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192. Challenges facing Researchers on Roma Minorities in contemporary Europe: Notes towards a Research Program
- Author:
- Aidan McGarry and Annabel Tremlett
- Publication Date:
- 01-2013
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- European Centre for Minority Issues (ECMI)
- Abstract:
- European institutions are now developing two new initiatives that are significant in their scope and outlook. First, a common 'EU Framework for National Roma Integration Strategies' is underway for 2020, aimed at creating a set of common policy aims and outcomes for all member states. This Framework is attempting to place the responsibility for Roma integration in the hands of member state governments, who have been hitherto unwilling or unable to address the socio-economic and political disadvantage of Roma. Second, the Council of Europe and the EU (in a joint action) have established a new; 'European Academic Network on Romani Studies' (2011-2013), recognizing the importance of quality research in understanding the complexities of such historically disadvantaged and heterogeneous communities. These initiatives provide the opportunity to draw on our experiences as researchers in this field and highlight the gaps in our knowledge along with methodological and theoretical caveats and challenges that still need to be addressed.
- Topic:
- Human Rights, International Law, Socialism/Marxism, Governance, and Minorities
- Political Geography:
- Europe
193. The Dual Consequences of Politicization of Ethnicity in Romania
- Author:
- Monica Andriescu and Sergiu Gherghina
- Publication Date:
- 02-2013
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- European Centre for Minority Issues (ECMI)
- Abstract:
- The processes of nation and state formation have been challenged in specific ways by the transitions in post-Communist Europe. The number of ethnic minorities, their territorial concentration and strength generated situations in which either state division was imminent (e.g. former Yugoslavia) or secession threats were latent. Many political actors transformed these situations into (personal or own group) advantages. Among the new democracies in which ethnicity could be considered a relevant societal division, Romania is an appealing case due to its developments over time. The violent clashes between the majority population and the Hungarian minority in 1990, in the aftermath of regime change, appeared to set the pace of the inter-ethnic relations after the regime change. In this context, the politicization of ethnicity to spawn national and ethnic solidarity in Romania was the logical consequence. How did this process influence the evolution of inter-ethnic relations in post-communist Romania?
- Topic:
- Human Rights, Governance, Law, and Minorities
- Political Geography:
- Europe and Romania
194. Promoting Minority Rights through Education
- Author:
- Zora Popova
- Publication Date:
- 05-2013
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- European Centre for Minority Issues (ECMI)
- Abstract:
- The Council of Europe Charter on Education for Democratic Citizenship and Human Rights Education (EDC/HRE) was adopted in 2010 and signed by 47 member states. The endorsement of the Charter was recognized as a major achievement of almost 10 years of developing ideas and strategies, public and political debates, intensified discussions among institutions and stakeholders, international consultations, policy provisions and decision implementation.
- Topic:
- Education, Human Rights, Law, and Minorities
- Political Geography:
- Europe
195. Minority Participation in Kosovo Elections : Opportunities and Challenges
- Author:
- Zora Popova
- Publication Date:
- 06-2013
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- European Centre for Minority Issues (ECMI)
- Abstract:
- Voting is a fundamental democratic right that empowers people to exercise their civil control over the politics and politicians, over the different branches of power, over the development paths of their countries. Democratic electoral systems in Europe vary greatly. But the electoral systems alone, although contributing to the specific architectures of the national democracies, are not the only factors that determine the quality of the democracy in place. Focused on legislation, rules and procedures, policy analysts sometimes tend to look at voters as "beneficiaries" and not as the active subjects who in fact have the power to change the status quo or to contribute to deformities of the political system in place, by not exercising their political and civil rights.
- Topic:
- Democratization, Human Rights, Governance, Law, and Minorities
- Political Geography:
- Europe
196. Renewed Non-discrimination and Equality Promises for National Minorities in Europe
- Author:
- Liefke Dolmans and Elisabeth Kühn
- Publication Date:
- 11-2013
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- European Centre for Minority Issues (ECMI)
- Abstract:
- One of the founding principles of the European Union is the recognition that every individual is of equal value. On top of this, the 2000 Race Directive reaffirms the principle of equal treatment between persons irrespective of racial or ethnic origin. Discrimination and inequality are nevertheless still major problems for vulnerable ethnic and national minorities in Europe, as the results of the most recent EU MIDI-survey describes. Bearing in mind the principle of equality, it is not surprising that two new equality concepts arrived at the Council of Europe and EU level in the last years: 'The new commitment to equality and non-discrimination' and 'full and effective equality.' In a communication Note from July 2008, the European Commission expressed its desire for this 'renewed commitment to non-discrimination and equal opportunity,' which proposes a shift from formal equality to a more substantive equality approach. In this paper, we will consider whether this statement is an exemplary expression of an assumed development in the EU, namely that of broadening and strengthening equality and non-discrimination legislation and, furthermore, whether a possible development from formal to substantive equality is also effectively taking place. We analysed whether this trend is only visible in the European Commission or also present within other players in the non-discrimination and equality field. We then sought to understand whether this trend is visible in theory as well as practice. This paper furthermore analyzes whether this trend enlarges the protection scope against discrimination for national minorities, or if this equality manifestation truly supports national minorities to be recognized as equals with the majority.
- Topic:
- Human Rights, Governance, Law, and Minorities
- Political Geography:
- Europe
197. Education in Member State Submissions under the EU Framework for National Roma Integration Strategies
- Author:
- Eben Friedman
- Publication Date:
- 12-2013
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- European Centre for Minority Issues (ECMI)
- Abstract:
- The European Union's (EU) strategy for recovery from the economic crisis that began at the end of the first decade of the 2000s is organized around three priorities: smart growth, sustainable growth, and inclusive growth (European Commission 2010: 9). While the three types of growth are presented as mutually reinforcing, explicit attention to minorities in general and to Roma in particular comes only under the heading of inclusive growth, defined as "empowering people through high levels of employment, investing in skills, fighting poverty and modernising labour markets, training and social protection systems so as to help people anticipate and manage change, and build a cohesive society" (European Commission 2010: 17). As part of the "European Platform against Poverty" planned in the area of inclusive growth, the European Commission (EC) calls on Member States "[t]o define and implement measures addressing the specific circumstances of groups at particular risk (such as one-parentamilies, elderly women, minorities, Roma, people with a disability and the homeless" as a means of "rais[ing] awareness and recognis[ing] the fundamental rights of people experiencing poverty and social exclusion, enabling them to live in dignity and take an active part in society" (European Commission 2010: 19).
- Topic:
- Economics, Education, Human Rights, Governance, and Minorities
- Political Geography:
- Europe
198. How to Stop Doing Business with Russia's Arm Exporter
- Publication Date:
- 06-2013
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Human Rights First
- Abstract:
- As part of the United States plan to begin military withdrawals from Afghanistan in 2014, the Department of Defense (DOD) contracted with the Russian state owned arms dealer, Rosoboronexport, to provide helicopters to the Afghanistan National Security Forces (ANSF). DOD has continued and expanded its purchases from Rosoboronexport even while acknowledging that the Russian arms dealer has enabled mass atrocities by supplying Syria's Bashar al-Assad with weapons that have been used to murder Syrian civilians.
- Topic:
- Arms Control and Proliferation, Economics, Human Rights, and Armed Struggle
- Political Geography:
- Russia, Europe, Middle East, and Asia
199. Walking on Water: Religion, Historical Memory and Human Rights in Spain and Australia
- Author:
- Michael Phillips
- Publication Date:
- 12-2012
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Centre on Human Rights in Conflict
- Abstract:
- The parable of Jesus walking on water occurs in three of the gospels. This parable was used by Imanol Zubero, former Socialist Senator and Basque peace activist, now Professor at the Basque Country University, to describe to me the position of the Catholic Church in Spain today: where once the Church had known how to walk on water and call to the Spanish people to follow it, today the Church has lost its prophetic voice and is in danger of becoming a closed sect. Zubero was referring to the 1970s when the Church played a positive, and widely admired, role in the Spanish Transition to democracy. In this paper I try to account for this change by considering cases from two very different Catholic traditions, Spain and Australia, which have at least one thing in common: in both cases the Church has been accused of responsibility for historical wrong-doing and complicity in human rights abuses.
- Topic:
- Civil War, Human Rights, Religion, History, and Reform
- Political Geography:
- Europe, Spain, and Australia/Pacific
200. EU Relations with Azerbaijan: More for Less?
- Author:
- Jacqueline Hale
- Publication Date:
- 05-2012
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Open Society Foundations
- Abstract:
- The EU’s rhetoric on comprehensive engagement and a multidimensional Neighbourhood Policy has failed to result in pressure to improve human rights in Azerbaijan. Instead, energy security has regularly trumped human rights concerns as the EU has privileged a narrower set of priorities than those agreed in the joint Action Plan. The expansion of energy cooperation, far from improving governance and transmitting European norms, has resulted in even less willingness to raise these concerns in Baku. EU policymakers, believing that they lack leverage in the face of hydrocarbon-rich Azerbaijan and insecure about the attractiveness of what the EU has to offer, have not attached conditions to the relationship. Against the background of the Arab Spring and the recent Neighbourhood Policy review, this paper discusses the EU's potential leverage, concluding that a robust EU policy that incorporated human rights would deliver better results. It is time for the EU to link its expectations for political reform to policy consequences.
- Topic:
- Human Rights, Regional Cooperation, Democracy, and Trade Policy
- Political Geography:
- Europe and Azerbaijan