ECMI Kosovo has signed a contract for a project to reduce the number of out-of-school children for six Kosovo municipalities.

Source: European Centre for Minority Issues Kosovo’s April Newsletter

A new project of ECMI Kosovo will aim at reducing the number of school drop-outs in six Kosovo municipalities. The project represents a continuation of previous collaboration with UNICEF in developing capacities of municipal officials in delivering improved education to minority communities.

The project will achieve its aim through strengthening the capacities of municipal officials and drop-out prevention teams in the schools and municipalities.

Municipal officials and drop-out prevention teams will plan and implement targeted drop-out prevention and response intervention manuals. They will also monitor and evaluate the efficiency of the activities undertaken.

Source: ECMI InfoChannel @ European Centre for Minority Issues.

Today, ECMI Research Associate Hanna Vasilevich speaks in Yalta. She will describe how Belarus discriminates against speakers of the state’s own titular language: Belarusian.

In a paper that is read today in Yalta, European Centre for Minority Issues’ Hanna Vasilevich explains the background to Belarus’ language diversity.

Vasilevich speaks at the 12th international workshop: Ethnicity and power: collective memory and technologies of identity construction that spans over 20-25 May. The workshop is organized by Tavricheskiy National University, Norwegian Humanist Association, and Network of Cultural Exchange and Interethnic Trust.

Vasilevich will also explain how the authorities of Belarus manage the language diversity. This amounts to a true peculiarity in the landscape of European language policies; Belarus authorities favor Russian against its titular language which is obviously Belarusian. According to Vasilevich, one must speak of discrimination against Belarusian speakers in this country.

Everyday users are minority

Insofar, the Belarusian language is left in a position that resembles minority languages, but this label doesn’t really fit.

According to Vasilevich, the Belarusian language is the mother tongue or first language of the majority of the country’s population, while at the same time only a quarter of the population uses Belarusian in everyday communication. Thus, the everyday users of Belarusian are in minority.

To be published in JEMIE

Vasilevich’s chain of reasoning is fully unfolded in the paper that will be published in a coming issue of the Journal on Ethnopolitics and Minority Issues in Europe (JEMIE).

Source: ECMI InfoChannel @ European Centre for Minority Issues.

April negotiations resulted in a landmark agreement on northern Kosovo, assesses ECMI Kosovo that also reports on reactions to the Pristina-Belgrade agreement.

[Except for editorial changes, the following text is authored and first time issued by European Centre for Minority Issues Kosovo in its April Newsletter]

On 19 April Prime Ministers Hashim Thaçi and Ivica Dačić met in Brussels. The Primes of Kosovo and Serbia respectively concluded a 15-point agreement. The agreement comes after 10 rounds of talks facilitated by EU High Representative Catherine Ashton. The dialogue began as technical in October 2011 and became largely political entering a new phase in October 2012.

The 15-point agreement reached shall entail, inter alia, the creation of an Association of Serb Municipalities that will be in charge of economic development, education, health, urban and rural planning. The association will be represented in the Consultative Council for Communities (CCC).

The agreement also foresees one court system under Kosovar law. The court system will include a panel of Kosovo Serb judges to sit permanently in the courthouse in North Mitrovica that will deal with issues related to the Serb majority municipalities.

Both sides have agreed to not block one another in their respective European Union integration processes.

The police force will be integrated, though the police in North Mitrovica will reflect the ethnic composition; the police force shall be called the Kosovo Police and will receive one salary from the Kosovo Police as opposed to double salaries from Pristina and Belgrade.

A regional police commander will also be put in place, covering the four northern Serb majority municipalities and will cooperate with other regional police commanders throughout Kosovo.

There shall be elections held in the northern municipalities in 2013 in accordance with Kosovo law and international standards. The OSCE will facilitate the elections.

An implementation commission is to be established by both sides with EU facilitation.

Several issues remained to be agreed upon such as, agreements on energy and telecommunications.

The agreement was accepted and adopted by the Kosovo Assembly on 21 April. The Serbian Government has adopted the agreement on 22 April, while the Serbian Parliament adopted the government’s report on the political and technical talks, including the Brussels agreement on 26 April.

Serbs in northern Kosovo demand referendum

A protest against the agreement was held by Serbs from North Mitrovica, Zvečan/Zveçan, Leposavić/Leposaviq, and Zubin Potok on 22 April. Serbs were demanding a referendum on the agreement reached. During the protest, Serbs called for the creation of the Assembly of Autonomous Province of Kosovo.

Serbia Director of Office for Kosovo quits

Aleksander Vulin, Director of Serbia’s Government Office for Kosovo, resigned on 24 April. Vulin’s resignation came as a result of his dissatisfaction with the agreement reached between Thaçi and Dačić on 19 April.

EU Commission recommends opening SAA negotiations

As a result of the reached agreement, the EU Commission has issued a formal recommendation to open negotiations with Kosovo on signing of the Stabilization and Association Agreement (SAA).

The SAA feasibility study released in October 2012 confirmed Kosovo’s readiness to open negotiations for an SAA; however it was also contingent on implementation of agreements between Serbia and Kosovo.

The SAA would provide a wide range of cooperation between the EU in Kosovo in fields such as promotion of economic and trade relations and cooperation in the field of justice. Furthermore, the EU Commission adopted a proposal that, if approved, would allow Kosovo to participate in 22 EU programmes.

Source: ECMI InfoChannel @ European Centre for Minority Issues.

Plenty of issues are presented in a new report by the European Centre for Minority Issues (ECMI) in Flensburg. The issues originate in the ongoing media transition, and the question: how does the ongoing transition affect the promotion of ‘intercultural dialogue’?

The report is the result of a seminar that took place at the ECMI headquarters in January. A media and minority professionals’ forum of around 15 experts attended the seminar.

Read also: Seminar:“Minorities, Media and Intercultural Dialogue” on 18-19 January in Flensburg.

Integration of minorities or of right wing cultures?

The report reflects the expert forum’s answers to questions like, what is the “…role of the media in promoting intercultural dialogue?”

Naturally, this question leads to some more preliminary questions. The preliminary questions are also included in the report. They can probably be paraphrased like

“What makes a dialogue a dialogue?”
“How can one know that a dialogue is not just two or more monologues?”
“What makes a culture culture, so that it qualifies to join an ‘intercultural dialogue’?”

’Intercultural dialogue‘ is a concept contained in the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities (FCNM). This is why it is at stake for the expert forum altogether. The FCNM obliges the state parties to take action, and “… encourage … intercultural dialogue and take effective measures to promote mutual respect and understanding … in particular in the fields of … the media.” (Article 6(1))

However, this contextualizes more issues raised by the expert forum. The issues can be paraphrased like:

“If the purpose of ’intercultural dialogue‘ is stability, does dialogue actually work?”
“Does the absence of ‘intercultural dialogue’ necessarily lead to instability?”
“If the purpose of ‘intercultural dialogue’ is integration, should the target of efforts be right wing cultures, rather than ’old minorities‘ cultures’ relations to ’old majority cultures?’
“Does ‘intercultural dialogue’ rather lead to assimilation?”

Game change by media in transition

“In spite of all the questions, there is a growing consensus that ‘intercultural dialogue’ leads to more harmonious relations between different cultures,” explains Dr Federica Prina.

As the head of ECMI’s Culture & Diversity Cluster, she is the conveyor of the expert forum and also its rapporteur. This positive approach to ‘intercultural dialogue’ is also the FCNM’s approach.

When the media are considered important, it is because they are important channels for ‘intercultural dialogue’. They provide spaces where the positive effects of ‘intercultural dialogue’ may manifest themselves. When the media undergo radical change due to digitalization, social media, globalization and more, what happens to intercultural dialogue? All the issues raised by the expert forum can probably be distilled to one main question: Do the changes promote or prevent ‘intercultural dialogue’?

According to Dr Prina the changes that affect the media environment are “ongoing as we speak” and the experts are in many cases discussing moving targets. Among the changes that could lead to either promoting or preventing the positive role of the media are:

• The partial convergence of public service and private broadcasters
• The Google algorithm’s promotion of user “narcissism”
• Multiplex providers emerging and becoming intermediary
• The policy effects of the current DNS regulation
• New media promoting user ghettoization
• The de-territorialization (digitalization) of radio and TV broadcasters
• Market driven censorship (Google etc.)
• Private enterprises’ control of audiences
• Unfolding consequences of media spaces that are unregulated by governments
• Web 2.0 developing two-ways media communication
• Linguistic homogenization (English, Spanish, and Mandarin Chinese)

Suggested interventions and more knowledge

The report and the expert forum suggest a number of interventions to be made in order to safeguard intercultural dialogue and to protect minorities. However, according to Dr Prina, there are many new and emerging research areas hidden behind the bullet points that would benefit from further analysis. The overall question is:

If state parties of the FCNM take action in accordance with the convention, and “… encourage … intercultural dialogue … in the fields of … the media”, what measures are indeed effective?

Knowledge will nourish ECMI’s indicators’ project

ECMI has initiated a project to develop impact indicators for the FCNM and the European Charter for Regional and Minority Languages (ECRML). ECMI has already devised intercultural indicators in the past.

This project is instrumental in assessing states’ actions, including in the area of ‘intercultural dialogue’; state reports for the FCNM and ECRML are often superficial and at times anecdotal:

“While actions undertaken by states are listed, there is a general absence of evaluation of their impact,” says the report.

“Naturally, the results of new research could very well nourish ECMI’s indicators’ project”, explains Dr Prina.

Knowledge of what promotes and what prevents ‘intercultural dialogue’ in the media during the ongoing transition period will foster ECMI’s attempt to identify indicators. The indicators’ project is another ECMI research project, of which the question is:

How can the impact of the state parties’ interventions be measured?

Source: ECMI InfoChannel @ European Centre for Minority Issues.

The Annual Report 2012 of the European Centre for Minority Issues is now available on-line. The Report provides overview of the past year’s ECMI activities and affairs.

ECMI Annual Reports highlight the main research, analysis, action and documentation results of the European Centre for Minority Issues.

Implicitly, the reports manifest how the Centre manages its role, and particularly how its trademark of bridging theory and practice develops. The 2012 report is no exception. It shows how output from conferences, symposia, publications and research interact with empowerment, capacity building and other projects.

The contents

The disposition of the Annual Report 2012 contents reflects how ECMI organizes its work around thematic clusters and offices in Kosovo and Caucasus.

Thus, the 2012 highlights of the clusters Justice & Governance, Culture & Diversity, Citizenship & Ethics, Conflict & Security are reported alongside institutional affairs, ECMI library news, a listing of publications, a financial overview, reports from ECMI Kosovo and ECMI Caucasus, and Cross-cluster activities like the Belarus project and the annual ECMI Summer School in Flensburg.

From left in the back row: Head of Secretariat Maj-Britt Risbjerg Hansen, Resource Development Officer Astrid Voss, Senior Research Associate Dr Alexander Osipov, Research Associate Dr. Andreea Carstocea, Research Associate Dr. Andreea Udrea, visiting fellow Mr. Fateh Shah, Research Associate Dr. Zora Popova, intern Silvia La Face, Electronic Services Librarian William McKinney, and Project Assistant Oto Skale.
From left in front row: intern Raluca Idor, intern Ahmed Nuri, Director Dr. Tove Hansen Malloy, intern Andreea Racles, Senior Research Associate Dr. Federica Prina, Project Research Associate Ugo Caruso, intern Hans Enverga, and Assistant to the Secretariat Tamari Bulia.

Nesting the networks

The ECMI Annual Report 2012 carries the title Nesting the Networks. The title and the corresponding article is the result of an attempt to remedy a paradox: it is difficult to report on processes while at the same time, the process of networking and of nesting all the minority-majority relations stakeholder’s views is an important and time consuming part of ECMI’s value chain and work.

Thus, even though the process of Nesting the Networks is less tangible than concrete and visible results, it has gained a prominent place in the ECMI Annual Report 2012. 

Easy to distribute

The ECMI Annual Report 2012 offers a single significant improvement. The majority of articles are provided with links to on-line versions of the same articles. This makes it easy for the reader to redistribute the articles in their respective social networks – whether the reader is a member of ECMI‘s Advisory Council, in the Executive Board, in the Non-resident Research Network, an employee or visiting fellow, donor, researcher, student, representative of a minority, an NGO, or an international organization, or just a commonly concerned citizen.

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ECMI Mandate

European Centre for Minority Issues (ECMI) deals with the concerns of minorities and majorities and the problems arising from these in a European perspective.

Minorities are national minorities and other traditional autochthonous ethnic groups, though taking into account that there is no generally applicable definition of minorities.

ECMI conduct high-quality research and provides policy-relevant information and consultancy.

ECMI’s mandate is to:

• collect, promote and communicate research work on issues of minorities
• act as a databank on minority issues
• compile research on minority issues and create overall analyses and presentations
• participate in network research on minority issues
• promote and communicate practical experience regarding protection of minorities through symposia, seminars and publications
• create fora for mitigating conflicts
• advise on minority policies

ECMI Founders, Donors, and History

ECMI was founded in 1996 by the governments of Denmark, Germany, and Schleswig-Holstein. The ECMI headquarters are located in Flensburg, in the heart of the German-Danish border region, in order to draw on the positive experience of peaceful coexistence and cooperation of different ethnic groups in this area.

While its core funding is provided by its founding governments, the Centre actively pursues project based funding to support its activities.

ECMI is fully independent in the choice of its projects and their execution. Given this unique status, ECMI can become active where intergovernmental organizations and non-governmental organizations find it difficult to operate.

Source: ECMI InfoChannel @ European Centre for Minority Issues.

The open ECMI conference, Shaping the Frame across the Cycles, will take place on Friday 5 July at Flensborghus, Flensburg, Germany.

The Advisory Committee on the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities has been newly composed. The European Centre for Minority Issues (ECMI) marks the new composition by organizing the conference Shaping the Frame across the Cycles.

Download the conference leaflet including the programme, speakers list, and contact coordinates.

Approaching the 4^th monitoring cycle

With Shaping the Frame across the Cycles ECMI invites academics and practitioners to a meaningful reflection on the role and monitoring functions of the Advisory Committee (ACFC) on the Council of Europe Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities (FCNM). 

The Conference will be the occasion for an analysis on the achievements and hindrances in the protection of minorities through monitoring mechanisms. It will be structured in thematic sessions and benefit from the participation of experts directly involved in the work of the ACFC.

The conference is to be conceived as a practical occasion to reason on the experiences gained by the ACFC to date and reflect on the potential challenges posed by the upcoming 4th monitoring cycles.

Speakers are Gaspar Biro, Ilze Brands Kehris, Ugo Caruso, Robert Dunbar, Asbjørn Eide, Mahulena Hofmann, Rainer Hofmann, Francoise Kempf, Antti Korkeakivi, Alexey Kozhemyakov, Tove Malloy, Joseph Marko, Stefan Oeter, John Packer, Francesco Palermo, Alan Phillips, Detlev Rein, and Jørgen Kühl.

Rainer Hofmann, former Chairman of the ACFC, will deliver the key note address at the conference “Shaping the Frame across the Cycles”.

Source: ECMI InfoChannel @ European Centre for Minority Issues.

Promoting Minority Rights through Education is online from today. The European Centre for Minority Issues Working Paper #66 is authored by Dr Zora Popova.

ECMI Working Paper #66 examines the Council of Europe Charter on Education for Democratic Citizenship and Human Rights Education (EDC/HRE) as a tool for fostering minority rights in Europe. The Paper also examines the Charter’s potential as a lever for implementing the provisions of the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities (FCNM).

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ECMI Working Papers © from European Centre for Minority Issues (ECMI)

ECMI Working Papers are written either by the staff of European Centre for Minority Issues or by outside authors commissioned by the Centre. As ECMI does not propagate opinions of its own, the views expressed in any of its publications are the sole responsibility of the author concerned.

The European Centre for Minority Issues (ECMI) is a non-partisan institution founded in 1996 by the Governments of the Kingdom of Denmark, the Federal Republic of Germany, and the German State of Schleswig-Holstein.

ECMI was established in Flensburg, at the heart of the Danish-German border region, in order to draw from the encouraging example of peaceful coexistence between minorities and majorities achieved here. ECMI’s aim is to promote interdisciplinary research on issues related to minorities and majorities in a European perspective and to contribute to the improvement of interethnic relations in those parts of Western and Eastern Europe where ethnopolitical tension and conflict prevail.

Source: ECMI InfoChannel @ European Centre for Minority Issues.

The European Centre for Minority Issues Caucasus will move to a new address in the coming days. The new address is centrally located in Tbilisi.

On 1 May ECMI Caucasus expects to be online again. The phone number remains the same, with changes only to the postal address:

ECMI Caucasus
Mtatsminda Str. 12
0880 Tbilisi, Georgia
Phone: +995 322 912 252

Vis stort kort

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ECMI Caucasus

ECMI has been operating a Caucasus office based in Tbilisi since 2003 where it works towards building stable and inclusive democracies throughout the region, particularly in Georgia.

ECMI Caucasus works to improve the competencies of minority organizations and assists governments in building institutional capacities to develop and implement policies on national minority issues.

In particular, ECMI Caucasus works closely with Georgian state agencies – such as the Public Defender, the State Minister for Reintegration, and the Administration of the President – as well as with international organizations and national NGOs. The goal is to ensure the involvement of national minorities in consultations on state policies affecting minority communities.

Source: ECMI InfoChannel @ European Centre for Minority Issues.

ECMI Kosovo

The new two-year project of ECMI Kosovo is a continuation of European Centre for Minority Issues’ long term efforts to support the CCC as a key body for minority community participation in Kosovo’s legislative and decision making processes. 

Read also: CCC opens for minority organization accreditation

The project has the objective to strengthen the CCC’s voice vis-à-vis government institutions and improve the link between civil society members of the CCC and the local communities whose rights they represent. 

This project is funded by the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs

The Consultative Council for Communities

The CCC, located within the Office of the President of Kosovo (OP), comprises minority community and government representatives. It has the constitutional mandate to serve as a forum for government consultation with communities on relevant issues and as a mechanism for facilitating intercommunity dialogue and enhancing intracommunity cohesion.

As such, the CCC is the only institution in Kosovo that provides a formal avenue for minority civil society representatives to directly influence the Kosovo government’s decision making processes.

Source: ECMI InfoChannel @ European Centre for Minority Issues.

European Centre for Minority Issues Kosovo

As of April, ECMI Kosovo’s Gazmen Salijević will act as Country Coordinator for Kosovo and be responsible for coordinating and implementing the REF Scholarship Program.

The REF Scholarship Program provides support to Romani students in the form of academic merit-based scholarships to facilitate their access to higher education and advancement through all stages of higher education.

The goal of the Program is to contribute to the creation of a critical mass of intellectual Roma with higher education degrees who will become agents for change in their respective communities and countries.

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Read the latest two years’ Roma related ECMI news

Source: ECMI InfoChannel @ European Centre for Minority Issues.

As of March 2013, one can also find the following titles in the European Centre for Minority Issues (ECMI) Library in Flensburg.

Iglesias, Julien Danero, Nenad Stojanoviç and Sharon Weinblum (eds.), New Nation-States and National Minorities. Colchester: ECPR Press, 2013, 288 pp.
Appetizer and further data.

Jones, Elin Haf Gruffydd and Enrique Uribe-Jongbloed, Social Media and Minority Languages. Convergence and the Creative Industries. Bristol: Multilingual Matters, 2013, 267 pp.
Appetizer and further data.

Stewart, Michael (ed.), The Gypsy ‘Menace’. Populism and the New Anti-Gypsy Politics. London: Hurst, 2012, 381 pp.
Appetizer and further data.

Zelizer, Craig (ed.), Integrated Peacebuilding. Innovative Approaches to Transforming Conflict. Boulder: Westview Press, 2013, 336 pp.
Appetizer and further data.

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The ECMI Library is an independent collection of books, journals, and grey literature of more than 3,000 items covering many aspects of minority issues.

The highly specialized collection offers public access to a variety of materials in more than twenty languages on inter-ethnic relations, language and cultural diversity issues and ethnic conflict in Europe.

The Library is especially strong in the area of minority protection with regards to international law. It also includes a useful reference section and a considerable number of published and unpublished reports dealing with the subjects mentioned above.

In addition to this, the ECMI Library is unique in that it includes an ever-growing number of annual reports of Ombudsman offices around the world, which provide insight into the human rights situation in many countries.

Current periodical and newspaper subscriptions reflect the multidisciplinary nature of ECMI research.

Reference services are provided both in-house and for the general public. The ECMI Library is physically at Schiffbrücke 12 in Flensburg Germany, and online via the ECMI website.

Source: ECMI InfoChannel @ European Centre for Minority Issues.

Das ECMI veranstaltet  einen informativen Vormittag zur Minderheitensituation in Polen. Der Eintritt ist frei und

Polen und seine Kulturvielfalt – Minderheiten als neue Realität umfasst drei informative Vorträge zur aktuelle Minderheitensituation in Polen. Die Veranstaltung ist Teil der folkBaltica, die vom 17. bis 21. April stattfindet.

Die Veranstaltung beginnt um 11.00 Uhr beim European Centre für Minority Issues (ECMI) im Kompagnietorgebäude.

Lesen Sie dazu auch: folkBaltica Programm 2013

Von Kulturhomogen bis Kulturvielfalt

Experten aus dem Netzwerk des ECMI -  Ewa Chylinski, Dr Katarzyna Stoklosa, und Kiryl Kascian – berichten über die Entwicklung der polnischen Minderheit von der Kultureinheit zur jetzigen Kulturvielfalt.

Bis 1989 hat Polen sich als kulturhomogenes Land betrachtet.  Die Bürger waren alle „Polen“ und als Pole „sollte man auch römisch-katholisch sein und Polnisch als Muttersprache beherrschen“. Obwohl mehrere Minderheiten in Polen lebten – Weissrussen, Armenier, Ukrainer und Deutsche – waren sie fast unsichtbar. Man hat die Minderheitenschulen und Kulturvereine erlaubt, die für die traditionelle Folklore, im Sinne der sowjetischen Nationalpolitik, eingerichtet waren.

Nach der Wende in 1989 haben die Minderheiten einen bescheidenen Platz in der polnischen Kulturpolitik bekommen. Erst seit dem EU-Beitritt hat Polen sich zu den “europäischen” Werten bekannt und die Minderheiten geschützt.

In 2002 wurde eine Volkszählung durchgeführt, die das erste Mal seit Ende des zweiten Weltkrieges eine Frage über der Muttersprache stellte. Als Ergebnis hatten über 7% polnische Bürger eine andere Sprache als Polnisch angegeben.  Damit wurde die sprachliche Vielfalt Polens abgedeckt.

In 2011 haben sich die Zahlen bedeutend erhöht. Heute hat Polen offiziell 14 Minderheiten, jedoch nur eine anerkannte regionale Sprache und Gruppe – die Kaschuben.

Source: ECMI InfoChannel @ European Centre for Minority Issues.