The Czech Republic has ratified a convention outlining protection for ethnic minorities. On Thursday, Prague’s delegate at the Council of Europe, Jiri Malenowsky, presented the bill of ratification to the Council in Strasbourg. The government did not discl ose which minorities would be covered by the convention. A spokesperson for the Czech delegation said that all minorities would be protected equally, precluding the need to name any specifically. Ethnic minorities living in the Czech Republic include Sinti and Roma, Poles, Hungarians, Ukrainians and Germans. The convention guarantees support for these minorities’ languages and culture in schools and public life. It should become possible to use minority languages in the media, in government offices and on s treet- and road-signs. Discrimination and forced assimilation of minorities are forbidden. Within the next year, the Council will check to see if articles of the convention are being adhered to. Ratification by Prague means that the convention is valid in 16 of the Council’s 40 member-countries. Austria, Switzerland, Russia and the Ukraine are among those countries which have signed, but not yet ratified the convention. Given that this convention has been a source of contention among the Council’s member-st ates, a general definition of the term ‘‘minority’’ has not been adopted. Each state can decide for itself which groups it chooses to recognise as a minority.