Year of entry into force: 1992
Region: Universal
Legal Status: Intergovernmental - Non-binding
Excerpts
Article 1
1. States shall protect the existence and the national or ethnic, cultural,
religious and linguistic identity of minorities within their respective
territories and shall encourage conditions for the promotion of that identity.
2. States shall adopt appropriate legislative and other measures to achieve
those ends.
Article 2
1. Persons belonging to national or ethnic, religious and linguistic
minorities (hereinafter referred to as persons belonging to minorities) have
the right to enjoy their own culture, to profess and practise their own
religion, and to use their own language, in private and in public, freely and
without interference or any form of discrimination.
2. Persons belonging to minorities have the right to participate
effectively in cultural, religious, social, economic and public life.
3. Persons belonging to minorities have the right to participate
effectively in decisions on the national and, where appropriate, regional
level concerning the minority to which they belong or the regions in which
they live, in a manner not incompatible with national legislation.
4. Persons belonging to minorities have the right to establish and maintain
their own associations.
5. Persons belonging to minorities have the right to establish and
maintain, without any discrimination, free and peaceful contacts with other
members of their group and with persons belonging to other minorities, as well
as contacts across frontiers with citizens of other States to whom they are
related by national or ethnic, religious or linguistic ties.