The Swedish Government has confirmed its commitment with the country's minority languages with a 70 million crowns budget. The funding is aimed at improving the protection of Finnish, Meänkieli, Yiddish and Rom languages, as well as Sámi dialects, the main languages spoken in Sweden apart from Swedish.

According to IceNews.is, Swedish Minister for Integration, Nyamko Sabuni, has admitted that "the future of national minority languages is uncertain, and for some the situation is dire". Sabuni has pledged to set up a "collective strategy" in order to "meet the needs of the national minorities", as well as "to increase awareness of these national minorities" and ensure Sweden "does a better job of living up to its human rights commitments."

The Minister has also declared that any citizen has the right to address the government bodies in Finnish and Sámi -apart from Swedish. As IceNews reports, the above mentioned languages had already been granted by Stockholm special status as national minority languages in 2000.

Further information:

• IceNews: Sweden promises to preserve its minority languages