The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) is a multilateral treaty adopted by United Nations General Assembly Resolution 2200A (XXI) on 16 December 1966, and in force from 23 March 1976 following Article 49 of the covenant. Article 49 allowed that the covenant would enter into force three months after the date of the deposit of the thirty-fifth instrument of ratification or accession. The covenant commits its parties to respect individuals’ civil and political rights, including the right to life, freedom of religion, freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, electoral rights, and rights to due process and a fair trial. As of September 2019, the covenant has 173 parties and six more signatories without ratification.
Published in Chapter:
Right to Education in Mother Language: In the Light of Judicial and Legal Structures
Nima Norouzi (Independent Researcher, Turkey) and Hussein Movahedian (Independent Researcher, Turkey)
Copyright: © 2021
|Pages: 19
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-7998-8426-2.ch011
Abstract
The right to use one's mother language is affected by examining the nature of this right in the international human rights system. Speaking of linguistic rights requires examining this right in the context of general human rights and the rights of minorities. On the one hand, the right to use one's mother tongue is rooted in the “right to be different,” which itself is inspired by human dignity, and, on the other hand, because the linguistic rights of the majority are better guaranteed than the linguistic rights of the minority. This chapter examines the right to use one's mother tongue in the minority system; therefore, language rights can be divided into two approaches based on tolerance, which prohibits any interference with the choice of language and its use by governments, as well as an extension-based approach that seeks to protect the right to use language in various fields such as education, court, public arena, and government institutions.