Linguistic human rights and the right to mother tongue education: the overlooked components of the human rights regime. Focus on the Arabic-speaking minority in France and the controversial topics of the instruction of Arabic within the French system of education and in Islamic religious institutions

Abstract

The aim of this thesis is to bring enhanced awareness on the importance of the right to language and the need for it to be better recognised and protected. The specific focus of the text is on immigrant linguistic minorities due to immigrant minority languages’ vulnerable position in the host societies. The second aim of the text is to bring awareness, in specific, to the situation of the Arabic-speaking minority in France. The two central human rights presented and analysed in the thesis are: linguistic human rights and the right to mother tongue education. One of the main tasks of thesis is the assessment of the recognition and protection of these rights within the UN and the CoE human rights systems. The findings are that the two rights are not sufficiently embedded in neither of the two human rights frameworks. The second main task is the assessment of the situation of Arabic speakers in France. The outcome of the analysis is that the language rights of Arabic speakers are not fully guaranteed. The adequate tackling of this issue is imperative in order for the balance and tolerance in the French society to be improved.