National Minorities in the United Kingdom

The Opinion of the Advisory Committee on the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities on the United Kingdom has just been made public together with the government’s comments.

The Advisory Committee – an expert body set up under the Council’s Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities - visited the United Kingdom in March 2007. In its report, the Committee examined the UK legislation and policy framework. It also looked at the implementation level in areas such as discrimination, intercultural dialogue and tolerance. Comments were also made regarding the use of minority languages, education in minority languages as well as the participation of minority communities in the public sector and in decision-making processes.

The Committee of Ministers will now draw on the report as it prepares a Resolution on the issue.

Strasbourg 30.10.2007

For more information and the full report: http://www.coe.int/minorities

The Framework Convention is ratified by 39 States. The Convention includes a monitoring system, whereby the Committee of Ministers, assisted by an advisory committee, evaluates the adequacy of the Convention’s implementation. The Opinions of the Advisory Committee are made public upon upon the adoption of the Committee of Ministers’ resolution but can be made public at an earlier stage at the country’s initiative.

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National Minorities in the United Kingdom 2

National Minorities in the United Kingdom 1