Language is an integral element of what it means to be human. It allows people to express feelings, opinions and beliefs. Although language can unite people, history shows that it can also cause discord or conflict, particularly when speakers of minority languages are marginalized or face systemic discrimination. Territories, where multiple languages are spoken, have sometimes been divided with the intent of creating countries where most people could speak and live freely in the same language.
In other multilingual territories, federal states have been created, or formerly unitary states have evolved toward federal or quasi-federal (devolved) structures. In such countries, the recognition and protection of language rights are often important ongoing issues – in part because of the links to personal and collective identities. Another element in the constitutional and political dynamic is the widely accepted conception that language rights are human rights.