Protection Of Minority Rights Research Articles

Creating Enemies and Building Bridges: Representations of Hungary in the Ukrainian Media

Creating Enemies and Building Bridges: Representations of Hungary in the Ukrainian Media

Federalism, International Human Rights Law, Protection of Minority Rights, the Right to Self-determination and Conflict

This paper analyses the nexus between federalism, international human rights law, minority rights and the right to self-determination, noting in turn how the intersection of these affect the conflict regime in the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia (FDRE). The merits and demerits of federalism as an enabler for democracy and peace are measured through an assessment of how the FDRE Constitutional provisions and practices have enabled successful management of ethnic diversities, promotion of good governance, observation of human rights and promoting principles of equality and equity among the ethnic groups. The FDRE Constitution is assessed in terms of how it complies with IHRL, as well as how its leaders balance constitutional norm and practice. The analysis records a sharp irony and a huge gap between what the FDRE Constitution claims to provide for the citizens and what it enables in practice. This ‘constitutionalism deficit’ accounts for the rising levels of conflict in the country to date.

Beyond the Borders of the Fallen Empire: André Mandelstam’s Project for Non-Territorial Autonomy

AbstractThis article seeks to analyze the project for the international convention on the protection of minority rights, which was proposed by André Mandelstam at the Institut de Droit International (IDI) in 1928. In this project, the author used the concept of non-territorial autonomy borrowed from the works of the Austro-Marxists Otto Bauer and Karl Renner. A Russian international lawyer in emigration, André Mandelstam had initially been involved in the implementation of elements of non-territorial autonomy to protect the Christian population of the Ottoman empire. Mandelstam’s proposed convention assumed that personal autonomy, reduced to the protection of minorities from cultural and linguistic assimilation, would be a compromise between protecting minorities and preventing them from undermining the unity of the state. However, the demand for international protection of minorities was not accompanied by any enforcement mechanism. The project underwent serious revisions as it was discussed by a group of international lawyers. In its final version, the text retained only those of the original articles, which referred to individual human rights. Thus, Mandelstam’s attempt to make his convention acceptable for all participating states resulted in omission of the very concept of personal autonomy in the final version of the proposed document.

"Concept of Minority and Minority Rights in International Law: An Assessment"

In international law, the term ―minority‖ remained a contested concept for a prolong period. Various authors and scholars have also defined the term in different ways depending on specific situations. The concept of minority and minority rights also remained neglected in the earlier phase of the United Nations. For many years, the UNs only focused of individual human rights, neglecting the minority protection system of its predecessor, the League of Nations. Lack of precise and accepted definition in international law led the UNs revert to its idea of only promoting individual human rights and took an interest in long ignored idea of group and minority rights. This paper attempts to define the concept of minority and minority rights in international law. It also focuses on origin of international protection of minority rights. The paper discusses the steps taken by the United Nations and other regional organizations in defining the concept in order to set universal standards for the protection and promotion of rights of minorities.

Położenie mniejszości narodowych w Serbii – ochrona prawna i konflikty

The Position of National Minorities in Serbia – Their Legal Protection and ConflictsNational minorities constitute almost fourteen percent of the population of the Republic of Serbia. The main aim of the article is to present the mechanism for the protection of minority rights in the country. The author also compares them with the corresponding European standards. Moreover, she discusses in detail some of the major political, cultural, educational, linguistic, and social problems of the minorities living in this territory.The article thus deals with the following minorities: Albanians who live in southern Serbia, Muslims from Sanjak, Hungarians from Vojvodina (the second biggest minority in Serbia), as well as the Vlachs, Romanians and Roma people, who are scattered all over the country. All of these ethnic minorities are indeed strongly demanding legal protection from the state. The issues of their distribution and status in the light of their ethnicity versus the global society are also tackled in the article.

Parlamentarna zastupljenost nacionalnih manjina u Srbiji i Mađarskoj - mehanizam za delotvornu participaciju manjina ili sredstvo za političku manipulaciju?

In multiethnic states, in which numerically large national, ethnic or linguistic minorities exist with a strong distinct identity, the principle of democracy requires that these groups have representatives in parliaments. However, in many multiethnic states the national-ethnic majority makes efforts to exclude or minimize the representation of minority national-ethnic groups in legislative bodies. Serbia and Hungary are nation states with relatively high percentage of citizens belonging to national-ethnic minorities, and with developed systems of the protection of minority rights. Both states enacted electoral laws facilitating the representation of national minorities in highest elected state bodies. This article describes, critically analyzes and compares the electoral rules and their practical implementation in both states, in order to answer the question whether these rules make it efficiently possible for national minorities to acquire proper representation in parliament. In order to answer this question, the results and experiences of the latest parliamentary elections - organized in 2022 in both states - will be elaborated as well.

Reliance on International Treaties as a Means of Protecting Minority Rights: An Effective Strategy or Waiting for Nothing? The Case of the Polish Minority in Lithuania

This article focuses on the legal and political impact of international minority rights treaties on the Polish minority in Lithuania. An analysis will be made as to whether and to what degree they have been followed by Lithuania, and, overall, whether they have been effective for the Polish minority in Lithuania. The possibility that they are more of a false promise will also be addressed, and whether or not reliance on international law – perhaps in conjunction with local political action within Lithuania – is a good strategy for Poles in Lithuania. In general, international law norms have not had a direct impact, at least as applied by various international tribunals and other bodies. Cases brought by ethnic Poles before the European Court of Justice, the European Court of Human Rights, and the U.N. Human Rights Committee have not yielded significant results. The Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities does directly address many of the issues raised by the Polish minority, but it is not enforceable absent enabling legislation. Yet, recent positive domestic legislation and case law in Lithuania have mitigated these concerns, suggesting that political mobilization, using international norms as a benchmark to be obtained, is much more effective than relying on international law on its own.

Interwar and Contemporary Poland. A Comparison of the Protection of Minority Rights in the Second and in the Third Polish Republics

This paper is devoted to the problem of the protection of minority rights in Poland in the interwar period in comparison with the contemporary situation. On the one hand, before the Second World War Poland was a very heterogeneous country, inhabited for generations by multiple and internally diverse religious, national, ethnic, or linguistic minorities. On the other hand, contemporary Poland is a country in which national and ethnic minorities constitute only a few percent of the population, and the proportion of such minorities in Poland compared to other European countries is one of the lowest in Europe. The duties of the Polish authorities towards national minorities were determined by internal legal acts: decrees of the Chief of State, and above all the March Constitution and national law, as well as many international legal acts, for instance such as the so-called Little Treaty of Versailles. The second part of the paper discusses the contemporary situation of the minorities in Poland, for instance the situation of the national and ethnic minorities and the situation of sexual minorities.

Confucian Democracy in East Asia: A Discussion of Sungmoon Kim’s Democracy After Virtue: Toward Pragmatic Confucian Democracy

Confucian Democracy in East Asia: A Discussion of Sungmoon Kim’s <i>Democracy After Virtue: Toward Pragmatic Confucian Democracy</i>

Power-Sharing and Minority Rights: The Case of Bosnia-Herzegovina and North Macedonia

This paper investigates to what extent is consociational power-sharing compatible with and supportive of key principles of minority rights. For this, it analyses the Dayton Agreement for Bosnia-Herzegovina and the Ohrid Accord for North Macedonia to understand how minority rights has been shaped by the consociational arrangements in both states. Linked by a common past and interconnected socio-political dynamics, both countries are engaged in a process of stabilization and consolidation of their democratic and institutional structures in the broader context of convergence and respect for fundamental rights. In the body politic of Bosnia-Herzegovina and North Macedonia, consociation in practice means integrating the interests and concerns of various groups in policy formulation and decision-making. The purpose is to minimize the prospects of conflicts and facilitate social, political, and economic improvement in an atmosphere of peace for all citizens. It was a question of reaching a balance between the divergent positions and existential fears to guarantee both immediate and progressive stability, from peacebuilding to peace-enforcing. In addition, the consociational modalities provided the most obvious and acceptable framework for mediating mistrust and enmity between the diverse groups amid structural weaknesses. Hence, examining minority rights in both states is essential regarding the promotion and protection of fundamental human rights. This position gains more eminence due to human dignity, diversity, and a sense of pride in one’s own culture and identity. Nevertheless, this paper uncovers that the protection of minority rights in the power-sharing systems is without problems as minorities encounter challenges in projecting their interests.

Majority rights and minority responsibilities: young people’s negotiations with human rights

This paper is a case study of student discussions of rights and responsibilities, which contributes to filling the existing knowledge gap on the topic. Tenth grade majority students who participated in three group discussions on inclusive citizenship spoke of rights as belonging to the majority or to the minoritised Other. In line with earlier research findings, students referenced human rights as national rights or values, while making explicit connections between majority rights and minority responsibilities and implicit references to the responsibility of the majority to protect minority rights. This analysis indicates a need in human rights education (HRE) for both legal literacy and a deeper discussion of human rights. This can, for example, be achieved through a focus on the local context so that young people may better understand minority barriers to rights, as well as the role of the majority in issues of social justice.

What Happened to Transitional Justice in Croatia After the EU Accession?

This paper proposes to see Croatia’s becoming a member state of the European Union in 2013 as a particular critical juncture that created uncertainty over the type of decisions the government would take in the field of transitional justice once international pressure had stopped. It compares the period before and after the accession by looking into the three elements of transitional justice policy that were given priority by the EU conditionality framework – fighting impunity for war crimes, fostering reconciliation and respect for and protection of minority rights. It finds that all three have deteriorated in the post-accession period. On the one hand, the findings illustrate the power of international pressure, but on the other hand, they question the overall effectiveness of the conditionality policy, as it seems to not have affected deeper societal issues at stake and has not resulted in true transformation.

Computing the Proportional Veto Core

In social choice there often arises a conflict between the majority principle (the search for a candidate that is as good as possible for as many voters as possible), and the protection of minority rights (choosing a candidate that is not overly bad for particular individuals or groups). In a context where the latter is our main concern, veto-based rules -- giving individuals or groups the ability to strike off certain candidates from the list -- are a natural and effective way of ensuring that no minority is left with an outcome they find untenable. However, such rules often fail to be anonymous, or impose specific restrictions on the number of voters and candidates. These issues can be addressed by considering the proportional veto core -- the solution to a cooperative game where every coalition is given the power to veto a number of candidates proportional to its size. However, the naive algorithm for the veto core is exponential, and the only known rules for selecting from the veto core, with an arbitrary number of voters, violate either anonymity or neutrality. In this paper we present a polynomial time algorithm for computing the veto core and present a neutral and anonymous algorithm for selecting a candidate from it. We also show that a pessimist can manipulate the veto core in polynomial time.

PRINSIP ISLAM DALAM MELINDUNGI HAK MINORITAS

This study aims to encourage the creation of a sense of security and peace for religious minorities in carrying out their obligations as religious communities. This study shows that minority rights are one of the most difficult problems faced by Muslims in today's context. In fact, minority rights have been regulated in the Al-Quran and were directly practiced by the Prophet Muhammad when leading Medina and confirmed in the form of the constitution of Medina. This study uses a qualitative normative approach. The results of this study conclude that Islam as a religion that teaches its people that plurality and plurality are sunatullah which need not be questioned as long as they do not contradict the principles of faith and human rights. Then Islam observes that the protection of minority rights is the prevention of economic, social, cultural, political and legal discrimination with the aim of equalizing positions without imposing boundaries based on differences from one another.

Majorities for Minorities: Participatory Constitution Making and the Protection of Minority Rights

Does the process of making a constitution affect the expansiveness of rights protections in the constitution? In particular, is more participation in constitution-making processes better for minority rights protections? While the process of constitution making and its impact on various outcomes have received significant attention, little is known about the impact public participation or deliberation in this process has on the scope and content of minority rights. Using a wide variety of data to empirically assess the relationship between constitution-making processes and the protection of rights for minorities, we find a positive relationship between participatory drafting processes and the inclusion of minority protections in constitutions under some conditions. The article’s findings have important implications for understanding political representation and lend support to core arguments about the role of the public in constitutional design.

Western tolerance: the rule of democracy or the offensive of dehumanization?

In the West, there is a total substitution of concepts, expressed in the idea of tolerance, according to which humanism manifests itself in respect for any system of values. The criteria for good and evil are neutralized, and the Weld of what is permitted is expanded. Values and life practices that were traditionally considered unacceptable and marginal in the culture receive the status of normal and even necessary. When the boundaries of tolerance are not defined, the idea itself becomes dehumanizing. But the dehumanizing meaning of the ongoing cultural transformations is hidden behind emotionally attractive names like human rights and democracy. Socially harmful ideology and the life practices it absolutizes are given a lot of emotionally euphonious names, which are simulacra that hide the true essence of the phenomena being signified. Ne protection of minority rights under the banner of democracy and human rights is usually an attack on the rights of the majority, and human rights are wrongly identified with the rights of the minority. The absolutization of the rights of social minorities (and the most radical ones in relation to traditional culture) is at the same time an infringement of the rights of the majority. The social majority becomes oppressed. Ne idea of tolerance implanted anti-democratic, without taking into account the views of the public. In the West, it is necessary to show tolerance both to different practices and points of view, and to the very fact of planting this tolerant line. That is, a mandatory tolerance for tolerance is instilled. The common idea of postmodern relativization of values is not entirely correct. The sick, the evil, and the unreasonable are given more right to exist than the healthy, the good, and the reasonable. But instead of equating the worthy and the unworthy, a “sociocultural inflection” is carried out towards the unworthy. Criticism of homosexuality is presented as reprehensible intolerant homophobia, and parents who are negative about gay propaganda risk becoming clients for juvenile services. Even schools began to reorient themselves under the apologia of sexual perversion, which is a reversal to the de-intellectualization and dehumanization of children’s minds. Trends that are referred to as ways to protect human rights, freedom, and democracy actually lead to social dehumanization.

Balancing majority and minority rights: Lessons from Malaysia

This article seeks to unravel the complex, and often opaque state of ethnic relations in Peninsular Malaysia, a plural society , by focusing on the promotion and protection of minority rights. This country, as few others, is characterized by a very marked ethnic, religious, and cultural diversity, which even a casual observer cannot fail to notice. Ever since independence, the co-existence of these different communities turned out to be very complex and riddled with strong tensions. However, incidents of interethnic violence as well as deadly ethnic riots, were very rare across the national territory. The exception to this claim is the May 13th, 1969 ethnic riots that in turn have become the nation’s negative myth - a disruptive conflict that must never occur again. By using a case study approach of historical events, the findings of this article suggest that in order to avoid inter-ethnic violence, a politics of power sharing and affirmative action characterized by permanent negotiations and compromises are the order of the day. Co-existence, however, is still grounded in the social logic of unity in separation. This article seeks to illustrate the workings of the above-mentioned political setting where ethno-cultural and religious diversity are managed so as to ensure minority rights are secured and protected. Keywords: interethnic violence, Malaysia, multiculturalism, plural society, power sharing, unity in diversity

Radio Republic of Iraq and Awareness Promoting of Minorities’ Rights

بدأت طروحات نشر الوعي بحقوق الأقليات وتأمين الحريات لهم تأخذ اهتماماً دولياً متصاعداً، لاسيما بعد تزايد أثر الحروب والصراعات على أوضاع تلك الأقليات، وتشدد (اليونسكو) على ضرورة ان تولي سياسات الإعلام والاتصال عناية أكبر بحماية حقوق الأقليات. ومن هنا تأتي أهمية بحثنا، الذي تكمن مشكلته في التساؤل الرئيس: (ما دور إذاعة جمهورية العراق في تسويق الوعي بحقوق الأقليات على الصعيد الاجتماعي العام؟)، بوصفها إحدى وسائل شبكة الإعلام العراقي، والتي تلزمها القوانين النافذة بان تهتم بحقوق الأقليات ونشر ثقافة التعددية والتنوع وقبول الآخر في المجتمع المحلي. وقد عمد الباحث على تصميم استمارة الاستبيان في دراسته المسحية للعاملين في الإذاعة، على وفق محاور ركزت على آليات التخطيط البرامجي في إذاعة جمهورية العراق، ومعالجة الإذاعة للقضايا الهامة على الصعيد الاجتماعي، ودور الإذاعة في تسويق الوعي بحقوق الأقليات، وقد كان من بين الاستنتاجات التي تواصل إليها: تتناول إذاعة جمهورية العراق القضايا المرتبطة بالأقليات ضمن سياقها الإعلامي العام، ولا تعتمد استراتيجيات محددة لتسويق الوعي بحقوقهم. تضع الإذاعة خططها البرامجية على وفق سياسات شبكة الإعلام العراقي واقتراحات بعض منتسبيها، الأمر الذي يُنتج تكراراً للمضامين الرئيسة للدورات البرامجية فيها. تؤثر بعض الضغوط في تناول الأحداث المرتبطة بالأقليات في العراق، ومن بينها اتجاهات العاملين في الإذاعة ومواقفهم الشخصية من شرائح معينة من تلك الأقليات.

Ethical Aspects of Social Research: Old Concerns in the Face of New Challenges and Paradoxes. A Reflection from the Field of Biographical Method

The paper deals with the ethical aspects of the research process and contemporary changes in this field, which make the discussion on ethical dilemmas and concerns more dynamic and varied. Although in natural science and social sciences one can find a common ground related to the most general ethical principles. In the article I refer primarily to the social sciences. The article discusses three aspects affecting the dynamics of ethical discussions: the development of research in the field of natural sciences leading to many ethical dilemmas and forcing ethical codification of research proceedings also in the area of social sciences; the increase in sensitivity and social consciousness and not only awareness of research as such (processes of democratization, emphasizing human and animal rights, protection of minority rights, the process of individualization); the dynamics of contemporary social changes resulting from the development of technology, especially the Internet, which has become a global resource of data and their exchange. This forces qualitative researchers to consider the issue of data archiving, their reanalysis, and determining the boundary for creating Big Qualidata from them. The article discusses these three dimensions, with particular emphasis on the last of them, which will be commented on in relation to the specific methodological approach, which is biographical research.

The Legal Protection of Minorities from International Law and Arab Mashreq Perspectives

The international protection of human rights, including those of religious minorities, has mainly developed through instruments adopted under the framework of the United Nations. After clarifying the concept of minorities, this article focuses on the legal protection of minority rights, particularly of religious minorities, under international instruments. It sheds light on the participation of Arab Mashreq states in the preparation of these instruments, in terms of their position in the elaboration of the instruments, and their multiple reservations. It offers an objective analysis of the issue of religious minorities in the Arab Mashreq region, and the necessity to respect their rights fully in order to build democracy and states of citizenship.