The Ombudsman of Catalonia explains the shortcomings on language policy in Spain with regards to Catalan in an International Language Commissioner Seminar
Date of article: 11/03/2016
Daily News of: 11/03/2016
Country: 
Spain
- Catalonia
Author: Regional Ombudsman of Catalonia
Article language: en
Rafael Ribó regrets the lack of policies and of a Commission that safeguards the rights of the speakers of all official languages in Spain
The members of the International Association of Language Commission (IALC), founded in 2014 in Barcelona, have held a seminar in Ireland
The article 3.3 of the Spanish Constitution, about protection of all languages in Spain, is yet to be complied with by the Spanish Government
The Catalan Ombudsman has publicly regretted the lack of policies and of a Commission that safeguards the rights of the speakers of all official languages in Spain. Before an audience of language commissioners from around the world, Rafael Ribó has underlined the lack of a language policy of protection of minority languages and the biased legal interpretation bySpain’s Constitutional Court in favour of Spanish.
Rafael Ribó participated in the 3rd IALC Seminar, international Language association founded in 2014 in Barcelona, of which the Catalan Ombudsman is a founding member.
The main topics discussed in the seminar are the following: legal evolution of language policy and development of more protective regulation; relation between identity and language; importance of the language in primary education, specially the case of Northern Ireland.
Besides the Catalan Ombudsman, the Seminar has also been attended by language commissioners of Canada, Wales or Belgium, academic experts of Scotland and New Zealand, the Ombudsman of Basque Country and former Finnish minister of Education, amongst others.