ELEN Press Releases
UN Special Rapporteur for Minorities slams EU for its lack of protection of European minoritized languages.
Speaking in Brussels today, the UN Special Rapporteur for Minority Issues, Nicolas Levrat, strongly criticised the EU over its double standards regarding minority protection in general and the continuing lack of protection for European minoritized and endangered...
ELEN calls on EU to take action to protect European minoritised languages at the UN Forum for Minority Issues
ELEN has issued a formal statement at the UN Forum for Minority Issues in Geneva calling on the EU to take action to protect European minoritized and endangered languages, something that the EU is required to do under Article 2 of the Lisbon Treaty. The statement,...
ELEN General Assembly 2025: language activists to campaign for EU measures to protect European minoritized languages.
Around 100 delegates representing 182 language activist organisations gathered in Barcelona over the weekend for the 2025 ELEN General Assembly hosted by CIEMEN and supported by the Catalan Government and Barcelona Council. The meeting covered a wide range of issues...
Events
Minoritised languages don’t start from a level playing field. After decades — sometimes centuries — of exclusion from education, institutions and public life, they cannot survive on “free choice” alone. Without institutional support, what exists is structural inequality.
Protecting and promoting a minoritised language is not about nostalgia — it’s about rights, access and democracy. A language needs to be usable in everyday life: in public services, healthcare, justice, administration, culture, media and the digital world. Not just tolerated — visible, normal and fully usable.
Supporting a minoritised language does not take away from anyone. It repairs inequality and expands rights — because defending a language also means defending its community. 🧩
We want to live in our languages!!!
#LanguageRights #LinguisticJustice #MinoritisedLanguages #LanguageDiversity #CulturalRights
