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In: Home > DOSSIER > Respect Diversity. How? With autonomy and political participation - The way to get self-government to save language and cultural diversity, a handout

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Respect Diversity

How? With autonomy and political participation - The way to get self-government to save language and cultural diversity, a handout

Wolfgang Mayr

Bolzano/Bozen, 11. December 2017

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction

1. Territorial autonomy - A solution for open ethnic conflicts?

2. The working autonomies in Europe - Territorial autonomy: minority protection & conflict solution

3. Europe's Working Regional Autonomies - A Comparative Analysis

4. Europe's Ethnic Mosaic - A Guide to Minority Rights in Europe

5. OSCE: 'Participation', 'Representation' and 'Autonomy'

6. Searching Minority Rights/Diversity - Europäische Akademie Bozen/Südtirol - Eurac Resarch

7. Europe of the Peoples - European Free Alliance

1. Territorial autonomy - A solution for open ethnic conflicts?

Regional autonomy not only can potentially cater for most of the needs and interests of national minorities, but its decisive advantage that it does not clash with the interest of the states to preserve full integrity of their territory. Regionally autonomies - there are about 60 within 21 states all over the world, if counting only systems operating in democratic states with full rule of law - are established as solutions of compromise between the claim of self-determination of a smaller people and the interest of a central state to preserve its integrity. just a tiny part of the world's operating autonomous regions can count on such an entrenchment, for instance the autonomous province of South Tyrol, Italy.

South Tyrol 1 - www.retecivica.bz.it/en/default.asp
South Tyrol 2 - www.issuu.com/landsuedtirol-provinciabolzano/docs/south-tyrol
Territorial autonomy - A solution for open ethnic conflicts? www.gfbv.it/3dossier/eu-min/autonomy-w.html

2. The working autonomies in Europe - Territorial autonomy: minority protection & conflict solution

Minority ethnic groups are structurally disadvantaged and often excluded from power. How to redress this implicit bias? Are anti-discrimination provisions sufficient? How to ensure equal chances and opportunities for majority and minority identities?

The working autonomies in Europe - Territorial autonomy as a means of minority protection and conflict solution - www.gfbv.it/3dossier/eu-min/autonomy.html

3. Europe's Working Regional Autonomies - A Comparative Analysis

Autonomies usually are institutional and procedural systems based on complex legal provisions starting from the basic autonomy statute or constitutional law and coming to enactment laws and decrees embracing the legal provisions approved and adapted by the autonomous institutions. Europe's Working Regional Autonomies - A Comparative Analysis: www.gfbv.it/3dossier/eu-min/work-autonomy.html

4. Europe's Ethnic Mosaic - A Guide to Minority Rights in Europe

Europe is an ethnic and cultural mosaic, not a melting pot: regional identities strongly rooted in history, religious pluralism and a large number of ethnic or national minorities in almost every country. Distinct from the dominating national cultures, they wish to preserve their identity, cherish their traditions, use their languages in all spheres of life. For this purpose not only recognition is required, but a complete set of minority rights has to be ensured. In the last decade various European institutions have paved the way towards the creation of a common legal space for national minorities. This has been the reason for the EURAC to elaborate an introduction in ethnic (or national) minority issues in Europe.

Europe's Ethnic Mosaic - A Short Guide to Minority Rights in Europe: www.gfbv.it/3dossier/eu-min/min-guide.html

5. OSCE: 'Participation', 'Representation' and 'Autonomy'

States should ensure that opportunities exist for minorities to have an effective voice at the level of the central government, including through special arrangements as necessary:

1) special representation of national minorities, through a reserved number of seats in one or both chambers of parliament or in parliamentary committees; and other forms of guaranteed participation in the legislative process;
2) formal understandings for allocating to members of national minorities cabinet positions, seats on the supreme or constitutional court or lower courts, and positions on nominated advisory bodies or other high-level organs;
3) mechanisms to ensure that minority interests are considered within relevant ministries, through, e.g., personnel addressing minority concerns or issuance of standing directives; and special measures for minority participation in the civil service as well as the provision of public services in the language of the national minority.

Where minorities are concentrated territorially, singlemember districts may provide sufficient minority representation.

1) Proportional representation systems, where a political party's share in the national vote is reflected in its share of the legislative seats, may assist in the representation of minorities.
2) Appropriate local, regional, or autonomous administrations that correspond to the specific historical and territorial circumstances of national minorities may undertake a number of functions in order to respond more effectively to the concerns of these minorities.

More: www.osce.org/hcnm/32240?download=true

6. Searching Minority Rights/Diversity - Europäische Akademie Bozen/Südtirol - Eurac Resarch

The Institute for Minority Rights pursues basic and applied research on the protection of minorities and the management of cultural diversity. It focuses on issues of cohesion and governance in pluri-ethnic societies, including the new challenges related to migration into territories inhabited by minorities.

Europäische Akademie Bozen - Insitut für Minderheitenrecht: www.eurac.edu/de/research/autonomies/minrig/Pages/default.aspx

The Institute carries out comparative studies and applied research on federal, regional and local governmental trends predominantly, but not exclusively, from a legal perspective. They investigate the legal tools for coping with the management of ever more complex governance and decision-making processes in multi-level systems both within Europe and worldwide. South Tyrol's well-established, far reaching self-government arrangement and asymmetrical autonomy within regional Italy and the location at the border of 'mature' federations, puts the Institute in a privileged position to observe and analyze. Institut für Föderalismusforschung: www.eurac.edu/de/research/autonomies/sfereg/Pages/default.aspx

The principal research focus of the Institute is to promote sustainable development practices in the residential, business and recreational spaces of mountain areas. It examines local and regional conditions to measure the spatial and socio-economic impact of human activity.

Institut für Regionalentwicklung: www.eurac.edu/de/research/mountains/regdev/Pages/default.aspx

7. Europe of the Peoples - European Free Alliance

The European Free Alliance (EFA) works to make the idea of a "Europe of the Peoples" a political and cultural reality at the European and international level. It is an umbrella organisation that gathers 40 progressive nationalist, regionalist and autonomist parties throughout the European Union (EU), representing stateless nations, regions, and traditional minorities in Europe. It focuses its activity on the promotion of the right of self-determination of peoples, human, civil and political rights, democracy, internal enlargement, multi-level governance, devolution of powers, cultural and linguistic diversity; as well as on nationalism, regionalism, autonomy and independence. Through its member parties, the European Free Alliance's scope is spread over 17 EU Member States (MS).

European Free Alliance: www.e-f-a.org