National Minority Recognition and the Scope of Implementation of the Framework Convention in in the States of the Post-Yugoslav Area
National Minority Recognition and the Scope of Implementation of the Framework Convention in in the States of the Post-Yugoslav Area

Author(s): Petar Antić
Subject(s): Politics / Political Sciences, Politics, Sociology, Inter-Ethnic Relations, Ethnic Minorities Studies
Published by: Институт друштвених наука
Keywords: National Minorities; Nation; Ethnicity; Majority; Exclusion; Rights; Recognition
Summary/Abstract: Different understandings of the notions of nation and national minority among states made it impossible to establish a universal definition in international law. The lack of definition of national minorities in the Framework Convention on National Minorities, (hereinafter: Framework Convention) enabled flexible approach allowing the acceptance and ratification by the majority of member states. The solution was that a State would not need to declare specific national minorities at the time of the ratification, while the groups to access minority rights and benefit from application of the Framework Convention would not need a specific legal status under the given circumstances. This solution allowed the promotion of minority rights in Europe, but with the potential of states avoiding the obligation by using different interpretations of the term of minority. In order to avoid the arbitrary exclusion of certain minorities by the states, the Council of Europe authorized the Advisory Committee as a group of independent experts to help in monitoring and advising on the recognition of the groups exercising minority rights. Monitoring reports show that there are member states that still persistently avoid to provide the rights to all the groups that should benefit from them. All the countries of the post-Yugoslav area adopted the Framework Convention, but the Advisory Committee criticized the scope of its application in all of them.

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