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Minority languages Serbian
Italian
Hungarian
Czech
Slovak
Rusyn
Ukrainian
Romany (non-territorial protection)
German (non-territorial protection)
Slovene (non-territorial protection) | ||
Constitution of Croatia in its preamble defines Croatia as nation state of ethnic Croats, country of traditionally present communities that constitution recognize as national minorities and country of all its citizens. National minorities explicitly enumerated and recognized in Constitution are Serbs, Czechs, Slovaks, Italians, Hungarians, Jews , Germans, Austrians, Ukrainians, Rusyns, Bosniaks, Slovenes, Montenegrins, Macedonians, Russians, Bulgarians, Poles, Romani, Romanians, Turks, Vlachs and Albanians. Article 12 of the constitution states that official language in Croatia is Croatian language, but also states that in some local governments another language and Cyrillic or some other script can be introduced in official use.
Contents
The official use of minority languages is defined by relevant national legislation and international conventions and agreements which Croatia signed. The most important national laws are Constitutional Act on the Rights of National Minorities, Law on Use of Languages and Scripts of National Minorities and The Law on Education in language and script of national minorities. Relevant international agreements are European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages and Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities. Certain rights were achieved through bilateral agreements and international agreements such as Treaty of Osimo and Erdut Agreement.
The required 33.3% of minority population in cetrain local government unit for obligatory introduction of official use of minority languages is considered high taking into account that The Advisory Committee on the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities of Council of Europe consider threshold from 10% to 20% reasonable. Croatia do not always show favorable views on issue of minority rights but Croatian European Union accession process positively influenced public usage of minority languages.
Serbian
Education in Serbian language is primarily offered in the area of former Eastern Slavonia, Baranja and Western Syrmia based on Erdut Agreement. With those school since 2005 there is also Kantakuzina Katarina Branković Serbian Orthodox Secondary School in Zagreb.
Serb National Council publish weekly magazine Novosti since December 1999. There are also monthly magazines Identitet, published by Serb Democratic Forum, Izvor, published by Joint Council of Municipalities, youth magazine Bijela Pčela and culture magazine Prosvjeta, both published by Prosvjeta and Forum buplished by Serb National Council from Vukovar. There are also three local radio stations in Serbian language in eastern Slavonia such as Radio Borovo.
Controversies
In the first years after introduction of new Constitutional Act on the Rights of National Minorities some local governments resisted implementation of its legal obligations. In 2005 Ombudsman report, municipalities of Vojnić, Krnjak, Gvozd, Donji Kukuruzari, Dvor and Korenica were mentioned as those that do not allow the official use of the Serbian language, although the national minority in these places meets the threshold provided for in the Constitutional Act. The report pointed out that Serbian minority in Vukovar can not use Serbian language although minority constituted less than one percent less population than it was prescribed by law. After 2011 Croatian census Serbs of Vukovar meet the required proportion of population for co-official introduction of Serbian language but it led to Anti-Cyrillic protests in Croatia. In April 2015 United Nations Human Rights Committee urged Croatia to ensure the right of minorities to use their language and alphabet. Committee report stated that particularly concerns the use of Serbian Cyrillic in the town of Vukovar and municipalities concerned.
Italian
Italian minority has realized much greater rights on bilingualism than other minority communities in Croatia. La Voce del Popolo is an Italian language daily newspaper published by EDIT (EDizioni ITaliane) in the city of Rijeka.
Hungarian
In 2004 Hungarian minority asked for introduction of Hungarian language in town of Beli Manastir as an official language, referring to the rights acquired prior to 1991. Hungarian minority at that time constituted 8,5% of town population.
Czech
6,287 declared Czechs live in Bjelovar-Bilogora County. 70% of them stated that their native language is Czech. Ambassador of Czech Republic in Croatia stated that intention to limit usage of Serbian Cyrillic would negatively affect Czechs and other minorities in Croatia.
Slovak
Union of Slovaks in cooperation with the Slovak Cultural Center in Našice publish magazine Prameň in Slovak language.
Yiddish and Hebrew
Organisation Zagreb Yiddish Circle is club that organizes courses in Yiddish language, lectures on Jewish history, linguistics and culture, movie nights, and hosts a Yiddish book club.
Ukrainian
Ukrainian language classes are four schools in Lipovljani, Petrovci, Kaniža and Šumeće, attended by about 50 students.
Romani
Croatian Parliament formally recognised Romani Language Day on May 25, 2012. Veljko Kajtazi, Romani community MP, stated that he will advocate to have the Roma language included on the list of minority languages in Croatia during his term in office.
History
European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages became a legally binding for Croatia in 1997.