(THE PARTY new - N. 7 - May 1992)

The principle of the safeguard of the linguistic identity of single peoples, which was originally upheld as an expression of the principle of the self-determination of peoples, is now acknowledged as one of the aspects of the safeguard of human rights.

The development of the "human dimension" of international law has reached such a point that it has led the member states of the CSCE ("Conference for Security nd Co-operation in Europe") to commit themselves explicitly to the respect of human rights and the fundamental liberties. In this context, the right to language is mentioned explicitly.

As further negotiations for the renewal of the constitutive act of the CSCE (the "Helsinki Act") are now underway, it is important to oblige the 52 participant states to respect precise commitments in the field of the safeguard of the right to language.

This involves putting forward a proposal to draw up an article which, with the aim of developing real "global democracy", would uphold: 1) the need to respect the different linguistic identities; 2) the need to set up mechanisms to control such commitments; 3) the need to further the spread of the international language Esperanto, the concrete instrument of the respect of linguistic identity.