The Gaelic Language (Scotland) Act 2005
The Gaelic Language (Scotland) Act 2005 is a piece of legislation unique in the history of Scotland. It follows on from a foundation of European measures that secures the status and respects the rights of minority language users in local, regional, national and international contexts, including:
- United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Persons belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities (1992);
- Council of Europe's European Charter for Regional or Minority Language (1992);
- Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities (1995).
Welsh and Irish are amongst the other languages protected by these statutes, but there are many others: Catalan (spoken in parts of Spain and France), Basque (in Spain and France), Provencal (France) and Sami (Norway, Sweden, Finland and Russia), for example.