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41. 2014 and Beyond: Priorities for the European Union

Publication Date:
09-2014
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Open Society Foundations
Abstract:
The new leaders of the EU’s institutions face immediate and major challenges—from conflict in the EU’s surrounding region to rising xenophobia within its own borders—that have major implications for the future of Europe’s open societies. The European Parliament elections in May 2014 led to a turnover of half of the body’s members and the intake of many more xenophobic populist parties. The European Commission—the EU’s executive body—has a new president and College of Commissioners who will need to find new approaches to employment, inclusion, and development. The new European Council president will also have a tough job finding consensus among EU heads of state and government on issues ranging from relations with Russia to economic governance.
Topic:
Civil Society, Race, Minorities, Discrimination, Xenophobia, and Economic Cooperation
Political Geography:
Europe

42. Ethnic Origin and Disability Data Collection in Europe: Measuring Inequality—Combating Discrimination

Publication Date:
11-2014
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Open Society Foundations
Abstract:
The report Ethnic Origin and Disability Data Collection in Europe: Measuring Inequality—Combating Discrimination is published within the framework of the Equality Data Initiative, a project launched by the Open Society Foundations in collaboration with the Migration Policy Group and the European Network Against Racism to increase awareness within the European Union for the need to collect reliable data for groups at risk of discrimination. The report challenges the commonly held view in Europe that the collection of disability and ethnic data is categorically prohibited. It voices the necessity to involve the affected communities in the process of defining best practices and to respect binding core principles of data collection such as self-identification of the data subject and consent-based, voluntary, and anonymized data collection. The focus of the research is on Bulgaria, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Romania, and Sweden in the field of public education and on France in the field of public employment. Most of these EU member states collect data about their citizens in one or other way. However—as the report suggests—their methods lead to results that are either inaccurate or unreliable. The report makes recommendations for action at both the national and EU levels in order to achieve effective change in the field of equality data and to use data to promote equal treatment. Advocacy and strategic litigation are needed to steer national debates away from taboos, and question unlawful, harmful, or simply unsuitable data collection practices, and to call for the inclusion of disability and ethnic minority communities in the process. The European Commission and other EU institutions can provide guidance in this process by issuing recommendations and guidelines on equality data collection.
Topic:
Migration, Science and Technology, European Union, Citizenship, Discrimination, Disability, Data, Digital Policy, and Migrant Workers
Political Geography:
Europe

43. What next for Moldova's Minorities after Crimea?

Author:
Federica Prina
Publication Date:
07-2014
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
European Centre for Minority Issues (ECMI)
Abstract:
This Issue Brief examines the possible consequences of Russia's annexation of Crimea on Moldova and its national minorities. It further reflects on the factors that hinder greater integration of persons belonging to minorities, and the expression of minority identity in Moldova/Transnistria. The Issue Brief argues there are two indirect consequences of the annexation of Crimea by Russia. First, the annexation deepens the polarization between the pro-Russia and pro-EU camps in Moldova, which manifests itself in multiple ruptures within Moldovan society. Second, such a polarization furthers a tendency to marginalize (non-Russian) minorities, which implies a reduction of the spaces for the articulation of minority concerns and the expression of minority identity.
Topic:
Minorities, Ethnicity, Discrimination, Conflict, and Identity
Political Geography:
Russia, Europe, Ukraine, Moldova, and Crimea

44. The European Union and the Right to Community Living

Author:
Luke Clements
Publication Date:
05-2012
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Open Society Foundations
Abstract:
The European Union and its Member States have an obligation to ensure that European taxpayer money in the form of Structural Funds is invested in a manner that respects human rights and fundamental freedoms. These are among the basic values upon which the EU was founded. However, some Member States are acting contrary to EU law by using European money to invest in institutions for people with disabilities rather than developing alternative community-based services that promote community living. Such actions contravene the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and violates the fundamental human rights of people with disabilities. This report by the Open Society Foundations features legal analysis from Queen’s Counsel Richard Gordon and examines how the use of Structural Funds to renovate or build institutions is contrary to EU law. The European Commission and its Member States should take actions to ensure that Structural Funds are not used to perpetuate the social exclusion of any European citizen. Topics discussed in the report include: The role of Structural Funds in moving from institutionalization to community living; Key principles of the right to community living and the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities; The legal framework for Structural Funds investments; EU obligations to combat discrimination and social exclusion; Conclusions and recommendations.
Topic:
Discrimination, Social Cohesion, and Community
Political Geography:
Europe

45. The Recent Flow of Asylum-Seekers from Georgia to Poland

Author:
Jenny Thomsen
Publication Date:
12-2009
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
European Centre for Minority Issues (ECMI)
Abstract:
Over the past months Poland has witnessed an exceptionally large number of Georgian citizens applying for asylum. From April to November 2009, approximately 4,000 Georgian citizens have crossed the Polish border with the aim of applying for asylum. This number is astonishing in comparison with previous years when only approximately 400 applications were received in the entire period between 2000 and 2008.2 In parallel, there has recently been an increase of asylum-seekers from Georgia in other European Union countries, with about 2,000 applications in Germany and 2,000 in the Baltic States, Greece, Switzerland, Italy and Austria together. Some of these people initially arrived in Poland and have thereafter disappeared from the asylum camps while their asylum application was still in process. Given that Georgia’s total population is about four and a half million inhabitants this number is extraordinarily high. The number of Georgian asylum-seekers in Poland has now even exceeded the number of persons from Chechnya seeking asylum. Out of the approximately 4,000 Georgian citizens applying for asylum between April and November, about 60% were persons aged 18-34. Children up to 13 years old constituted roughly a fifth of the asylum-seekers and people aged 35-64 made up about the same number. Males represented nearly two thirds and particularly young males between 18-34 were overrepresented, constituting around 40%. The flow of Georgian citizens to Poland peaked in July and August with 1,038 respectively 1,371 Georgian asylum-seekers. In September, the number had decreased to 317, in October to 205 and in November further to 143. The large majority of the asylum-seekers from Georgia (about 90%) are reported to be Yezidi-Kurds, generally poorly educated and sometimes even illiterate. The remaining part is reportedly ethnic Georgians, Armenians and Azeris.
Topic:
Minorities, European Union, Ethnicity, Discrimination, and Asylum
Political Geography:
Europe, Poland, and Georgia

46. Reciprocity or the Higher Ground? The Treatment of Ethnic Russians in Georgia After the "Spy Scandal" of 2006

Author:
David Szakonyi
Publication Date:
02-2008
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
European Centre for Minority Issues (ECMI)
Abstract:
Upon comparison of the treatment of one another‟s ethnic community following the spy scandal,‟ clear differences emerge between Russia‟s and Georgia‟s approaches to the issue. In contrast to the full-fledged targeting and expulsion of both legal and illegal residents on the part of Russia, Georgian officials, media outlets, and citizens responded admirably to the tenuous situation, with few reported incidents of discrimination. However, anti-Russian sentiments, at least at the elite political level, are still very much present among Georgian society, and the consequences of the agitated, negative rhetoric towards Russia by several Georgian leaders could lead to an environment of increased animosity towards Russian speakers. Without specific steps taken by the Georgian government, media outlets, and society as a whole to reduce anti-Russian sentiment, there is a danger of further incensed political relations negatively affecting interpersonal relations between the ethnic Russian minority and the Georgian majority.
Topic:
Intelligence, Minorities, Ethnicity, Discrimination, and Conflict
Political Geography:
Russia, Europe, and Georgia

47. Roms on Integration: Analyses and Recommendations

Author:
European Centre for Minority Issues
Publication Date:
01-2006
Content Type:
Case Study
Institution:
European Centre for Minority Issues (ECMI)
Abstract:
The data gathered through this research point out certain problems with the state of health of the Romani population in the Republic of Macedonia. A conclusion is that these problems require special attention as well as great seriousness and precision in approach in order to fully defi ne and elaborate the health-related problems Roms face. Nevertheless even the data resulting from our research sounds an alarm for undertaking concrete steps towards the improvement of the health condition of the Romani population. With regard to vaccination, it would be desirable to organize visiting-nurse service teams which would take care of the children that have been brought back from Western countries and would make sure that they are vaccinated and registered while also taking care of those who have not yet been registered. The services responsible for sending invitations to vaccination should also perform their tasks more responsibly, as a large number of families have stated that for whatever reason they do not receive such invitations. Frequently, health workers verbally pass information about coming vaccinations to the mothers. As a result, it often happens that the mothers forget the date of vaccination. It is a fact that a large number of Romani mothers have a relatively low level of education and are not familiar with the purpose of the vaccines. It is therefore necessary to find a way for them to be familiarized with the purpose as well as the timing of vaccinations.
Topic:
Health, Minorities, Ethnicity, Discrimination, and Integration
Political Geography:
Europe and Macedonia

48. The Instrumentalization of Minorities in the Montenegrin Dispute over Independence

Author:
Florian Bieber
Publication Date:
03-2002
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
European Centre for Minority Issues (ECMI)
Abstract:
The possible disintegration of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and the SerbMontenegrin tensions since 1997 stand out in the conflicts in the former Yugoslavia by both the lack of violence and the secondary role ethnicity plays in the dispute. While the conflict has historical roots in the relationship between Serbia and Montenegro and the incorporation of Montenegro into the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes after World War One, its trigger was the policy of the Milošević regime towards the junior partner in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, established in May 1992. The Montenegrin prime minister at the time and later president, Milo Djukanović, sought to position himself against the Belgrade authorities and pursued a course of greater autonomy for Montenegro, resulting in the demand for independence. Despite being triggered by the Milošević regime, the dispute did not end with the fall of Milošević on 5 October 2000. In fact, Serb-Montenegrin relations – although there no longer was a threat of armed escalation through the Yugoslav authorities – have deteriorated since the democratic changes in Serbia. Today, the conflict has taken on two distinct dimensions.
Topic:
Governance, Minorities, Ethnicity, Discrimination, and State Building
Political Geography:
Europe, Yugoslavia, Serbia, and Montenegro

49. Ethnopolitical Conflicts in Eastern Europe and the OSCE - An Interim Appraisal

Author:
Stefan Troebst
Publication Date:
07-1998
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
European Centre for Minority Issues (ECMI)
Abstract:
Three levels or institutions have emerged as crucial within the OSCE framework for handling ethnopolitical conflicts in Eastern Europe—the Permanent Council made up of the OSCE Permanent Representatives of the currently 55 participating States, the OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities and the long-term missions which the OSCE maintains in over a dozen trouble spots. The OSCE shows considerable success indealing with ethnopolitical conflicts where away from its rivalry with the United Nations, NATO or the European Union it can set its sights somewhat lower — Chechnya, Crimea, the Baltic states, South Ossetia, Transdniestria, Macedonia and Eastern Slavonia. Here OSCE has succeeded in transforming conflicts that have broken out and in contributing to the prevention of future conflicts. However, major conflicts such as Bosnia-Hercegovina or Nagorny-Karabakh appear to be too unmanageable for OSCE’s still embryonic structures with its insufficient military know-how and low acceptance among major partners.
Topic:
International Cooperation, Ethnicity, Discrimination, Institutions, and Oppression
Political Geography:
Europe and Eastern Europe