The 2006 Venice Commission Report on Non-citizens and Minority Rights — Presentation and Assessment

Abstract

In December 2006, the Venice Commission adopted the 'Report on Non-citizens and Minority Rights'. This report analyzes comprehensively the international and European standards and practice, in the light of national examples and bilateral agreements, as regards the relevance of citizenship and other criteria for circumscribing the circle of those entitled to minority rights. The pragmatic and practice-oriented approach of the analysis resulted in conclusions recommending that the attention be shifted from the definition issue to the need for an unimpeded exercise of minority rights in practice, as citizenship should not be regarded as an element of the definition of 'minority', but as a condition of access to certain minority rights. In this sense, States should devote particular attention to the need for them to regularize, without undue delay, the situation of those who have lost their citizenship, since the slow and difficult allocation of citizenship following the formation or consolidation of new entities may have an adverse impact on persons belonging to minorities. This will help promote a fuller integration of those non-citizens who form part of a minority group. The Commission also encourages those States which have neither adopted constitutional provisions nor entered a formal declaration under the FCNM restricting the scope of minority protection to their citizens only, to abstain from introducing a citizenship requirement in a domestic definition and/or in a declaration, as well as to consider, where necessary, the possibility of extending, on an article-by-article basis, the scope of protection to non-citizens. The States which have adopted such restrictive constitutional provisions and/or entered a formal declaration are encouraged to consider, where necessary, the possibility of extending, on an article-by-article basis, the scope of protection to non-citizens. In the Commission's view, States should make judicious and possibly combined use of those objective criteria for circumscribing the personal scope of application of minority protection which appear most suited to the context, such as lawful and effective residence, numerical size, the time factor coupled with a certain link with a territory and, only if required from the constitutional viewpoint, citizenship.