What is the purpose of the charter ?

The Charter is a convention designed on the one hand to protect and promote regional and minority languages as a threatened aspect of Europe’s cultural heritage and on the other hand to enable speakers of a regional or minority language to use it in private and public life. Its overriding purpose is cultural. It covers regional and minority languages, non-territorial languages and less widely used official languages.
First and foremost, the Charter sets out the main objectives and principles that states undertake to apply to all regional or minority languages existing within their national territory.
Secondly, the Charter contains a series of concrete measures designed to facilitate and encourage the use of specific regional or minority languages in public life.
Within its scope are the languages traditionally used within a state’s territory, but it does not cover those connected with recent migratory movements or dialects of the official language. More...