Legitimacy of the Right to Cross-Frontier Contacts

Determinacy The examined documents are quite clear on the contact issue. It is clear that there is no right to contact to just anybody. The nature of the ties varies slightly as can be seen in Table 10.2. 

The Framework Convention is slightly wider in its approach as the right to crossfrontier contacts applies in particular to those people one has ties with. The right itself is wider and covers all those persons lawfully staying in other states. 

Pedigree The right to cross-frontier contacts is a recurring right. It is included both in treaties and other documents. It has a well-established pedigree. 

Coherence The right to cross-frontier contacts is embedded in the larger minority framework. Cross-frontier contacts can strengthen the identity of a minority. They can be to the benefit of the state. Cross-frontier contacts are not only the contact 

The Explanatory Report on the Language Charter discusses this issue but sees the cross-frontier aspect as an opportunity rather than a problem. See para. 125 Language Charter (2010) As published in National Minority Standards - A Compilation of OSCE and Council of Europe Texts, Council of Europe-OSCE, Strasbourg, 2007, pp. 241-293. 

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