Plataforma per la Llengua asks the United Nations to intervene so that governments and technology platforms protect linguistic diversity and punish hate speech
The organisation recalls that the wave of internet hate suffered by footballer Aitana Bonmatí is not an isolated case, and deplores the fact that Spanish nationalist discourse often includes hate speech against Catalan and Catalan-speakers
The resolution, presented by Plataforma per la Llengua, has been approved at the General Assembly of the European Language Equality Network (ELEN), which took place last weekend in Bilbao
Plataforma per la Llengua has submitted a petition to the Strasbourg Court after exhausting all legal avenues in Spain to appeal against the exclusion of organisations protecting Catalan from the judicial process that ended with a decision to impose 25% teaching in Spanish.
The High Court of Justice of Catalonia (TSJC) refused to allow organisations protecting Catalan to take appear in the case, claiming that it was concerned with the use of Spanish as a teaching language, and nothing to do with Catalan. For this same reason, it allowed Asamblea por una Escuela Bilingüe and Hablamos Español to take part
Plataforma per la Llengua maintains that Spain has breached three articles of the European Convention on Human Rights: one that prohibits discrimination, another establishing the right to a fair trial and a third guaranteeing effective remedy
Plataforma per la Llengua has presented a report listing the violations of linguistic rights in Spain and noting the country's failure to comply with other States' recommendations
The organisation makes seven recommendations for other States to pass on to Spain, including adding Catalan speakers as a protected group in the signing of the Council of Europe's Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities, punishing language discrimination, and allowing children to be taught entirely in Catalan in schools
Plataforma per la Llengua celebrates the content of the committee's report, based on which the Council of Europe's Council of Ministers will issue its final recommendations to Spain
The experts' report lists reverses for Catalan throughout the areas in Spain where it is spoken in key areas such as education, justice, administration and the media
The assembly of delegates of the European network FUEN agrees to ask member States to vote in favour of Catalan being given official status in the European Union and to demand that the Spanish and European institutions ensure that language immersion is maintained in Catalan schools
Maria de Lluc Muñoz, head of the Plataforma per la Llengua's International section, attends the 68th Congress of the Federal Union of European Nationalities (FUEN), one of the main organisations protecting national and language minorities
The president of the organisation, Òscar Escuder, highlights the recent negotiations the Spanish president has been able to unblock and calls for the same effort for official status for Catalan
Marc Guevara, head of Education and Universities of Plataforma per la Lengua, describes the court decisions against the Catalan language school in Catalonia as a "strategy orchestrated by the Spanish State to wear down Catalan schools and to question the vehicularity of our language"
Starting this June, Plataforma per la Llengua has achieved special consultative status with the UN's Economic and Social Council, one of its six main bodies
With this recognition, the organisation will be able to access UN facilities, give advice, and participate in the events of the body that coordinates the IMF, WHO, UNESCO and the ILO