the delegation of the Committee met representatives of the speakers of Scanian. The organisation "The Foundation for the Future of Scanian" also communicated a written comment to the Committee of Experts in accordance with paragraph 2 of article 16 of the Charter. During the meeting, the Scanian representatives made it clear that their aim was not to secure protection under the Charter for Scanian as a living regional or minority language, but to put an end to what they regarded as the unjustified neglect by the Swedish Government and Academia of the history and traditions of Scanian. They felt that a stigma was attached to the use of Scanian because of a lack of respect for these matters.
§ 31. Where there exists a linguistic continuum with persons in adjacent territories speaking variants similar to one another, the distinction between a language and a dialect can be a difficult question. It involves not only the linguistic criterion, but also often political, social, cultural and historical criteria. The Committee understands that there is an on-going debate in Sweden on the status of Scanian.
§ 32. The Committee is nevertheless concerned by any suggestions of prejudice used against a specific dialect or language, independent of the official definition of this idiom. The Committee notes with approval the proposals in the report of the Committee on the Swedish Language to ensure respect for local varieties of Swedish. It is hoped that this will go some way towards redressing the feelings of resentment, which the representatives of Scanian organisations expressed.
It has now been three years since the report was made public. The three Scanian organisations have been waiting in vain for the Swedish Government to initiate a dialogue as per recommendation by the Council. Either the Government has not read the report or it has no intention of following the recommendations from the Council of Europe. Knowing the Government’s long-lasting antipathy to the Scanian culture and language, it is probably the latter.
In a second report from the Council of Europe, this time from Advisory Committee on the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities, the following paragraph is included.
§ 19. The Advisory Committee notes that representatives of certain organisations from Scania and Gotland have made efforts to obtain from the Government a fuller recognition of, and support for, the specific linguistic and other concerns of the people residing in these regions, including in the context of the implementation of the Framework Convention. At the same time, the authorities are of the opinion that the persons residing in these areas do not constitute a national minority since they only speak dialects of the Swedish language. The Advisory Committee considers that the issue could be addressed through dialogue between persons belonging to the groups concerned and the authorities.
There has been no response or activities from the Swedish Government on this recommendation either. The organisations who met with The Advisory Committee on the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities in April 2002 and The Expert Committee of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages in November 2002 are still waiting in anticipation for any sign of life from the Swedish Government.
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Vad bra att du har lagt upp det på nätet, nu har jag i alla fall någonting att hänvisa till i min uppsats!
Jag hoppas det kommer att hända någonting nu (efter 3år).
Jag hoppas det kommer att hända någonting nu (efter 3år).
# posted by 
: 25 July 2005 18:56
: 25 July 2005 18:56
Has any local newspapers ever mentioned these Council of Europe recommendations? And did you put out press releases at the time (or lately)?
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