Suchergebnisse

In spite of the fact that Serbia is a multicultural state in which many ethno-cultural minorities live, that basic regulations have been issued which secure the rights of ethnic minorities, and that a system of multiculturalism has been established, only partial recognition of the identity and rights of ethnic minorities has been accomplished in Serbia. This has been carried out through introducing procedures, rules, institutions, mechanisms and instruments which guarantee the exercise of rights of ethnic minorities which live and develop their own identity alongside other minorities and the ethnic majority, with the actual effect that, regardless of the attained high level of multiculturalism, the minorities are still separated, mutually and with regard to the majority, i.e. ghettoised. This is caused by the established type of segregative multiculturalism, which contributes to the situation in which minorities are separated; they coexist, but are not intermixed in an integrated multicultural society. Adapted from the source document.

In spite of the fact that Serbia is a multicultural state in which many ethno-cultural minorities live, that basic regulations have been issued which secure the rights of ethnic minorities, and that a system of multiculturalism has been established, only partial recognition of the identity and rights of ethnic minorities has been accomplished in Serbia. This has been carried out through introducing procedures, rules, institutions, mechanisms and instruments which guarantee the exercise of rights of ethnic minorities which live and develop their own identity alongside other minorities and the ethnic majority, with the actual effect that, regardless of the attained high level of multiculturalism, the minorities are still separated, mutually and with regard to the majority, i.e. ghettoised. This is caused by the established type of segregative multiculturalism, which contributes to the situation in which minorities are separated; they coexist, but are not intermixed in an integrated multicultural society. Adapted from the source document.

The author first deals with the concept of national minority, presenting various attempts of their legal and conceptual defining. Since there is no generally accepted definition of national minorities, even within the EU, there are still controversies on the issue of defining a group as 'national minority'. In addition, there are disputes over the issue of representation and political-juridical protection of minorities. At the same time such international legal uncertainty allows for broad flexibility in conceptualising and implementing instruments for protection and representation. The article focuses also on some of these models, especially when it comes to Croatia. We argue that there is no clarity in who constitutes a national minority in Croatia, and thus the practice of political representation remains driven by political considerations rather than by principles. This is a source of inconsistency in legal solutions for parliamentary representation of national minorities. The author argues in favour of special representation of national minorities in the Parliament and for the instrument of double vote for citizens who belong to national minorities. This instrument is justified also because of the very significant contribution that national minorities have given to Croatian society in the past. Adapted from the source document.

The author looks at documents regarding the protection of minorities, designed by the Council of Europe as the oldest organization promoting the idea of European unity. He also analyzes the steps that the Republic of Croatia has made in its desire to join the Euro-Atlantic integration. Croatian politics, in line with the will of the Croatian citizens expressed in the elections of Jan 2000, has tried to reach that goal by satisfying the requirements for integration. Adapted from the source document.

The office of the High Commissioner on National Minorities, body of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, published at the end of 2008 a set of recommendations dealing with the rights of national minorities in inter-state relations. In this paper circumstances related to the origins of Bolzano/Bozen Recommendations are analysed, subsequently the paper presents the content of the Recommendations, and finally, the paper analyses to what extent the Recommendations have been reflected in minority-related legislation and policies of Croatia and several neighbouring countries. Adapted from the source document.