Dutch Language Union - Organisation

Organisation

The organisation is also responsible for the external linguistic policy of the Netherlands and Flanders and is active in Indonesia and South Africa, two countries with historic links with the Dutch language. Nevertheless, cooperation with South Africa is not limited to the Afrikaans language but aimed also at fostering multilingualism.

The purposes of the organisation are limited to Dutch language and Dutch-language literature, and are hence not as wide as those of the Community of Portuguese Language Countries, La Francophonie or the Organization of Ibero-American States.

The Treaty on the Dutch Language Union foresees the possibility that the Kingdom of the Netherlands extends application to NTU member's parts outside Europe (i.e. the Netherlands Antilles and Aruba) but this has not happened, although the Netherlands Antilles has signed a "Framework Agreement" in 2007. The organs of the NTU are its Committee of Ministers (composed of the ministers of education and culture of the Dutch and Flemish Governments), its Secretariat-General, an Interparliamentary Committee (composed of members of the States-General of the Netherlands and the Flemish Parliament) and a Dutch Language and Literature Council (composed of twelve independent experts). There are specific arrangements for the participation of Suriname in the organisation's inner workings.