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Recommendation 2143 (2018)
Protecting and promoting sign languages in Europe
1. The Parliamentary Assembly refers
to its Resolution 2247 (2018) on
protecting and promoting sign languages in Europe, in which it calls
on member States to officially recognise sign languages as natural languages
of deaf communities and as a means of ensuring the inclusion of
deaf people in society.
2. The Assembly refers to the obligations deriving from the United
Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, ratified
by 46 Council of Europe member States, which also calls for the
official recognition of sign languages by States.
3. The replies from the Committee of Ministers to the Assembly’s Recommendations 1492 (2001) on
the rights of national minorities and 1598 (2003) on the protection
of sign languages in the member States of the Council of Europe
were adopted a number of years before the entry into force of the
Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. There have
been rapid advances in this field in recent years and the question
of the status of sign languages once again arises in the light of
these developments.
4. Consequently, the Assembly invites the Committee of Ministers
to:
4.1. bring Resolution 2247 (2018) to the attention
of the governments of member States;
4.2. set up a working group on the status and protection of
sign languages in the Council of Europe member States with a view
to the possible drafting of standards for the protection of sign
languages;
4.3. ask the Committee of Experts of the European Charter for
Regional or Minority Languages (COMEX) to suggest that States provide
information on the status and protection of sign languages during
monitoring visits, if they so desire.