The Universal Declaration of Linguistic Rights (known also as the Barcelona Declaration) is a document signed by the International PEN Club, and several non-governmental organizations in 1996 to support linguistic rights, especially those of endangered languages. The document was adopted at the conclusion of the World Conference on Linguistic Rights held 6–9 June 1996 in Barcelona, Spain. It was also presented to the UNESCO Director General in 1996 but the Declaration has not gained formal approval from UNESCO.
History
Precursors
150px|thumb|right|Francisco Gomes de Matos
Although the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) has language as one of its categories for equal rights, it does not explicitly list and elaborate on linguistic rights. Even with declarations and rules on protecting specific languages and their rights, there was no binding document at that time that referred to all the languages or to world linguistic rights. As such, there have been attempts to fill this gap by expanding on the importance of linguistic rights in the global scene.
In addition, the Universal Declaration of Linguistic Rights (UDLR) holds regards to several policies that motivated the respect of linguistic rights. Some of the documents include:
- Declaration on the Rights of Persons belonging to National, Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities
- European Convention on Human Rights
- European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages
- Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities
- International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
- Universal Declaration of the Collective Rights of Peoples
The idea of a Declaration was first proposed in 1984, where a Brazilian by the name of Francisco Gomes de Matos introduced to the International Federation of Modern Language Teachers (FIPLV), a plea for a Universal Declaration of Linguistic Rights. He listed some of the principal linguistic rights, together with their educational implications.
One of the most significant motivations stemmed from the 12th Seminar of the International Association for the Development of Intercultural Communication of 1987, held in Recife, Brazil, which also recommended the introduction of a declaration for linguistic rights. The Seminar then adopted a preliminary declaration that indexed some fundamental types of linguistic rights.
As such, the UDLR does not distinguish among official, non-official, majority, local, regional, and minority languages. There was much complexity tied to the drafting process because it was not easy to come up with equal measures, definitions and reasons, especially since it required an international consensus. For instance, one of the most common problems lie in clarifying concepts and their terminologies.
At the beginning of 1994, a team was rooted to facilitate the process of writing the official document. About 40 experts from different countries and fields were involved in the first 12 drafts of the Declaration. The main objectives of having a follow-up committee was to 1) garner support, especially from international bodies, so as to lend weight to the Declaration and see it through to UNESCO, 2) to maintain contact with UNESCO and take into account the many viewpoints of its delegates, and 3) to spread awareness of the UDLR and establish a web of support. Title One (Articles 7–14) lists general principles asserting equal linguistic rights for language communities and for the individual. Besides the main principles, the second title delves into an overall linguistic régime and is further divided into 6 sections. Section 1 (Articles 15–22) addresses language usage related to public administration and official bodies. Section 2 (Articles 23–30) touches on linguistic rights involving educational fields.
Section 3 (Articles 31–34) defines linguistic rights concerning naming, while Section 4 (Articles 35–40) asserts the entitlement of language groups to mass media resources and new technologies. Section 5 (Articles 41–46) outlines the rights related to cultural artifacts. The last section of the second title, Section 6 (Article 47–52), touches on the individual or language group's rights in the socioeconomic sphere.
The Additional Dispositions call for the obligation of public powers to take measures ensuring the application of these rights and to inform other related bodies of these proclamations. As for the Final Dispositions, the founding of a Council of the Languages within the United Nations Organization is put forth, as well as the creation of a World Commission for Linguistic Rights, which is to be an unofficial, consultative council composed of experts in non-governmental organizations and those in the field of linguistic law.