Sarajevo

15 October 2015

“Council of Europe tools for the promotion of minority rights”

 

María Ochoa-Llidó

Head, Anti-discrimination and Social Cohesion Department, Council of Europe

 

Dear Chair, Dear President and members of the ACFC, Dear participants

 

It is a great pleasure for me to be in Sarajevo today for this Conference on “Minority rights in divided societies” and to welcome you all on behalf of the CoE.

I would like to thank very warmly the Bosnian Chairmanship of the CM of the CoE and the ACFC for taking the initiative to organise this event before the end of the Chairmanship.

 

Let me tell you two reasons why this is an important event for the CoE and for me as Head of the Antidiscrimination and Social Cohesion Department.

 

First reason: democracy requires effective systems to protect persons belonging to minorities

 

So, quite naturally, the protection of minority rights is one of my priorities. The department mainly comprises three important human rights monitoring mechanisms: the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities, the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages, and ECRI. These three monitoring bodies have different, but complementary mandates which serve to promote minority rights from different viewpoints. 

 

[3 mechanisms]

 

The Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities is the most comprehensive treaty worldwide containing a catalogue of individual rights of persons belonging to national minorities. I am particularly pleased to see that almost all the members of the Advisory Committee are present today and I am sure that our discussions with them will show how this instrument plays a crucial role to overcome challenges faced by our societies today.

 

The European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages establishes an obligation on the state parties to promote and protect regional or minority languages as part of cultural heritage. When ratifying, states decide what type of protection they wish to afford to which language. The Council of Europe has paid particular attention to the protection of the languages of numerically very small minorities which in some countries indeed require urgent support to prevent their disappearance.

 

ECRI is the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance. It monitors problems of racism, xenophobia, anti-Semitism, intolerance and racial discrimination in all 47 CoE member states. Needless to say, ethnic-based discrimination is recognised as one of the possible grounds of racial discrimination and continues, unfortunately, to be present in a number of ECRI country reports. We all know that discrimination in all its forms is an obstacle to the enjoyment of rights. ECRI also monitors the mechanisms in force at the national level to protect from discrimination and hate crime. Such systems must function effectively for persons belonging to minorities daring to access their rights and to affirm their belonging to a minority.

Last but not least, let me underline the crucial role of the European Court of Human Right in the context of minority rights. A land mark decision of the European Court of Human Rights -the Sejdic and Finci judgment of 2009- set a legal precedent in minority issues for two main reasons: it was the first case for which Protocol 12 of the ECHR on general prohibition of discrimination was applied and the Court found the Constitution BiH to be discriminatory.

 

I warmly welcome the presence today of Mr Jakob Finci and Mr Dervo Sejdic, who will explain later the impact that this judgement had in their country.

 

[Minority rights]

 

Today’s conference focuses on monitoring mechanisms that are guarantors of the human rights of persons belonging to minorities. The reports and opinions of the Advisory Committee, the Committee of Experts on the Language Charter and ECRI give us some reason to be optimistic about the fate of minority rights in Europe. They regularly flag up progress made towards implementing minority rights in all the fields they cover and highlight important steps and best practices applied to promote tolerance and mutual understanding within European societies. Still, the situation is not rosy in any of the CoE member States; in fact, there has been adeterioration in some, due to increased nationalism and newly developing bias towards diversity. So there is a lot of room for improvement  and I hope that this event will allow us to learn about the trends you observe in your daily practice regarding minority rights in and through societies that are not divided but stronger thanks to their diversity.

I would like now to broaden the focus, since many of the broad-scale phenomena shaping events at European level escape the control of the monitoring bodies but have to be taken into account by them when facing common challenges, for instance, the current migrant crisis in Europe that is present in everyone’s minds and poses particular problems for the protection of persons belonging to minorities.

 

That leads me to the second reason: the ultimate aim of these mechanisms is to promote peaceful, stable and integrated societies, with full respect for diversity

 

This issue will be discussed at length in the 3rd panel but let me tell you about the position of the CoE and how we face the challenge of societal stability.

 

Beginning of 2015, the tragic events in Paris and Copenhagen were taken very seriously by the CoE that decided to combat radicalisation of European societies through, among others, Education for human rights and democratic citizenship and an upgraded Campaign against Hate speech. 

For the Framework Convention on the Protection of National Minorities and the European Charter on Regional or Minority Languages, hate speech and extremist manifestations in general are creating increasing challenges for the protection of minority rights. In parallel to deepening European economic and political integration, accompanied by increasing migration, we are seeing within our societies a certain rejection of diversity, rising xenophobia and intolerance, and increasing polarisation and radicalisation. This is creating a climate where national minorities and speakers of regional or minority languages feel increasingly insecure.

[Social Cohesion]

How to make societies inclusive, cohesive, fair and equal? Societies in which everybody is allowed to actively participate, where all the members can feel at home, be productive and respected and at the same time be true to themselves?  This is where the work of an organisation like the Council of Europe comes into picture; an organisation that, in addition to common accepted standards, has also developed a strong intergovernmental acquis in the form of strategies, policies, actions plans and programmes.

In his 2nd annual report on “Shared Responsibility for Democratic Security in Europe”, the Secretary General identified “inclusive societies” as an essential element of democratic security: all citizens must be empowered to exercise and defend their rights – including social and economic rights, to value diversity and to play an active part in democratic life. Actions to build inclusive and cohesive societies where citizens can have effective access to and enjoyment of their social rights, are clearly one of the top priorities of the Council of Europe today.

In practice, to build genuinely inclusive societies, we work with policy makers and opinion leaders to shape a public discourse on diversity which not only recognises cultural rights and condemns discrimination, but also highlights the value of diversity in the global networked economy. We provide expertise for the development of urban policies for diversity which ensure equal opportunities for education, employment, entrepreneurship, and social and political participation, thus making diversity a resource for the local community.

Working with cities as laboratories of change, the Council of Europe has developed an innovative model for urban diversity and inclusion policies known as the intercultural integration model, which is now being applied by over 70 cities in Europe. We look forward to more cities from the Balkans joining the Intercultural Cities Network.

To go further in promoting social cohesion, the Council of Europe proposes to its member States to implement an “Action Plan on Building Inclusive societies” (2016-2019) whose three main areas of focus are:

-education, by teaching our young people respect for other ways of life, while simultaneously instilling in all young citizens our shared and universal values. Moreover, education is a way to empower those who are most likely to be marginalized and that is particularly crucial for persons belonging to minorities;

- combating intolerance and anti-discrimination by fighting stereotypes concerning, notably, persons of immigrant origin, through working with local authorities, media and civil society,

- support for effective integration policies by working with non-state actors (civil society, religious and faith- based institutions, arts and sports organisations, and the private sector) in order to understand their respective role in promoting human rights and cultural understanding to ensure that all are working towards the same ends.

 

Ladies and gentlemen, I hope I managed to give you an overview of what my Department and the Council of Europe in general offer as tools to promote and protect minority rights in your country, in your region and in the other  member States around you.

I thank all for your attention.