European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages
Recommendations concerning
Russian in Finland
Every three years, the Council of Europe’s independent Committee of Expertsmonitors the application of the Charter in a state. Itsummarises its observations in an evaluation report which also contains several specific recommendations.
In the Committee of Experts’ practice, such recommendations“encourage”the state to take concrete measures to improve the political, legal or practical situation of a minority language in a particular field.If the state does not implement a recommendation, the Committee of Expertsoftenrepeatsit in the followingevaluation report(s). Repeated recommendations are formulated more firmly and usually “urge” (first repetition)or “strongly urge”(second repetition)the state to take the requested measure.
Recommendations which the Committee of Experts considers particularly important and urgent appear in a box.
On the basis of the evaluation report and the Committee of Experts’ recommendations, the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe (Ministers of Foreign Affairs) may address some general recommendations to the state which are appended to the evaluation report.
The original texts are available at the official website of the Charter at
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3rd monitoring cycle
Recommendations of the Committee of Experts [ECRML(2007)7]
27.[…] the Committee of Experts encourages the authorities to take all appropriate measures to ensure that the municipalities are adequately informed about their obligations to respect linguistic rights when appointing a provider [through the public procurement process].
Article 7.1.c
46.[…] The Committee of Experts encourages the authorities to pay particular attention to the needs of the Russian-reading public and would welcome further information in the next periodical report.
The Committee of Experts encourages the authorities to develop the appropriate measures and strategies to promote the Russian language, in co-operation with the speakers.
Article 7.1.d
59.[…] the Committee of Experts […] it encourages the authorities to clarify this point [the reduction in the length of the radio programme] in the next periodical report.
Article 7.1.f
62.[…] The Committee of Experts encourages the authorities to look closely into possibilities of informing municipalities about their obligation to maintain day care in regional or minority languages as linguistic rights of Finnish citizens recognised by the Constitution.
The Committee of Experts encourages the authorities to closely follow the application of the public procurement system in order to ensure that municipalities provide pre-school education in regional or minority languages.
64.[…] the Committee of Experts encourages the authorities to consider the possibilities of developing teacher training and preparing teaching materials as part of a coordinated policy on education.
72.[…] The Committee of Experts encourages the Finnish authorities to find ways to stop this trend [decrease in the number of children learning Russian as mother tongue] and to increase the teaching of Russian in the coming years.
73.The Committee of Experts refers to paragraph 64 above and encourages the authorities to extend the provision of teacher training and continuous education.
Article 7.3
94.[…] the Committee of Experts encourages the authorities to adopt a policy aimed at raising the media’s awareness of regional and minority languages and at discouraging intolerant or degrading speech.
The Committee of Experts encourages the authorities to develop further measures in the field of education and in the media sector to increase understanding and tolerancevis-à-vis regional or minority languages and their speakers.
Recommendations of the Committee of Ministers [RecChL(2007)7]
No recommendations.
2nd monitoring cycle
Recommendations of the Committee of Experts[ECRML(2004)7]
Article 7.1.f
The Committee of Experts encourages the authorities to involve relevant municipalities in the promotion of education in and of the Russian language and to improve the availability of pre-school education and access to education at primary and secondary level in Russian where there is sufficient demand.
Article 7.3
68.[…] The Committee of Experts will be interested to know, in Finland's next report, how this recommendation [on encouraging the development of teacher training with a compulsory module for national minorities] has been implemented.
Recommendations of the Committee of Ministers[RecChL(2004)6]
No recommendations.
1st monitoring cycle
Recommendations of the Committee of Experts[ECRML(2001)3]
Article 7.1.f
The Committee encourages the Finnish Government to explore further possibilities of resolute action to promote the use of the Russian language, in particular by subsidising Russian day-care centres and increasing the possibilities for instruction in Russian in areas where there is a greater concentration of Russian-speakers.
Article 7.3
58.[…] Therefore, the Committee encourages the Finnish authorities to continue their efforts to remedy this situation [discrimination and intolerance].
Recommendations of the Committee of Ministers[RecChL(2001)3]
The Committee of Ministers […] [r]ecommends that the Republic of Finland take account of all the observations of the Committee of Experts and, as a matter of priority:
5.make its periodical reports on the application of the Charter public, thus ensuring that organisations and persons concerned are informed of the rights and duties established under the Charter and its implementation.