osce High Commissioner on National Minorities on the Use of Languages in Relations with the Public Administration, and on the Supervision and Enforcement of Linguistic Requirements

2016 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 237-249
Author(s):  
Iryna Ulasiuk ◽  
Laurentiu Hadirca
Keyword(s):  
Public Administration ◽  
Minority Rights ◽  
Conflict Prevention ◽  
Linguistic Minority ◽  
The Public ◽  
Linguistic Rights ◽  
National Minorities ◽  
High Commissioner ◽  
Fair Balance ◽  
State Language

Linguistic rights and their implications for societal cohesion and state stability, have been recognized as a core component in the conflict prevention work of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe High Commissioner on National Minorities (osce hcnm). Linguistic and associated rights proved a challenge in many osce Participating States, and the hcnm repeatedly advised the relevant authorities on how to secure a fair balance between the promotion of the state language and the protection of linguistic minority rights. This article overviews the advice which the successive hcnms have throughout the years put forward on two key areas touching upon the linguistic rights of national minorities – namely, the use of languages in relations with the public administration, and the supervision and enforcement of linguistic requirements – and analyses how this advice aligns with the recommendations put forward by other international actors and institutions working on minority rights and minority issues.

Linguistic Minority Rights in the Danish-German Border Region: Reciprocity and Public Administration Policies

2016 ◽  
Vol 23 (4) ◽  
pp. 485-504 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tove H. Malloy ◽  
Sonja Wolf
Keyword(s):  
Public Administration ◽  
Minority Rights ◽  
International Standards ◽  
Border Region ◽  
Minority Languages ◽  
Policy Reforms ◽  
Linguistic Minority ◽  
National Minorities ◽  
The Government ◽  
Regional Or Minority Languages

Language equality is not public policy in Denmark or Germany, and neither country has adopted an official state language constitutionally. Both countries protect minority languages through regional and local statutes on culture and education and have signed relevant international standards on linguistic rights for minorities and protection of regional or minority languages. Neither system is very transparent, nor comprehensive. This has created consternation and dissatisfaction among the national minorities residing in the Danish-German border region resulting in recent tensions in the municipalities in Southern Denmark, whereas the government of Schleswig-Holstein decided in 2015 to address the issue with policy reforms for public administration. This article focuses on linguistic minority rights in the Danish-German border region with specific attention to minority languages in public administration and specifically to the on-going reforms in Schleswig-Holstein.

Quiet Diplomacy, the European Union and Conflict Prevention: Learning from the HCNM on Issues of Social Cohesion

2012 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 243-265 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Johns
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Social Cohesion ◽  
Minority Rights ◽  
The Other ◽  
Conflict Prevention ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Minority Protection ◽  
National Minorities ◽  
High Commissioner ◽  
The Eu

This article examines the issue of social cohesion inside the European Union (EU). While the organisation is currently experiencing an economic crisis the article argues that issues surrounding minority rights are deeper and more troubling. Within the EU’s current and prospective borders there remain issues surrounding national minorities, traditional migrants and intra-EU migrants. The intra-EU migrants are of particular interest in that they bridge the gap between the other two groups as they are migrants – with EU protected rights. This article argues that the EU itself must become involved in the maintenance of social cohesion. It recommends the use of quiet diplomacy, best illustrated by the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe High Commissioner on National Minorities. After an examination of the use of quiet diplomacy by the various High Commissioners the article outlines the issues of social cohesion facing the EU. It concludes with the recommendation that the European Commission adopt the tenets of quiet diplomacy as a means of influencing dialogue and to promote minority protection within the union.

Access to Justice for National Minorities – A Recurrent Theme in the Work of the osce High Commissioner on National Minorities

2017 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. 174-194
Author(s):  
Laurentiu Hadirca
Keyword(s):  
Ethnic Conflict ◽  
Minority Rights ◽  
Political Institution ◽  
Access To Justice ◽  
National Minorities ◽  
Specific Advice ◽  
High Commissioner ◽  
Recurrent Theme ◽  
Country Specific

This article provides an overview of the work of the osce hcnm on issues of access to justice for national minorities, based on a review of relevant thematic recommendations, country-specific advice, official statements, as well as other activities, projects and engagements of the hcnm. The article analyses how the hcnm’s specific mandate – as a political institution tasked to prevent inter-ethnic conflict, operating primarily through “quiet diplomacy” – has shaped its approach to human and minority rights, and to access to justice issues in particular. The overview shows that throughout the years, access to justice has become a recurrent, if at times tangential, theme for the institution. Overall, the article seeks to distil the general hcnm approach to access to justice issues as it was conveyed through a variety of thematic recommendations and guidelines, specific advice and other relevant engagements, undertaken in the course of the two-and-a-half decades of the institution’s existence.

The Possibilities and Limitations of Preventive Action: The OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities in Ukraine

2012 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 389-415 ◽  
Author(s):  
Angela Kachuyevski
Keyword(s):  
Minority Rights ◽  
Violent Conflict ◽  
Preventive Action ◽  
Regional Politics ◽  
Rights Protection ◽  
National Minorities ◽  
High Commissioner ◽  
Solid Foundation ◽  
Central Argument ◽  
Durable Peace

Abstract This article examines the efforts of the High Commissioner on National Minorities (HCNM) of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) to manage tensions in Ukraine between the substantial Russian minority and the Ukrainian government, and to prevent potentially violent conflict in Crimea from 1994 to 2001, as well as the subsequent efforts to promote peace and stability. It questions why the HCNM was remarkably successful in crisis management from 1994 to 2001, especially in averting secessionism in Crimea, but was hampered in his efforts to achieve a solid foundation for durable peace through the creation of a robust system of minority rights protection. The central argument is that regional politics often preclude the construction of a minority rights regime that could otherwise provide the foundation for durable peace.

Politics and National Minorities: a trade-off between security and justice?

2014 ◽  
Vol 24 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 298-306
Author(s):  
Walter Kemp
Keyword(s):  
Ethnic Conflict ◽  
Conflict Prevention ◽  
Trade Off ◽  
The Past ◽  
Track Record ◽  
National Minorities ◽  
High Commissioner

For twenty years, the OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities has worked to prevent inter-ethnic conflict. While there are those that have argued that the High Commissioner has ‘securitized’ minority issues by putting too much emphasis on security rather than justice, the past 20 years of the High Commissioner have shown a track record characterised by conflict prevention and “desecuritization”.

The CSCE's (im)possibilities for preventive diplomacy in the context of ethnic conflict

1994 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 35-54
Author(s):  
Janie Leatherman
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
Ethnic Conflict ◽  
Early Warning ◽  
Conflict Prevention ◽  
Potential Conflict ◽  
Conflict Zones ◽  
Post Cold War ◽  
National Minorities ◽  
High Commissioner ◽  
The Baltic

AbstractThis article examines the CSCE response to ethnic conflict in the post-Cold War in terms of the High Commissioner on National Minorities' early warning and conflict prevention capabilities in the broader context of the CSCE's potentialities in this area. First, the special challenges of ethnic strife for conflict prevention are examined. Second, the implementation of the CSCE mechanisms and of the High Commissioner mandate is analyzed in terms of the different levels of CSCE involvement as conflict moves from the early warning to the crisis management phase. The role of the High Commissioner in the Baltic States, and the various functions served by the CSCE missions deployed to different conflict and potential conflict zones are highlighted. The conclusions reflect in preliminary fashion on the (im)possibilities of the CSCE approaches for contributing to regional peace and security in the post-Cold War period, and the ways in which CSCE cooperation with other international institutions and non-governmental actors may enhance its capacity to accomplish its objectives.

scholarly journals Democratic order and ethnic minority rights: the weaknesses of the Finnish and Turkish democracies

2016 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 93-102
Author(s):  
Adél Furu
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Analysis ◽  
Ethnic Minority ◽  
Minority Rights ◽  
Comparative Approach ◽  
Conflict Prevention ◽  
Ethnic Conflicts ◽  
National Minorities ◽  
Democratic Experience ◽  
Consolidated Democracy

This paper raises important questions about the nature of governance in Finland with a view to the difficulties of the Sámi minority, and in the same time in this study we present our comparative approach to investigate how Finland and Turkey are able to solve internal ethnic conflicts related to their national minorities. The article provides a comparative analysis of the democratic order in a consolidated democracy (Finland) and in a weak democracy (Turkey). The democratic experience of these countries is of reasonable importance, as a considerable number of countries worldwide are at various stages during the democratic experiment. This study outlines the role of democratic order in conflict prevention in these two states.

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