National Minority Standards

The Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) and the Council of Europe, guided by the same values and with similar goals and sharing similar challenges, have co-operated to produce this compilation of texts addressing national minority issues. The aim of this book is to highlight the standards developed for national minorities and to make them blown to everyone, including civil society and the authorities directly concerned.

This edited volume offers a rich compilation of perspectives on (perceived) differential standards of international organisations concerning minority protection. It also addresses the ongoing controversial question of the status of ‘new’ minorities, without neglecting the protection of minorities within minorities.

The Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) and the Council of Europe, guided by the same values and with similar goals and sharing similar challenges, have co-operated to produce this compilation of texts addressing national minority issues. The aim of this book is to highlight the standards developed for national minorities and to make them blown to everyone, including civil society and the authorities directly concerned.

Quiet Diplomacy in Action is the first comprehensive account of the work of Max van der Stoel as High Commissioner on National Minorities for the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE). Because Van der Stoel worked discreetly, until now very little has been written about his activities. This book takes the reader behind the scenes to explain why the post of High Commissioner was created, what his mandate is, how he worked in practice, and what recurrent themes and issues he encountered. Quiet Diplomacy in Action also gives a detailed summary of the High Commissioner's activities in the more than fifteen countries that he was involved with between 1993 and 2001. Major documents relating to national minorities in the OSCE context are included in an annex. As Michael Ignatieff writes in the Foreword: `Everyone talks about conflict prevention. One of the few senior figures that actually does it is the OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities'. This book, written in co-operation with Mr. Van der Stoel, gives a unique insight into conflict prevention, minority rights, and the challenge of resolving inter-ethnic tensions. It should be considered a primary resource for all those interested in these subjects.

The present book compiles the bilateral and multilateral norms and standards for the protection of national minorities and offers a comprehensive introductory study about them from the point of view of the theory of sources of International Law.

In Minorities, their Rights, and the Monitoring the European Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities, Malloy and Caruso have collected a number of essays authored by prominent European experts on minority rights with aim to provide a first ever description and analysis of the processes guiding the monitoring of the Convention. The volume addresses both the technical and political side of the monitoring, and it brings in not only views from the host of the Convention, the Council of Europe, but also from the external players that interact with the Convention in the course of seeking to protect Europe’s national minorities