Language Inspectorate ( Est. Keeleinspektsioon ) is a service managed by the Ministry of Education and Science of Estonia . The task of the Language Inspectorate is to oversee the implementation of the language law , as well as other legal acts regulating the knowledge and use of the state language. The agency has been granted significant administrative rights to a wide range of state and public organizations, private entities and individuals.
| Language inspection | |
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| Official site | |
Content
History
The history of the Language Inspection dates back to November 23, 1990 , when the State Department of Language was established in the management of the State Chancellery of the Estonian SSR , the main task of which was the introduction of language policy and the development of legal acts on the basis and implementation of the 1989 language law.
Since 1995, the Language Department was transferred to the management of the Ministry of Education, and in 1998 was reorganized into the Language Inspectorate .
In 1995, Ilmar Tomsk was appointed director general of the inspection.
Tasks, Competency, and Methods
According to the Regulation on Language Inspection, approved by Regulation No. 55 of the Minister of Education on June 13, 2002 , the Language Inspectorate is a government agency operated by the Ministry of Education, whose main tasks are to carry out state supervision and apply state coercive measures on the grounds and to the extent provided by law .
As stated on the Language Inspection website, its main task is
| in ensuring fair and independent oversight of the observance of the law on language, proceeding from the linguistic rights of both Estonians and representatives of national minorities. |
[one]
The competence of the inspection includes:
- supervision of the implementation of the requirements for the use of the language in the clerical work of state authorities and local governments, in the field of services, trade and health
- supervision of the conformity of official language use with literary norm
- monitoring the implementation of the requirements for knowledge of the state language by employees who are required to know it by duty.
In order to achieve the goals set for the inspection, inspectors have the right to apply various administrative measures, from warnings to very significant fines exacted from organizations and private individuals, as well as orders to state institutions and private enterprises to dismiss workers.
Activities and grades
The most famous [2] [3] [4] part of the work of the Language Inspectorate is to conduct regular inspections in various institutions where there are a significant number of Russian- speaking workers who are formally required to know and use the Estonian language (such as, for example, Russian language teachers in Russian schools or educators in Russian kindergartens [4] ).
It is widely believed that the Language Inspectorate is a repressive body [5] , the main function of which is to constantly exert pressure on the Russian-speaking part of Estonian society [6] . The international organization Amnesty International described this agency as “a repressive body that impedes the spread of human rights ” [5] . According to the Council of Europe Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities, which was also signed by Estonia, as well as the Estonian Cultural Autonomy of the National Minority Act, representatives of Estonian national minorities have the right to preserve their language, culture and traditions. [7] Nevertheless, the Language Inspection forces us to change the spelling of words in the native languages of the national minorities of Estonia. [eight]
A report by the European Commission to Combat Racism and Intolerance published on March 2, 2010 noted that, according to some representatives of the Russian-speaking minority of Estonia, the Language Inspectorate enjoys unlimited power. The Commission recommended the creation of a mechanism for monitoring the activities of the inspection and regular consultations on these activities with representatives of the Russian-speaking minority in order to improve their attitude to the inspection [9] .
The UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, in its decision on the situation in Estonia, published on August 27, 2010, recommended that the Estonian authorities review the role of the Language Inspectorate and abandon the punitive approach in language policy [10] .
The activities of the inspection enjoy the approval and support of Estonian nationalists [5] .
In June 2018, several members of the Riigikogu from the parties of Isamaa , the Conservative People’s Party , the Reform and the Centrist Parties initiated the bill on amendments to the Language Act, which stipulate an increase in fines for insufficient Estonian language proficiency. The Bill has the symbolic number 666 SE. The Estonian Joint Left Party issued a statement that the idea of a bill to increase the penalty for ignorance of the Estonian language tenfold (from 640 euros to 6400 euros [11] ) is another cynical provocation of the right parties, and that the party advocates the elimination of the Language Inspectorate “as punitive and discriminatory Institute. ” [12]
Among the Russian-speaking part of the Estonian population, the unofficial name of the inspection, the Language Inquisition [3] [4] [13] [14], is widely used.
Links
Notes
- ↑ History and competence of nuclear research
- ↑ Language inspectors harass Russian teachers
- ↑ 1 2 Language Inquisition or window dressing for the next election (inaccessible link) . Date of treatment March 9, 2009. Archived February 11, 2009.
- ↑ 1 2 3 The Language Inquisition again fined Russian teachers in Russian kindergartens in Tallinn
- ↑ 1 2 3 The head of the Language Inspectorate, Ilmar Tomsk, is called the “nationalist of the year”
- ↑ Estonian exam results for 100 thousand Estonian residents were canceled
- ↑ Cultural Autonomy of a National Minority Act in Estonia (link unavailable)
- ↑ Maxim Krongauz, “Who is responsible for the Russian language”, the magazine “Friendship of Peoples” 2011, No. 10
- ↑ European Commission against Racism and Intolerance: ECRI REPORT ON ESTONIA (fourth monitoring cycle) § 23-§ 24, pp. 14-15
- ↑ Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination: 77th Session (2 - 27 August 2010) Archived July 27, 2010 on the Wayback Machine
- ↑ The Riigikogu is called on to increase the fine for not knowing the Estonian language to 6400 euros . Postimees (06/14/2018).
- ↑ OLPE: it is necessary to eliminate the Language Inspectorate itself, and not increase fines . Delfi (06/15/2018).
- ↑ Against the “language inquisition”
- ↑ DELFI.ee: UN Special Rapporteur calls on Estonia to make Russian the official language , September 28, 2007