Minority Rights Protection and Human Rights Policies in ... - IFSH

towards the improvement of the inter-ethnic relations as having passed the first stage of a
volatile coexistence and lingering before the stage of collaboration.
The discussion after Ilire´s presentation included, among others, the question and
controversial understandings of the concept of reconciliation and the origin of this concept.
Hilary Bown, M.P.S. candidate at the IFSH in Hamburg: Defining minorities
Hilary started the group presentation of the German student group; she talked about defining
minority groups and therefore presented different minorities, native people and ethnic groups
in Europe to the audience. Hilary pointed out that there is no clear definition in any legallybinding
international treaty of what constitutes a minority. But despite controversial
understandings of the term “minority” there are certain agreed factors, which describes a
mainly shared minimum understanding of a minority, including objective and subjective
criteria (formulated partly in Article 27 of the “Covenant on Civil and Political Rights” of the
United Nations (UN) in 1966):
- a stable ethnic, religious or linguistic differences which separated the minorities
significantly from the rest of the population
- a non-dominant position at national and sub-national levels
- a desire by the minority group to preserve cultural identity
- citizenship of and loyalty to the state in which the minority is resident.
Hilary referred to Tove Malloy, who pointed out that often
autochthonous groups became minorities through historical shifts
of boundary lines, rather than through their own movements.
There were groups whose territory was subsumed by another
nation or empire or groups who migrated within the boundaries of
their empire and then found themselves outside their ethnic nation
stated formed upon the collapse of the old empires for example.
She pointed out that in Europe there is mainly minority protection
guaranteed to these “historical minority groups” (Swedes in
Finland or Dans in Germany for example), nevertheless there are
also “new minorities” in nations, such as migrant workers or
refugees for instance. But still constitutionally guaranteed
protection for these new minorities is often neglected or denied. Therefore Francesco
Capotorti, former UN Special Rapporteur of the Sub-Commission on the Prevention of
Discrimination and Protection of Minorities, in his report to the UN in 1991 (“Study on the
rights of persons belonging to ethnic, religious and linguistic minorities”), urges a more
flexible interpretation of what constitutes a minority. His proposal for a broader definition of
the term “minority” is nowadays in generally not as accepted as the mentioned minimalist
criteria, nevertheless a positive development of national minority protection regimes in
Europe during the last decade is recognizable.
Matthias Kock, M.P.S. candidate at the IFSH: “The Right of Self-Determination”
Matthias gave a presentation about “The Right of Self-Determination in International Law”.
He first presented the development of a right of self-determination, before the UN existed and
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