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include the airing of programmes which portray persons belonging to different minorities as
equal members of society.
Article 50
States Parties shall impose only relevant restrictions on freedom of expression as provided by
law and necessary to protect the rights or reputations of others, national security or public order,
or public health or morals. This implies, among other things, that restrictions:
(a) are clearly and narrowly defined and respond to a pressing social need;
(b) are the least intrusive measure available, in the sense that there is no other measure
which would be effective and yet less restrictive of freedom of expression;
(c) are not overbroad, in the sense that they do not restrict speech in a wide or untargeted
way or go beyond the scope of harmful speech and rule out legitimate speech;
(d) are proportionate in the sense that the benefit to the protected interest outweighs the
harm to freedom of expression, including in respect to the sanction they authorise.
(e) States Parties shall review their legal framework to ensure that any restrictions on
freedom of expression conform to the above.
Part VII
Article 51
States Parties shall take all necessary measures to ensure equal access to free quality primary and
secondary education for all children from minority communities, as well as equal opportunity
to receive tertiary education. Effective special measures should be enacted for minorities in
admissions to public and private higher education institutions where necessary.
Article 52
1. Every person belonging to a minority has the right to learn the language associated with that
minority. Such persons also have the right to be educated through the medium of the minority
language, based on a gradated, sliding-scale, model applied with reference to the following
principles:
(a) proportionality, based largely but not exclusively on a number of practical factors such
as the number and concentration of speakers of the language in a locality or region, the
level of demand and prior use of the language as a medium of instruction;
(b) active offer, where public education in minority languages is accessible and actively
encouraged;
(c) and inclusiveness, by which all students are given an opportunity to learn the official
language and about intercultural understanding.
2. State-supported or provided pre-school, kindergarten and primary education shall be mainly
conducted through the medium of the minority language where practicable. In the case of very
small numbers of minority children, pre-school, kindergarten and primary education shall be
provided on a sliding-scale model that reasonably reflects the proportion of children speaking
different minority languages. The State or official language shall be introduced at the primary