The Activities of the OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities January 2010 to December 2010

2012 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 603-619
Author(s):  
Stéphanie Marsal ◽  
Vincent de Graaf
Keyword(s):  
National Minorities ◽  
High Commissioner

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.

scholarly journals Rearticulating the Friend–Enemy Distinction within States: The HCNM’s ‘New Diplomacy’ of Desecuritization

2018 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 523-544
Author(s):  
Jennifer Jackson-Preece
Keyword(s):  
International Organizations ◽  
Methodological Approach ◽  
Process Tracing ◽  
National Minorities ◽  
High Commissioner ◽  
Institutional Cultures

Summary This article’s premise is that the practice of representatives of international organizations has something important to tell us about what it means to ‘do desecuritization’. The analysis provides a qualitative process-tracing of diplomacy by the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe’s (OSCE’s) High Commissioner on National Minorities (HCNM). It finds that ‘new diplomats’ can ‘do desecuritization’ differently. By rearticulating norms, as well as negotiating interests, the HCNM is able to escape the constraints imposed by security grammar and begin to transform the friend–enemy distinction within states. ‘New diplomats’ like the HCNM are capable of initiating such fundamental changes within states because their non-state platforms and institutional cultures transcend traditional international dichotomies of ‘us’ and ‘them’. These findings add nuance to our understanding of desecuritization as practice and suggest a novel methodological approach for studying desecuritization empirically.

The Bolzano Recommendations on National Minorities in Inter-State Relations: Reconciling justice and security

2009 ◽  
Vol 20 (4) ◽  
pp. 307-317
Author(s):  
Natalie Sabanadze
Keyword(s):  
International Security ◽  
International Dimension ◽  
National Minorities ◽  
High Commissioner ◽  
State Relations ◽  
Inter State

AbstractIn October 2008, the OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities adopted Bolzano/Bozen Recommendations on National Minorities in Inter-State Relations. The Recommendations demonstrate how, under what conditions and within which limits States can support minorities residing abroad. These are the HCNM's first recommendations that deal expressly with the international dimension of the minority question, which is closely linked to both domestic and international security. This article contributes to the debate on the securitization of the minority question and on the example of the Bolzano Recommendations argues for both moral and practical validity of the HCNM's approach described as 'security through justice'.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document