Human Rights and Minority Rights in the European Union by Kirsten Shoraka

Abstract

Europe's political history is the history of minorities, whether they are ethnic, linguistic, religious, or otherwise. Even before the Great Awakening in the nineteenth century, the place of minorities within nation-building projects has been questioned. However, as Europe has evolved towards more liberal, democratic systems of government, there have been attempts to answer the “minority question” with an answer of everything from social integration to political empowerment. The role of minorities in Central and Eastern Europe was raised to the fore when the conflicts in the former Yugoslavia and Soviet Union broke out at the end of the Cold War and in turn the European Union's (EU) inclusion of the “protection of national minorities” in the Copenhagen Criteria (1993). The distance to this point in Europe and the EU is the subject of Kirsten Shoraka's book. The author begins with the premise that the rise of human rights in the political acquis of the EU is a natural evolution towards a greater governance of minority rights in Europe. The books takes a two-level approach in looking first at the institutions of the EU, the Council of Europe (CoE), and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). Shoraka offers a thorough account of direct and potential institutions of minority rights protection and governance. Beginning with the EU, the author focuses on the development of human right institutions and legislation within the EU. In particular, the book discusses the introduction fundamental rightsintotheEU'sacquisfollowingtheTreatyoftheEuropeanUnion(1993).Later,the EUwouldgosofar astoestablishtheFundamental RightsAgency.Whilethebookdoes discuss the role of the CoE as a democracy and human rights promoter itself, the question of overlap and competition are completely left unaddressed throughout the analysis. Thisomissionis problematic because ofthe roles,remits,and memberships of the two organizations. The discussion also takes into account the OSCE and its early focus on minority rights as a form of regional conflict. The author looks at the origin of minority rights