In an important meeting organised by Cymdeithas yr Iaith Gymraeg at the National Assembly today, Alun Thomas (Head of Communications for the Disability Rights Commissin) and Chris Myant (Director of the Commission for Racial Equality) said that the Welsh language:· should be treated as one of the equalities in Wales.· that legislation was needed in order to secure equality for the Welsh language.· that there was a need for an independent Commissioner to secure these rights.

Catrin Dafydd, said on behalf of Cymdeithas yr Iaith Gymraeg:"Over the last decade, legislation in a number of various fields have moved further and further towards establishing a basic level of rights. Now there exists a series of equality measures which affect fields such as race, disability and sexuality. All these measures include establishing a basic level of rights.""In fact, a number of Assembly Government documents note that the Welsh language should be treated as if it belongs to the equality family. Despite this, Welsh is completely unique in the field, in that the present legislation does not establish a basic level of rights. This is further proof of the need for a new Welsh language act. This will be the central message of Cymdeithas yr Iaith in our lobbying meeting.""Over the coming months, the calls for a new Welsh language act have risen to a new level. We have seen the Welsh Language Board stating publicly for the first time the need to revise and strengthen the existing legislation. We have also seen positive steps by all of the opposition parties. Public statements by individuals such as Lord Gwilym Prys Davies and John Elfed Jones, the first chair of the Welsh Language Board, have added to the importance of these developments."Further discussions on the need for a stronger Welsh Language Act will take place at Cymdeithas' annual general meeting in Aberystwyth on Saturday which will be addressed by Alexia Bos Sole from Catalonia. She will talk on the difference that legislalation makes in the field of language rights.Make Wales truly bilingual, says Plaid - newswales.co.uk