The implementation of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages in the educational system of Rusins in Slovakia (2003-2014)

The European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages, operative in Slovakia from January 2002, provides a control mechanism for evaluating the application of its provisions in each contractual country with the goal of giving recommendations for legislative, political, and practical improvement, if needed. This mechanism consists in a panel of experts, whose major task is to investigate the actual situation of the regional or minority languages in a given country. The panel is also to provide the Commission of Ministers of the Council of Europе with an assessment of how the contractual country holds to the obligations in case there should be a need to insist that the member state shou1d rise to a higher 1eve1 of engagement. To faci1itate this task, the Commission of Ministers of the Council of Europе adopted a structure for the implementation reports submitted by the contractual country to the secretary of the Council of Europе in three-year cycles. Up to now, the Slovak Republic has produced four implementation reports, and the panel of experts has prepared its four assessment reports. The present article analyses the condition of and issues connected with the full implementation of the obligations of the Charter by the Slovak Republic in Article 8: Education and evaluation by the panel of experts of the Council of Europe.

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