Summary

The  guide aims to serve as a practical tool to assist policymakers and right holders to have a better understanding of linguistic rights as well as to provide best practices that could be replicated in different contexts. It is aimed to assist in the efforts to achieve the necessary balance between a state’s official language or languages, and its obligations to use or respect the language preferences of linguistic minorities. Protection and promotion of  language rights can also help to preserve the world’s linguistic diversity.

The Guide aims to:

• clarify the various rights of linguistic minorities relevant to language use and preferences;
• clarify the obligations of state authorities towards linguistic minorities;
• support the development and continuous improvement of effective (including cost-efficient  approaches to and practices for, these rights of linguistic minorities; and
• promote consistent approaches to the participation and inclusion of minorities in public life and the implementation of their language rights