National Minorities Presented by: Prof. Dr. Korhecz Date: 27 September 2023 Introductory Remarks - Ambition to describe, compare and analyze current constitutional framework for the protection of national minorities in eight countries, as well as to give some reflections regarding the protection and practice of these rights. - History: centrality of the minority issue; various responses for managing diversity in these states, from oppression of minorities and nation building (efforts to homogenize the population of nation states to erase out diversity) efforts to the constitutional recognition and protection of national minorities. - Even after the turbulent and often tragic twentieth century national and ethnic diversity is still social reality: 3-20% of the population does not belong to the titular nation / majority. - The minority issue has two, often competing dimensions: human rights approach and security based approach. Constitutional Position and Status of National Minorities - Identification and recognition of national min. - Every constitution explicitly recognize the existence of national minorities. - Terminology varies: national minority, national and ethnic minority, national minority and ethnic group, nationality, autochthonous national community. - Constitutional identification and enumeration of national minorities in two constitutions. Constitutional Provision on Minority Rights - Group specific rights. Cultural rights but also power sharing. - Number of provisions on minority rights varies. In the constitution of Serbia 12 Articles. - Classification according to the content and character of minority rights. - Individual rights related to the specific identity. All constitutions recognize the freedom to declare, express and preserve specific identity. Six constitutions guarantee mother language education and establishment of national organizations. Concluding Remarks - What seems a long-standing internal problem of CEE constitutions is to establish an equilibrium between nation state with state-bearing dominant nation and constitutional rights of national minorities. - Constitutional texts themselves are not clear, and constitutional courts have also not clearly conceptualized this relationship. It seems that provisions on group-specific minority rights are more reflective of international pressures than a genuine constitutional development - The minority question is not primarily a human rights question in many states and it is still trapped, to a large extent, in historical legacy.