Linguistic rights or linguistic human rights are the human and civilian rights, individual or collective, to choose the language or languages in which you communicate, whether in the private or public sphere, without distinction of ethnicity, nationality, citizenship or the number of people speaking a specific language in a particular territory. In fact, one can resume the whole content of the notion "linguistic rights" by the words: "Everyone has the right to express themselves and to understand others in the most appropriate way for him or her. All languages have equal value and should be equal in rights."

     Linguistic rights relate to the language of laws, adminstration and legal actions, education, and mass communication. The language used must be understandable and freely chosen by the concerned persons. Any choice made by state or international institutions justified by these instutions to the supposed advantage of the concerned persons is morally unapprovable and legally invalid, because it is not based on a democratic procedure.

     The international language, Esperanto, was created precisely to bring equality to the speakers of large and small languages. The final goal of the speakers of Esperanto is to promote peace between peoples and mankind by the facilitation of easy and fair communication. The use of a common language like Esperanto prevents a situation where people using their mother tongue have a great advantage over those who do not have the right to do so. Esperanto does not belong to any definite population, and for that reason it is not an implement for cultural imposition. Because it is easy to learn, it can easily belong to everyone and guarantees equality in communication.

     The world movement for Esperanto, represented by the Universal Esperanto Association (UEA), and all esperantists work for the protection of everyone's linguistic rights throughout the world.

If you think that your linguistic rights are being actively suppressed or in any case not respected, UEA can bring your situation to the attention of the United Nations.

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