Suchergebnisse

Scholarly discourses aiming to conceptualise and contextualise the notion of citizenship have flourished in the last couple of decades. The scope of the highlighted areas has been wide and varied, spanning themes from general citizenship theories to more specific reviews of peculiarities inherent to global, European Union, dual, social, transpolitical or other forms of citizenship. Thus, most debates have principally revolved around the framing of the very concept of citizenship and its prevalent modes, with only occasional legal reflections on the essence of the right to citizenship. This paper seeks to contribute to the existing literature on citizenship rights, by focusing on the recent authoritative interpretations of the leading European adjudicators in the domain of contemporary human rights protection: the European Court of Human Rights and the Court of Justice of the EU in relation to several EU Member States. In this fashion, the right to citizenship is addressed from the perspective of influential conventional and communitarian law systems, as construed in selected up-to-date judgements in the cases of Genovese v. Malta, Biao v. Denmark, Mennesson v. France (ECHR) and Janko Rottmann v. Freistaat Bayern (CJEU). Along with the central analysis of the novel perspectives on the right to citizenship expounded in court rulings and their comparative assessment, the paper touches upon the corresponding theoretical and legal framework delineating the notion of citizenship (including EU citizenship) and the right to citizenship in general. ; Peer reviewed

Since the inception of the Republic of Kosovo in February 2008, the contouring of its statehood has been predominantly affected by four interwoven factors: the partial recognition of its sovereignty, perplexed inter-ethnic relations, profound international interference and parallel jurisdictions with the Republic of Serbia. The efforts put forth to conceptualise the meaning and scope of Kosovo citizenship in such a sensitive socio-political environment have proved particularly challenging. This paper aims to provide an analytical framework for determining essential elements of Kosovo citizenship, with particular emphasis on its practical and ideological implications for the multicultural, yet ethnically divided society. This is done through an assessment of the key nation-constituting legal norms as well as the deep-rooted ethnic tensions sparked by conflicting perceptions of Kosovo's statehood by the majority (Kosovo Albanian) and minority (Kosovo Serbian) population. By formal definition, Kosovo is an indivisible state of all citizens, however, polarised majority-minority interests have impinged the constitutionally guaranteed civic spirit of the entity, thereby threatening not only national, but also wider international security and integrity. With the purpose of determining and delineating labyrinthine intersections of a contested nation-state, citizenship, 'communities' and security, the paper offers a comprehensive theoretical analysis of the respective quadrilateral nexus. ; Peer reviewed

The notion of citizenship rests on the cleavage between national and international law as a matter predominantly shaped by state's internal acts, in accordance with limits determined by the state's interrelations with other states and rules of international law. The respective dichotomy generates further branching of the notional structure, making it multilayered, multidimensional and fluid. The simplified definition of citizenship conceptualises it as a real and effective link between the state and an individual, however, in social reality the notion transcends the respective formal perception and interferes with conceptions of identity, belonging and sentiments. With the aim of positioning citizenship within the domain of contemporary international human rights protection, this paper focuses on the analysis of jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights which has in several of its recent judgments provided for an original interpretation of the right to citizenship, subsuming it under the ambit of Article 8 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms on the right to private and family life. Although Conventional norms do not grant the right to citizenship expressis verbis, an insight into three judgments (Genovese v. Malta, Mennesson v. France and Jeunesse v. the Netherlands) demonstrates that the Court's innovative interpretation of Article 8 has proved that flexible notions of private and family life are comparable enough with citizenship to embrace the aspects of a person's social identity which make up the essence of the concept of citizenship. ; Peer reviewed

The purpose of this paper is to summarise the implications of the succession of the former Yugoslavia and correlated social changes for the legal status of ex-Yugoslav citizens in the Republic of Croatia. The focus of the research refers to the issue of the acquisition of Croatian citizenship by naturalisation with reference to the challenges and obstacles encountered by ex-Yugoslav citizens in the course of the naturalisation procedure. This is done through an analysis of pre-and post-succession legislation as well asdiscretionary decisions of the Ministry of the Interior in relation to corrective judgments of the Administrative Court and the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Croatia, adopted during the naturalisation procedures of a significant group of people who became aliens overnight, at the moment of the dissolution of the predecessor state. The large space for maneuvering enabled by provisions of the national citizenship legislation allowed the Ministry of the Interior to adopt a number of controversial decisions, which deny access to Croatian citizenship to people who otherwise qualify for its acquisition, thus leaving them in a particular vacuum between citizens and non-citizens until the final say of the Constitutional Court. This paper highlights constitutive elements of the respective sui generis approach to post-succession citizenship. Given the fact that the analysis encompasses a critical assessment of relevant provisions of theYugoslav and Croatian national legislation, the scientific inquiry isprincipally based on the legal dogmatic method.Keywords: state succession, citizenship, naturalisation, ex-Yugoslav citizens, Republic of Croatia

The question of (multiple) citizenship of national minorities has been omnipresent in the intellectual and public discourse of the Republic of Croatia since the very beginnings of its independence in the course of early 90s of the 20th century. The transition period of the post-socialism era marked the effort of political elites to establish a balance among the democratic and nationalist concepts of the Croatian statehood, whereat the repercussions of this clash reflected on both the definition of citizenship and the fate of national minorities. With its ethnocentric approach, the Croatian citizenship regime comes out of standard frameworks which define citizenship as a legal bond between the state and an individual, thus adding a cultural and political dimension to the nexus in which citizenship frequently becomes an instrument of self-identification with ethnic Croats. The paper aims to shed light on the positioning of national minorities in such social constellations, accentuating the issue of their access to (multiple) citizenship and challenges they face thereof, as well as the inconsistent and selective nature of the Croatian citizenship policy towards different parts of its multi-ethnic corpus. This is primarily done through a concise analysis and interpretation of the Law on Croatian Citizenship – its evolution, core provisions and socio-political circumstances surrounding it. In that vein, the fundamental method used for scientific inquiry is legal dogmatic. The focus of the interest refers to the question to what extent the norms on multiple citizenship accommodate the needs of national minorities, help them preserve their peculiar identities and encourage their wider integration into the Croatian post-transitional society. ; Peer reviewed

The purpose of this paper is to summarise the implications of the succession of the former Yugoslavia and correlated social changes for the legal status of ex-Yugoslav citizens in the Republic of Croatia. The focus of the research refers to the issue of the acquisition of Croatian citizenship by naturalisation with reference to the challenges and obstacles encountered by ex-Yugoslav citizens in the course of the naturalisation procedure. This is done through an analysis of pre- and post-succession legislation as well as discretionary decisions of the Ministry of the Interior in relation to corrective judgments of the Administrative Court and the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Croatia, adopted during the naturalisation procedures of a significant group of people who became aliens overnight, at the moment of the dissolution of the predecessor state. The large space for maneuvering enabled by provisions of the national citizenship legislation allowed the Ministry of the Interior to adopt a number of controversial decisions, which deny access to Croatian citizenship to people who otherwise qualify for its acquisition, thus leaving them in a particular vacuum between citizens and non-citizens until the final say of the Constitutional Court. This paper highlights constitutive elements of the respective sui generis approach to post-succession citizenship. Given the fact that the analysis encompasses a critical assessment of relevant provisions of the Yugoslav and Croatian national legislation, the scientific inquiry is principally based on the legal dogmatic method. ; Peer reviewed

The Case of Kiyutin v. Russia tackles the highly complex and sensitive issue of discrimination against HIV-positive people and represents the landmark case of the European Court of Human Rights referring to human rights of people living with HIV. In this precedent case the ECHR has strongly condemned the discrimination, stigmatization and marginalization of people infected with HIV. This way, the international community has not only paved the way for better and more efficient protection of HIV-positive people but also drawn attention to the complexity of the problem which is being faced by members of this large invisible minority group. This case has affirmed the omnipresent prejudices against HIV-positive people, generated by social anomalies of a global nature such as homophobia, poverty, health care disparities, racism and other forms of discrimination. The paper offers an overview of relevant international legal concepts and regulations relating to the controversial discriminatory provisions of the Russian legislation as well as clarification of the judgement of the ECHR and their repercussions for the legal status of HIV-positive people. ; Peer reviewed

The paper refers to analysis of the main features of the precedent case initiated before the European Court of Human Rights - Sejdić and Finci v. Bosnia and Herzegovina and indicates correlation between the case and the general prohibition of discrimination in international law. The legal framework for elaboration of the respective case includes Article 14 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms and corresponding Article 1 of Protocol No. 12 as well as a speculative comparison with other documents of international law in the domain of the prohibition of discrimination. Since the applicants' discrimination resulted from legitimate provisions of the national legislation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and is based on affiliation to an ethnic group, the author gives a critical review of the analysis of the socio-political circumstances at the time of drafting the disputable constitutional and other legal solutions in Bosnia and Herzegovina, on the one side, and relevant international standards on the rights of national minorities, on the other side. The case implies the practice of international law to sanction cases of discrimination of people based on ethnicity, the goal of which is the improvement of the status of national minorities reflected in full affirmation of minority rights and freedoms proclaimed in international documents. ; Peer reviewed

With a view to recent European standards affecting social inclusion of particularly vulnerable groups, the author analyses the specific role of ethnic minorities in defining a comprehensive economic development policy. Social models that enable the active participation of minorities in economic life at a national, regional or international level require dedicated national action plans for the eradication of poverty and social exclusion, facilitated by regional networking between kin-states and host-states. This article describes the relationship between social progression and public recognition of ethnic minorities in relation to the level of economic development of a particular region. ; Peer reviewed

The Italian Province of South Tyrol is often presented as a successful model of the legal regulation of interethnic relations between the majority and minority population in ethnically heterogeneous regions in Europe. South Tyrol has been a place of coexistence of three ethnic groups for centuries, viz. the Italian, the Ladin, and the German. However, the German ethnic group has always outnumbered the other two and such an ethnic structure had led to the establishment of a territorial autonomy within unitary Italy. In this article the author analyses the legal underpinnings of the autonomy concerned, its repercussions on the position of the German language group and on the interethnic relations in South Tyrol. The author focuses in particular on the positive effects of the established autonomy, namely on its role in preserving the distinctive identities of the three ethnic groups and in ensuring peace and stability in the Province and the region at large. ; Peer reviewed

The Council of Europe and the European Union are major players and partners in the domain of policy-shaping strategies on the European continent, with significant and ever-growing impact on international community as a whole. Although the ratio and ideas behind their establishment were not the same (economic versus humanistic), they have, over the time, acquired a similar attitude towards a number of legal issues, including protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms. Unlike the Council of Europe, which perceived human rights as a cornerstone of its founding pillars, the EU took a longer way to incorporate them in its priority areas. The latter shift was, however, rapid, and these days one is witnessing a large-scale cooperation instituted between respective regional organisations with the aim of creating a human-rights-friendly environment. The purpose of this paper is to shed light on one particular segment of their cooperation in the field of human rights protection—asylum law. For the fact that Europe attracts a large contingency of people looking for better life and new beginnings, asylum matters have moved swiftly to the forefront of the Council of Europe and EU standard-setting policies. Nevertheless, the existence of two parallel legal regimes has not led to an inconsistent asylum policy. In order to illustrate the Council of Europe and EU distinctive approaches to asylum, as well as their manifold interplay in the respective arena, the paper summarises the most notable pieces of their legal and regulatory framework and offers an insight into some of the leading asylum cases brought before the European Court of Human Rights and the Court of Justice of the European Union. ; Peer reviewed

The roots of armed conflicts that spread over the territory of the former Yugoslavia in 1990's ha been largely connected with the religious differences among members of the Orthodox Church (Serbs and Montenegrins), the Catholic Church (Croats) and Muslims (Bosniaks). During the time of war in the involved States (Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia and Montenegro), the media significantly contributed to spread hatred and intolerance among religious groups. In the post-war period, the situation has gradually improved. So nowadays, there is a complex network of laws and rules intended to protect and respect the rights of religious minorities in Croatia. Moreover, a wide range of laws regulate the rights of religious minorities access to the Croatian public television and radio. However, despite a well-defined legal framework, religious minorities continue to be dissatisfied with the way the media deal with religion and relevant issues in practice. Their plea for impartial and neutral media is easy to understand if we take into consideration the fact that the media have an utmost importance in raising public awareness in the area of rights of religious minorities, the improvement of their status and tolerance of majority population in that respect. ; Peer reviewed

Free elections constitute a basic instrument of democracy and their organization in States with developed political pluralism and freedom of expression never comes under question. The right to free elections as a political right of all citizens entails continuous engagement of the State into organization and monitoring of elections, management of voting lists and catering for impartial settlement of electoral disputes. This article is primarily focused on theoretical analysis of free elections, also having regard to historical circumstances of the development of election law. The latter represents a background for the core topic of the article, namely the case-law of the European Court of Human Rights in relation to the right to free elections. The evolution of the protection of the right to free elections is an unstoppable process that makes valuable contribution to the protection of human rights in general but also burdens the European Court of Human Rights with an even larger volume of work. In approximately sixty years of its existence, a short, restrictively defined provision of Article 3 of the First Protocol to the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms has managed to encourage the creation of abundant jurisprudence and has set high standards electoral law in forty-seven member States of the Council of Europe. ; Peer reviewed

Since the Stockholm Conference in 1972, a remarkable process is noticeable in the field of environmental protection. At the normative level, the number of international treaties concluded in this field is numerous. Similarly, environmental standards in the European Union, now one of the highest in the world, have developed over decades. Despite the increased international concern for environmental protection, implementation of these standards has been less successful. Linkages between human rights and the environment are manifold. Firstly, human rights protected by the various international and regional human rights treaties may be directly affected by adverse environmental factors. Toxic smells, excessive noise, vibration might have a negative impact on the right to life, the right to respect for private and family life as well as the home, and the right to property. Secondly, adverse environmental factors may give rise to certain procedural rights for the individual concerned, including the right of access to information, participation in decision-making, and access to justice in environmental cases. Thirdly, the protection of the environment may also be a legitimate aim justifying interference with certain individual human rights. Thus, protection of the environment may justify restrictions on the right to property. Full realization of human rights has a positive impact on the environment, while the effective enjoyment of human rights cannot be realized without a healthy, ecologically sound and secure environment. Human rights defenders and environmental activists are linked by the common goal of reducing the reserved domain of States. Nevertheless, there is a slight friction between these two groups: environmentalists allege that human rights defenders put human rights first, thus in their approach, human rights and the human race enjoy priority over other species and ecological processes, and the environment is regarded important only inasmuch as it benefits humans. This approach is met with disagreement by environmentalists, who argue that human beings are not separated from, and not situated above, the natural environment they live in; and that all species should enjoy the same protection. This paper highlights the potential for using human rights to address environmental problems. It concentrates on the issue whether, and to what extent, international law provides for a human right to an environment of a particular quality. In doing so, it starts with a brief survey of the evolution of the right to environment in universal and regional human rights treaties, either expressly or through other, closely related rights. Then it goes on to analyse the rights that might be invoked in the protection of the right to environment. The next part sets out the relevant case law of the European Court of Human Rights, focusing on Croatia and Hungary. Finally, in line with the project within the framework of which the research was conducted, the paper describes bilateral relations (in particular bilateral treaties) between Croatia and Hungary. ; Peer reviewed

In 2006, the new Human Rights Council came into being, replacing the Commission on Human Rights. While the Commission undoubtedly achieved a lot in standard-setting, in its last years it had to face allegations of politicization, selectivity and the use of double-standards. The HRC was intended to offer a fresh start to international human rights protection. The objective of this paper is twofold. Firstly, it aims at giving a brief description of the key flaws of the Commission and the efforts to overcome these deficiencies by the newly established Human Rights Council. The article also endeavours to undertake the analysis required to understand the so-called Universal Periodic Review (UPR) better, a mechanism set up to complement the work done by treaty bodies. In doing so, the achievements as well as the shortcomings will be addressed. Following the analysis of the UPR coverage of Croatia and Hungary, the paper concludes with the summary of the new modalities to be applied in the second cycle of the UPR (2012-2016). ; Peer reviewed