BackThe Catalan Ombudsman, Rafael Ribó, has presented the Catalan experience during the International Symposium on Language Rights and Social Cohesion in Multilingual Societies, held in Barcelona on 19 and 20 March and organized by the Ombudsman himself, along with the IALC (International Association of Language Commissioners).
Different speakers explained that in countries like Canada or Finland regional languages are official in the whole state, which prevents a different treatment between citizens of the same country who speak different languages, as all languages have the same legal status.
In addition, the Symposium, which was attended by more than 130 people, also counted on the participation of the ombudsmen of the Basque Country, Iñigo Lamarca; Navarre, Javier Enériz, and Galicia, José Julio Fernandez. Other speakers have been the former Minister of Education and Foreign Affairs of Finland, Pär Stenbäck; the Ombudsman of Flanders, Bart Weekers; Professor of Administrative Law, Antoni Milian, and the President of the Philological Section of the Institute for Catalan Studies, Isidor Marí.
The event will conclude on the 21 March with the official launch of the International Association of Language Commissioners (IALC), an organization founded in Dublin in April 2013 with the aim of unifying efforts in the defense of language rights. Some of the institutions that are currently part of the IALC are from Canada, Ireland, Belgium, Kosovo, Finland, South Africa, Sri Lanka and Catalonia.
Source: Office of the Catalan Ombudsman, Spain
