From Security to Justice? The Development of a More Justice-Oriented Approach to the Realisation of European Minority Rights Standards

Abstract

The aim of this article is to reassess the development and consolidation of minority rights in Europe with reference to Kymlicka’s liberal theory of minority rights and to his own critique of the European minority rights framework. The article begins by revisiting the development of new minority rights norms within the security-focused agenda of the early 1990s. It then considers the role of the first OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities in promoting a more justice-oriented approach before considering the significance of the coming into force of the Council of Europe’s Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities and the development of the work of its Advisory Committee. The article argues that there is evidence that a more justice-oriented approach to the realisation of European minority rights standards is emerging, particularly under the Framework Convention.