This document discusses national minorities, multiculturalism, and migration in Eurasia. It provides context on the evolution of treating national minorities and how that has affected migration trends. It also examines how lessons learned from regulating minority issues in former Soviet Union countries can be applied to new migrants. Key points include definitions of national minorities, frameworks like the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities, how national minorities are defined in different jurisdictions, and statistics on ethnic minorities and migration in several countries. Challenges regarding the legal treatment of national minorities are also outlined.
Policy responses to multiculturalism, integration and diversity - part 1
National minorities, multiculturalism and migration in Eurasia - Shaping legal and policy responses
1. National Minorities, Multiculturalism and
Migration in Euroasia – shaping legal and
policy responses
Iryna Ulasiuk
Executive Training
22 January 2013
2. Objective
interrelation of minority and migration issues
-the evolution of the treatment of national
minorities
-its effect on migration tendencies
-how the lessons learnt from the regulation of
minority issues in various countries from the
former SU can be applied to new migrants
3. ‘National Minority’
- no internationally agreed definition
- - objective factors (such as the existence of a
shared ethnicity, language or religion)
- and subjective factors (including that
individuals must identify themselves as
members of a minority).
-
4. ‘National Minority’
1977, F. Capotorti:
A group numerically inferior to the rest of the
population of a State, in a non-dominant position,
whose members - being nationals of the State -
possess ethnic, religious or linguistic characteristics
differing from those of the rest of the population and
show, if only implicitly, a sense of solidarity, directed
towards preserving their culture, traditions, religion or
language’.
5. Framework Convention for the Protection
of National Minorities
• pan-European dimension
• entered into force on 1 February 1998
• one of the most comprehensive treaties
• Thirty-nine states are party to this treaty
(Russia, Ukraine, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia,
Moldova also Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan)
•
6. What commitments do State Parties undertake when
they ratify the Framework Convention?
• Non-discrimination • Promotion of effective equality • Promotion of conditions favouring
the preservation and development of culture, religion, language and traditions
• Freedom of assembly, association, expression, thought, conscience and religion
• Access to and use of media
• Linguistic freedoms: use of the minority language in private and in public as well as its use
before administrative authorities; use of one’s own name in the minority language;
display of information of a private nature in the minority language; topographical names in
the minority language
• Education: learning of and instruction in the minority language; freedom to set up
educational institutions
• Transfrontier contacts
• Participation in economic, cultural and social life
• Participation in public life
• Prohibition of forced assimilation
7. What is a national minority?:FCNM
• Each Party to the FCNM is left room to assess which groups
are to be covered.
• This selection must be made in good faith and according to
principles of international law.
• The implementation of the Framework Convention should not
be a source of arbitrary or unjustified distinctions.
• An article by article approach has been adopted to the
question of the groups covered by the Framework
Convention.
8. FCNM: scope of application
• Article 6
1 The Parties shall encourage a spirit of tolerance and intercultural dialogue and take
effective measures to promote mutual respect and understanding and co-operation
among all persons living on their territory, irrespective of those persons’ ethnic,
cultural, linguistic or religious identity, in particular in the fields of education, culture
and the media.
2 The Parties undertake to take appropriate measures to protect persons who may be
subject to threats or acts of discrimination, hostility or violence as a result of their
ethnic, cultural, linguistic or religious identity.
• Article 10
2 In areas inhabited by persons belonging to national minorities traditionally or in
substantial numbers, if those persons so request and where such a request
corresponds to a real need, the Parties shall endeavour to ensure, as far as possible,
the conditions which would make it possible to use the minority language in relations
between those persons and the administrative authorities.
9. Who decides whether someone belongs to a
national minority?
• Individuals are free to decide whether or not
they wish to be treated as belonging to a
national minority.
• An individual’s choice must be based on
objective criteria connected with that
person’s identity, such as language, religion
and culture.
10. ‘National Minority’ in Different Jurisdictions
Armenia: “the nationals of the Republic of Armenia permanently
living in the Republic of Armenia who are different from the
basic popu
• Azerbaijan:
“Although there is no definition of «national minority» in the
national legislation, the Government of Azerbaijan had never
faced with the issue of recognition or non-recognition of any
language or ethnic groups as national minorities, since it
proceeded from the fact that every person has the right to freely
determine his belonging to any national minority.lation by its
ethnic origin”.
11. ‘National Minority’ in Different Jurisdictions
• Belarus: ‘persons who permanently reside in the
territory of the Republic of Belarus, hold the
citizenship of the Republic Belarus and who differ
from the majority of the population of the republic
by their origin, language, culture or traditions.’
• Georgia: persons who have Georgian citizenship, are
distinct from the majority of the population in terms
of language, culture and ethnic identity, have lived
on Georgian territory for a long period (and live
“compactly” on Georgian territory).
12. ‘National Minority’ in Different Jurisdictions
• Moldova: “persons residing in the Republic of
Moldova and of Moldovan nationality who have
particular ethnic, cultural, linguistic and religious
features which distinguish them from the - Moldovan
- majority of the population and who consider
themselves to be of different ethnic origin”
• Ukraine: groups of Ukrainian citizens who are not of
Ukrainian nationality, but show feeling of national
self-awareness and affinity.
13. ‘National Minority’ in Different Jurisdictions
RF:
‘practice has shown that in satisfying various demands of national
minorities two groups of entities in the ethnic composition of the Russian
Federation are singled out:
- established nations or nations living in the territory of Russia for an
extensive period of time, which can be conditionally called indigenous
peoples;
- ethnic groups of a relatively more recent origin whose "mother" ethnoses
live outside the Russian Federation (the CIS and Baltic countries, as well as
Bulgaria, Hungary, Germany, Korea, Poland, Finland and a number of another
countries), and also those groups that do not have state entities at all
(Assyrians, Karaites, Kurds and Gipsies).
14. ACFC:
• The federal authorities appear to be ready to apply the Framework
Convention also to minorities that have arrived relatively recently to the
Russian Federation and to provide also non-citizens belonging to these
groups the possibility to rely on the protection of the Framework
Convention.
• The Advisory Committee is of the opinion that it would be possible to
consider including persons who belong to other groups, including non-
citizens where appropriate, in the application of the Framework
Convention on an article-by-article basis
15. Ethnic Minorities and Migration:
Statistics: Armenia
2001 1989
Ethnic group Total Percentage of Total Percentage of
total population total population
Armenia 3.145.354 97.8 3.083.616 93.3
Azeri - - 84.860 2.6
Kurd 1.519 0.05 4.151 0.1
Yezid 40.620 1.3 51.976 1.6
Russian 14.660 0.5 51.555 1.6
Ukrainian 1.633 0.05 8.341 0.2
Assyrian 3.409 0.1 5.963 0.2
Greek 1.176 0.04 4.650 0.1
Other 4.640 0.1 9.664 0.3
Total 3.213.011 100 3.304.776 100
16. Ethnic Minorities and Migration:
Statistics:Azerbaijan
2009 1999 1989
Ethnic group Total Percentage Total Percentage of Total Percentage of
of total total total
population population population
8.922.400 100 7.953.400 100 7.021.200 100
Azeris 8,172,800 91.6 7,205,500 90,6 5,805,500 82,7
Lezgins 180,300 2 178,000 2,2 171,400 2,4
Armenians 120,300 1.3 120,700 1,5 390,500 5,6
Russians 119,300 1.3 141,700 1,8 392,300 5,6
Talish 112,000 1.3 76,800 1,0 21,2 0,3
Avars 49,800 0.6 59,900 0,6 44,1 0,6
Turks 38,000 0.4 43,400 0,5 17,7 0,2
Tatars 25,900 0.3 30,000 0,4 28,6 0,4
Tats 25,200 0.3 10,900 0,13 10,2 0.14
Ukrainians 21,500 0.3 29,000 0,4 32,3 0,5
Sakhurs 12,300 0.1 15,900 0,2 13,3 0,2
Georgians 9,900 0.1 14,900 0,2 14,2 0,2
Jews 9,100 0.1 8,900 0,1 30,8 0,4
Kurds 6,100 0.1 13,100 0,2 12,2 0,2
Udins 3,800 0.04 4,100 0,05 6,1 0,1
Other 9,500 0.1 9,6 0,12 41,5 0,6
17. Ethnic Minorities and Migration:
Statistics: Georgia
2002 1989
Ethnic group
Total Percentage of total Total Percentage of total
population population
Georgian 3,661,173 83.8 3,787,393 70.1
Azeri 284,761 6.1 307,556 5.7
Armenian 248,929 5.7 437,211 8.1
Russian 67,671 1.5 341,172 6.3
Ossetian 38,028 0.9 164,055 3.0
Yezid 18,329 0.4 - -
Greek 15,166 0.3 100,324 1.9
Kist 7,110 0.2 - -
Ukrainian 7,039 0.2 52,443 1.0
Jew 3,772 0.1 24,720 0.5
Abkhaz 3,527 0.1 95,853 1.8
Assyrian 3,299 0.1 6,206 0.1
Kurd 2,514 0.1 33,331 0.6
Chechen 1,271 0.0 609 0.0
Other 8,946 0.1 49,968 0.9
18. Ethnic Minorities and Migration:
Statistics: Moldova
2004 1989
Ethnic Total Total Percentage of total population
group
Total 3,383,332 4,335,360 100
Moldovans 2,564,849 2,794,749 64.5
Ukrainians 282,406 600,366 13.8
Russians 201,218 562,069 13
Gagauzians 147,500 153,548 3.5
Romanians 73,276 2,477 0.1
Bulgarians 65,662 88,419 2
Others 30,157 51,623 1
20. NMs and Migration: Present Day Challenge
• The nature of migration flows has changed.
• a significant percentage of national minorities are now forced migrants
and refugees leaving neighboring states under threat of violence or
because of discrimination.
• fears of losing the ability to return to one’s motherland
• fears of being left without citizenship
• fears of being trapped across a border from one's family members and
friends.
• limited possibilities to exercise professional capacity and
REASON: inadequate legal protection + poor implementation of the existing
laws + lassez faire approach adopted by the governments???
21. Legal Treatment of NMs: challenges
• Few legislations governing the treatment of
national minorities are unified under one
legal act (vague, provisions of the
constitution, a series of laws and
governmental decisions)
• No comprehensive anti-discrimination
legislation
22. Legal Treatment of NMs: challenges
• no crime on the grounds of national/ethnic origin or
racial hatred has been or the number of crimes
recorded is very low.
• - the unawareness of the persons belonging to
national minorities of their rights;
- persons’ poor command of the state
language
- lack of statistics
Language Issue
23. Effective multi-ethnic state
• Marginalization of violence and coercion as a
tool of cultural politics
• Open Discourse over Cultural Difference
• Respect for the Cultural Rights of Individuals
• Opportunities for Minority Voice Within
Institutions of Power
• Equality and Social Justice for Minorities
24. Marginalization of violence and coercion as a
tool of cultural politics
Violence and coercion as tools of cultural politics must be
marginal to political practice.
Coercion and violence rarely solve cultural conflicts and usually
only create new grievances revolving around the very use of
violence.
“Solutions” that are imposed on society are just as problematic
as “solutions” that are violently imposed on states by ethnic
movements.
They create legacies that haunt interethnic relations long after
the violence recedes
25. Open Discourse over Cultural Difference
• an open public discourse over issues associated with cultural
difference is needed in order to manage cultural conflict
consensually.
• we cannot simply equate the absence of conflict with a
positive outcome if the possibilities for expressing grievances
are at the same time limited.
• Some degree of conflict over issues associated with cultural
difference is a natural part of any multiethnic society
• problems will only persist when a public discourse over issues
of cultural pluralism is choked off.
26. Respect for the Cultural Rights of Individuals
the cultural rights of the individual must be respected
minimizing discrimination against individuals on the
basis of cultural difference
providing opportunities for them to practice their
culture and religion freely, to form and associate within
cultural communities, to learn the language of their
chosen community, and to select their identities freely
27. Opportunities for Minority Voice Within Institutions of Power
• political processes need to give voice to minorities
• the policies that are produced take into consideration the
interests of all sides to the conflict.
• the effective multiethnic state does not force minorities into
exit, but instead, by allowing voice, breeds minority loyalty.
• when political processes contain incentives for politicians to
take into consideration the needs of minorities, win-win
outcomes are more likely to occur.
28. Equality and Social Justice for Minorities
The effective multiethnic state attempts to
address the sources of inequality between
groups and aspirations for social justice among
minorities.
deep-seated grievances need to be addressed
proactively, not to become the cause of violent
conflict.