Linguistic Human Rights in Relation to the Administration of Justice: A European Perspective

It is striking that in the administration of justice there are not many hard law LHR standards. Linguistic rights as general human rights, as rights for every human being, only concern arrest and criminal proceedings. Minority-specific rights include provisions on communication with public authorities, that also apply to police and prison personnel. In both respects, the supervisory practice, and related soft law standards, have extended the level of protection of linguistic fundamental rights, and/or have suitably focused on measures aiming at the effective realisation of these rights. Proportionality considerations inform the strength of the LHRs concerned.