Language Policy and Conflict Prevention
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The year 2018 marks the 20th anniversary of the Oslo Recommendations regarding the Linguistic Rights of National Minorities, which the OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities (HCNM) launched in Oslo in 1998. Twenty years on, linguistic rights and language policies remain high on the HCNM's agenda as the institution continues to discharge its conflict-prevention mandate. The HCNM operates across the entire OSCE region, focusing on the places with either existing or potential tensions involving national minority issues. For example, the HCNM is currently active in Ukraine, Central and Eastern Europe, Central Asia, the South Caucasus, the Balkans and the Baltics.
The Oslo Recommendations’ 20th Anniversary Conference brought together representatives of the OSCE participating States and executive structures, civil society, experts and policy-makers, students and youth, to discuss the areas where the Oslo Recommendations have proved most effective. While reviewing best practices for a balanced language policy in the OSCE participating States, the more than 100-participant event also turned towards contemporary challenges, such as the accommodation of diversity in times of resurgent nationalism and divisive rhetoric.
In the run-up to the event, Brill publishing house has released an edited volume of “Language Policy and Conflict Prevention” with a foreword by OSCE High Commissioner Lamberto Zannier. The volume, which reviews the work of the HCNM and draws upon the expertise of other international organizations, was officially launched at the conference in Oslo.
A short animation video explayning the Oslo Recommendations was screened on the margins of the event.