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Many global and transnational agreements, the form of convenants, exist, aiming to protect minority languages. Usually, these convenants propose a number of measures to improve the situation of minority languages. If a nation decides to ratify such a convenant, it commits itself to carrying out the measures proposed.
To determine whether a nation in fact carries out these measures, the nation has to report about it to a committee every few years. This report is then judged by a committee. If the committee deems the measures taken insufficient, the nation is informed of this. Though it is not considered polite to ignore the committee's judgement, a nation is free to do so.
Though most convenants cannot be enforced, they do have power: because, by ratifying the convenant, a nation makes promises, and may be reminded about keeping or breaking those.
This list of conventions is not exhaustive, but aims to mentions some influential ones.
The Charter operates similar to other convenants: it proposes measures that nations, which ratify the Charter, should take. In the Charter's case, these measures are divided into two separate sets called “Part II” and “Part III”:
Look here for an overview of which language is protected by which Part of the Charter.
To determine whether member states uphold the policies of the Charter, a delegate from the Council of Europe visits the member states every few years and reports about their compliance.
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