IIIZKUNTZ BEHAToKIA ue Dui:cans umnigricoN pitons LING ts- rJ Q.1,5 065LRVATOW OF L.Guisnc RIGirrs 0 8 5 ER v A lo Rio 011513.1.01. Dr, 5 FORUM ON MINORITY ISSUES Madam Independent expert on minority issues, Madam High Commissioner of the United Nations for Human Rights, Mister President of the Forum on Minority Affairs: I represent a broad majority of elements in organised civil pro-Basque-language society. Today the Basque language community is viewed as a minority within its own territory. Indeed quantitatively we are a minority, but I wish to point out that the fact of our being a minority in our own territory today is the product of brutal processes of linguistic assimilation, processes to which our language community has been subjected throughout history. The UN Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities was approved on the 18th of December, 1982. This is, in fact, the international agreement to have been approved by the UN that refers most specifically to the issue of protecting linguistic minorities, although as its preamble acknowledges, it is inspired by earlier texts, including Article 27 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. The most interesting advance represented by the Declaration is the fact that it transcends the principle of non-discrimination, asserting the need to adopt measures that support and promote a given minority. From this perspective it is valid to talk about the recognition of the collective rights of minorities in connection with protecting their identity or existence as a human group. The Declaration is not a binding document, it is only a set of recommendations; nevertheless, in our opinion it has a number of important aspects. It is valuable, first of all, because it helps to clarify the general subject of the protection of minority rights. It is also useful for the interpretation of the content of articles of other documents which support minority language rights. Yet another positive point is the recognition it gives, or the proclamation, in a document with international status, of the right to one's linguistic identity. That of course is in the theoretical dimension, but now let us examine the real effect of the Charter. Part of our language community is situated on French territory, where, because there is no recognition of collective rights, our language community, just as the Breton, Occitan, Catalan, Corsican and other communities, have no rights. Indeed the position of the French state is completely opposed to the very spirit of the Declaration. So for example, the French state maintains