PROTECTING MINORITY RIGHTS – A Practical Guide to Developing Comprehensive Anti-Discrimination Legislation • The right to the free use of minority languages in the broadcast, print and electronic media, including in public sector media, with sufficient and proportionate space.1057 • The right to use one’s own name in one’s language in official documents.1058 • The right to use minority languages in official or administrative proceedings.1059 The Special Rapporteur on minority issues has set out that, in order to meet their human rights obligations involving language, State authorities must: • respect the integral place of language rights as human rights; • recognize and promote tolerance, cultural and linguistic diversity, and mutual respect, understanding and cooperation among all segments of society; • put in place legislation and policies that address linguistic rights and prescribe a clear framework for their implementation; • implement their human rights obligations by generally following the proportionality principle in the use of or support for different languages by state authorities, and the principle of linguistic freedom for private parties; • integrate the concept of active offer as an integral part of public services to acknowledge a state’s obligation to respect and provide for language rights, so that those using minority languages do not have to specifically request such services but can easily access them when the need arises; ��� put in place effective complaint mechanisms before judicial, administrative and executive bodies to address and redress linguistic rights issues.1060 Pursuant to the international human rights norms and standards summarized above, as well as certain additional specific provisions concerning minority languages,1061 some States have adopted particular legal provisions to establish national laws on the right to use minority languages.1062 As with the other grounds of discrimination discussed in the present chapter, States’ anti-discrimination laws should prohibit discrimination on the basis of language. 154 1057 Human Rights Committee, Ballantyne et al. v. Canada, communications Nos. 359/1989 and 385/1989. See also Special Rapporteur on minority issues, “Language rights of linguistic minorities: a practical guide for implementation” (Geneva, OHCHR, 2017), pp. 31–34. 1058 Human Rights Committee, Raihman v. Latvia (CCPR/C/100/D/1621/2007). 1059 Human Rights Committee, Diergaardt et al. v. Namibia (CCPR/C/69/D/760/1997). 1060 Special Rapporteur on minority issues, “Language rights of linguistic minorities: a practical guide for implementation”, pp. 5–6, which was developed on the basis of a report by the Independent Expert on minority issues in 2012 (A/HRC/22/49). The Special Rapporteur notes that these standards have been further elaborated in a variety of guiding documents and international standards, such as in the Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities, the three principles of language and education (UNESCO), the various recommendations of the Forum on Minority Issues on implementing the Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities, thematic commentary No. 3 by the Council of Europe’s Advisory Committee on the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities, and the Oslo recommendations regarding the linguistic rights of national minorities (Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe). 1061 See, for example, article 17 (d) of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, under which States undertake to: “Encourage the mass media to have particular regard to the linguistic needs of the child who belongs to a minority group or who is indigenous.” 1062 See, for example, article 6 of Constitution of Italy, which states: “The Republic safeguards by means of appropriate measures linguistic minorities.” Such a constitutional provision has been supplemented by regional legislation aimed at providing incentives to promote local languages and cultures based on a regulatory framework established in Laws Nos. 482/1999 and 38/2001.