MINELREL-L Archive (07042000-09:37:05-22752)

Joint Programme "National Minorities in Europe"


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Subject: Joint Programme "National Minorities in Europe"


From: MINELRES moderator <[email protected]>

Original sender: Nicola Markes-Goerlach
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Joint Programme "National Minorities in Europe"


15 June 2000

Seventh Meeting of Governmental Offices for National Minorities


Field of activity /
Domaine d'activité:
Minorities

Programme:					
Joint Programme between the European Commission and the Council of
Europe "National Minorities in Europe"

Country / Pays:				
Latvia

Date and place /
Date et lieu:					
12-13 June 2000, Jurmala, Latvia

CoE experts /
Experts du CdE:				
None

CoE Secretariat /
Secrétariat du CdE:				
Mr. Antti KORKEAKIVI, Mr. Michaël GUET and Ms. Nicola MARKES-GOERLACH
of the Directorate General of Human Rights

Participants (role and capacity /rôle et qualité):			
Representatives of governmental offices for national minorities or
ministerial departments dealing with minority issues from Armenia,
Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia,
Finland, Georgia, Germany, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova,
Norway, Poland, Romania, Russian Federation, Slovak Republic,
Slovenia, Sweden and "the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia".
Representatives from Bulgaria, Denmark, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain,
Switzerland, the Ukraine and the United Kingdom were excused. NGOs
such as MRG-Greece/CEDIME-SE and Baltic Insight/MINELRES, as well as
institutes dealing with minority issues such as ECMI (European Centre
for Minority Issues), were present. Others (OSI, FUEN,
MRG-International, Greek Helsinki Committee) were excused. Mr Geoffrey
BARRETT of the European Commission Delegation in Riga and Mr. John
PACKER, Director in the Office of the OSCE-High Commissioner on
National Minorities attended the Meeting.

Total number of participants /
Nombre total de participants:		
36 participants + observers from Latvia

Partner institutions/organisations /
Institutions/organisations partenaires:	
Naturalisation Board of Latvia

Origin or reference to other activities /
Origine ou référence à d'autres activités:	
Meetings of Governmental Offices for National Minorities have been
organised periodically since 1994 with the participation of Central
and Eastern European Countries. From 1996 to 1997, three such meetings
were organised in the framework of the Joint Programme between and
Council of Europe and the European Commission entitled "Minorities in
Central European Countries" (in Bucharest, Bratislava and Skopje
respectively). The last meeting was held on 15-16 March 1999 in
Strasbourg and was open to all member States and applicant States, in
accordance with the recommendation of the Fifth Meeting of
Governmental Offices held in Skopje in December 1997.

Objectives / Objectifs:			
One of the main aims of the last meeting of Governmental Offices
within the present Joint Programme "National Minorities in Europe"
which comes to an end at the end of June 2000, was to take stock of
all changes in the protection of minorities at national level that
have been implemented within the time span of the two Joint Programmes
(1996-2000): new legislation, structure, assistance programmes,
restructuring of civil society, creation of associations and relevant
non-governmental associations, etc. Furthermore, this Meeting was the
occasion to evaluate the activities carried out during the last 18
months in various fields (media, education, participation,
integration, etc.), and to discuss future co-operation in the field of
national minorities.

General evaluation /
Evaluation générale:				
The Seventh Meeting of Governmental Offices for National Minorities
took place in a friendly atmosphere and was characterised by active
participation from both representatives of governmental officials and
representatives of international NGOs or institutions dealing with
minority issues.

Discussions concerning the evaluation of the Joint Programme
activities were based on replies to a questionnaire addressed to
national contact persons of the Joint Programme. In addition,
participating countries highlighted in a round table discussion a
number of developments in their respective countries, which can be
globally summarised as follows:

- amendments to the Constitution or to Constitutional Laws to include
provisions concerning minorities' protection;
- adoption of new legislation on minorities, or amendments to existing
laws which include minorities;
- signature and ratification of Council of Europe legal instruments in
the field of national minorities;
- establishment of governmental structures or ministerial departments
dealing with minority issues;
- establishment of non-governmental Councils for minorities (umbrella
minority organisations with consultative status)
- establishment of parliamentary committees or sub-committees dealing
with minority issues;
- registration of numerous minority organisations.

The Latvian Naturalisation Board emphasised during the Meeting that it
was important that this activity took place in Latvia, referring both
to discussions held recently in the Saeima on the ratification by
Latvia of the Framework Convention and to the upcoming adoption by the
Government of the Programme of Action for the "Integration of Society
in Latvia". Although a recent proposal to ratify the Framework
Convention for the Protection of National Minorities was rejected in
Parliament, members of the Latvian Parliament present at the Meeting
indicated that a new parliamentary working group would be established
in the near future to reconsider the ratification of this instrument.
Of the countries participating in the Seventh Meeting of Governmental
Offices for National Minorities, only Latvia, together with Poland and
Georgia, have not yet submitted their instrument of ratification,
though this text has already been adopted by the Polish Parliament and
been submitted to the Parliament of Georgia for ratification.

Results and conclusions /
Résultats et conclusions:			
The first concrete achievement, to which this Meeting contributed, was
the unanimous adoption of Conclusions (see below) recognising the
value of the joint programmes, and the on-going need to retain this
unique forum for the exchange of ideas and concrete experiences in the
field of national minorities. The European Commission and the Council
of Europe were requested to consider ways to continue providing
resources for this type of co-operation, which aims at promoting
democratisation, human rights and stability in Europe.

Furthermore, discussions showed that there was unanimous support among
the participating countries and NGOs for continuing co-operation at a
Pan-European level, though a special focus could also be envisaged
within this Pan-European scope for specific geographical areas, such
as South Eastern Europe and the CIS countries. The main reasons put
forward were: the Pan-European coverage of the Framework Convention
and other Council of Europe legal instruments, the fact that minority
rights, as part of human rights, are universal, and the fact that a
number of minority issues still need to be addressed in all European
states (see project proposals below). Mr Geoffrey BARRETT of the
European Commission Delegation in Riga insisted very much on the
necessity to continue the co-operation with the Council of Europe
through Joint Programmes, and together with Mr. John PACKER, Director
in the Office of the OSCE-High Commissioner on National Minorities,
reiterated their support for a pan-European programme of that kind.

The importance of establishing closer contacts between the different
governmental offices for national minorities, NGOs and international
organisations, in particular through networking and the use of
Internet, was also underlined. The participation of minority
representatives in most of the Joint Programme activities has been
assessed as very valuable by all participants.

The German delegation proposed that future activities in a similar
programme should be linked with specific articles of the  Framework
Convention so that Seminars could help even more efficiently in
discussing the concrete implementation of the Framework Convention.
This proposal received support from all participants, including NGOs.
However, the Russian delegation requested that such a programme should
allow consideration of themes not explicitly mentioned in the
provisions of the Framework Convention, such as cultural autonomy.

During the second day, priority areas for future co-operation in the
field of minorities were defined and proposals for future activities
were submitted, examples of which are as follows:

· Continuation of Meetings of Governmental Offices for National
Minorities (with participation of representatives of national and
international minority NGOs);
· Development of networking through the Internet between Offices, NGOs
and international organisations;
· Multilateral conference on anti-discrimination;
· Seminar on language preservation and linguistic rights;
· Training for civil servants on improving communication with the Roma
community and on programme management;
· Seminar on the participation and education of youth/young minority
NGO leaders;
· Seminar on confidence building measures and dialogue between the
majority and the minorities;
· Seminar on transfrontier co-operation between
Romania/Ukraine/Moldova.

It was pointed out that some of the above-mentioned activities could
be organised in countries such as Armenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and
Georgia to provide them with guidance on minority legislation and the
protection of national minorities.

The text of the Conclusions of the Seventh Meeting of Governmental
Offices for National Minorities is the following:


CONCLUSIONS OF THE SEVENTH MEETING
OF GOVERNMENTAL OFFICES FOR NATIONAL MINORITIES
LATVIA, JURMALA, 13 JUNE 2000

We, the participants of the Seventh Meeting of Governmental Offices
for National Minorities, unanimously agree on the following:

Bearing in mind that
· These Meetings of Governmental Offices for National Minorities,
which have been organised since 1996 in the framework of the Joint
Programmes on national minorities between the European Commission and
the Council of Europe, as well as the other activities that have been
planned and implemented therein, have contributed significantly;

· To the establishment and development of fruitful  contacts and
dialogue between governmental institutions, civil society and national
and international minority NGOs, on issues of protection of national
minorities, both at multi-lateral and regional level;

· To the exchange of information on international treaties and
national legislation, and the overall improvement of awareness and
knowledge about the ways and means in which European standards
concerning the protection of national minorities, including the
Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities, are
being and may be implemented.

We consider that:
· the Joint Programme between the Council of Europe and the European
Commission offered the countries a unique opportunity to better
understand Europe's evolution in the field of minorities: to discuss
common problems, find common solutions, learn from each other, and
promote mutual understanding and co-operation, particularly in the
context of future enlargement of both partner institutions, the
European Union and the Council of Europe;

· A continuation and further development of these activities in a
pan-European framework, are indispensable to achieving further
implementation of European standards in the protection of national
minorities, for instance, by organising new thematic activities based
on the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities;

· After these years dedicated to the establishment of contacts,
awareness and exchange of experiences, it would be regrettable if this
increasingly effective co-operation in the field of minorities, were
to be discontinued, bearing in mind that it is, in addition,
invaluable to those countries which are now in the process of
implementing the provisions contained in European legal standards and
to those which aspire to ratify those instruments;

· The protection of national minorities continues to be a crucial
element of peace and security, and, in addition, contributes to
maintaining the cultural diversity in Europe at all levels.

Therefore, we urge that:
· the European institutions involved will recognise the value of these
Joint Programmes, and the on-going need to retain this unique forum
for the exchange of ideas and concrete experiences in the field of
minorities, and consider ways to continue providing resources for this
type of co-operation, which aims at promoting democratisation, human
rights and stability in Europe.

*	*	*

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