From Security to Justice? The Development of a more Justice-oriented Approach to the Realisation of European Minority Rights Standards
Elizabeth Craig, University of Sussex
The aim of this paper is to explore the role of the OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities in promoting a more justice-oriented approach to the realisation of European minority rights standards. The paper will focus in particular on the relationship between the Office of the HCNM and other European minority rights mechanisms. It will highlight the role of the first HCNM in promoting a more justice-oriented approach to European minority rights standards in the period before the coming into force of the Council of Europe's Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities in 1995. It will then consider changes in the approach of subsequent holders of the office and potential tensions with the role of the Framework Convention Advisory Committee. The paper will look in particular at how conflict related issues are dealt with by the Framework Convention Advisory Committee and the extent to which references are made to the HCNM's work in Advisory Committee opinions. The aim will be to identify potential tensions between the security-oriented approach adopted by the HCNM and the more justice-oriented approach being developed by the Advisory Committee. The paper will also consider recent developments in, and evaluations of, the HCNM's approach.