Sine Qua Non, along with six other civil society organizations from the Catalan-speaking area (Plataforma per la Llengua, el Sindicat d’Estudiants dels Països Catalans (SEPC), Fundació Escola Valenciana, Language Rights, USTEC-STEs and La Intersindical) informed the UN rapporteur on minority issues at the time, Fernand de Varennes, on the campaign of the Spanish courts to put an end to linguistic immersion and impose the vehicularity of Spanish in the educational system of Catalonia.
The rapporteur has issued a communication where he asks the Spanish State to provide information regarding these demands. He also urges it to explain how the issues that have been brought to his attention are compatible with the obligations of the State Government, as well as what measures it plans to take to correct inconsistencies with international human rights standards. He requests the Spanish State to indicate to what extent Catalan students will continue to receive education in the Catalan language and will be exposed to it in order to be able to use this language in their public life. He also asks for clarification on the legal basis and logic applied by the Superior Court of Justice of Catalonia to rule against the linguistic immersion model, which has been considered a successful model by UNESCO and several international actors. Finally, he asks for explanations on how the rulings of this Court are compatible with international legislation and with international human rights instruments ratified by the Spanish Government itself.
The rapporteur’s statement ends with an annex of references to international human rights law, which summarizes the international instruments and principles that support the language immersion system and the Catalan language as a cohesion tool.
SQN works to protect the rights of speakers of minoritized languages, at risk in a globalized world, and we will follow up on this issue with the new mandate team led by the new rapporteur, Nicolas Levrat.
Know more
What are Special Procedures?
https://www.ohchr.org/en/special-procedures-human-rights-council
Communication of the Special Rapporteur on minority issues (in Spanish)
https://spcommreports.ohchr.org/TMResultsBase/DownLoadPublicCommunicationFile?gId=28240
December 2023