A/HRC/43/47 own language because of generally better outcomes from education in one’s language, even in acquiring fluency in the official language. 15 D. Human rights obligations and the use of minority languages in education 53. Although there is no unanimity, there are trends in the numerous views of United Nations treaty bodies. 16 While some treaty bodies link the choice of the language of instruction to the right to education by itself, or to the right of minorities to use their own language among themselves, a perusal of the views of various treaty bodies also shows that it is often referred to in association with the prohibition of discrimination. For example, it is the only possible basis for the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination to comment on the issue of language and education in its concluding observations where it has formed the view that in some cases minorities are entitled to education in their own language. The possibility of using non-discrimination to support the use of a particular language in public education was also admitted by the European Court of Human Rights in the Belgian Linguistics Case, where a refusal to do so by authorities could in some situations be deemed to be arbitrary, unreasonable or unjustified, and therefore discriminatory. As explained previously, the disadvantages that children may encounter when not taught in their own language, and this includes the use of sign languages, could under certain conditions constitute direct discrimination on the ground of language, or indirect ethnic or racial discrimination. Simply put, children from indigenous or minority backgrounds will have better academic results (they learn better) and will stay in school longer (lower dropout rates) when they are taught in a language with which they are the most familiar – usually their own. When this happens, especially when they stay in school longer, they will not only acquire a stronger basis and literacy in their own language, they will also be able to gain greater fluency in the official/majority language. 54. It is also important to emphasize that the use of a minority language includes the use of sign languages: sign languages are fully fledged languages, and their users can therefore be considered as members of linguistic minorities where they represent less than half of the entire population of a State, as set forth in the working concept the Special Rapporteur submitted in October 2019 in his report to the General Assembly. As members of linguistic minorities, users of sign languages can experience the same disadvantages or exclusion as other minorities if their languages are not used as languages for instruction. In fact, the obstacles to effective, quality education can be said to be even more pronounced. 55. Despite the uncertain references at times to an unqualified “right to education in the mother tongue” – and on other occasions to something as vague as simply “bilingual education” or “multilingual education” – and no clear guidance of the exact extent to education in a particular language, there are still a few indications as to the extent a minority or indigenous people could claim the use of its language as a medium of education. “Where reasonable and justified”: the degree and use of a minority language in education 1. 56. All United Nations treaty bodies are sensitive to what is realistically feasible. This explains the wording used in treaties such as the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities and the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages: the degree a minority language is used in education must be appropriate or “according to the situation of each language”. In terms of the prohibition of discrimination, it is obviously not unreasonable and unjustified not to use a minority or indigenous language as a language of 15 16 Nadine Dutcher, in collaboration with G. Richard Tucker, “The use of first and second languages in education: a review of educational experience”, Pacific Islands Discussion Paper Series, No. 1 (Washington, D.C., World Bank, 1997). Excerpts of international and regional documents on education, language and the human rights of minorities are available at www.ohchr.org/Documents/Issues/Minorities/SR/documentsexcerpts.docx. 11