Minority Protection

The paper argues that Tocqueville can be rightly included among the many 19th-century thinkers who philosophized about the “end of history.” This is supported by the fact that the idea of providential history and the present age as its final epoch appears not only in his major works, but also, and no less frequently, in his letters and private conversations. By investigating the latter, it can also be stated that Tocqueville’s personal convictions regarding the final outcome of history were much more pessimistic than what his writings intended for the public and adapted to its expectations show.

This paper critically assesses the effectiveness of the statutory derivative action under the Companies Act 2006 in protecting the interests of minority shareholders. It examines the evolution from common law derivative actions to the statutory framework, considering the procedural complexities, financial implications, and judicial discretion involved. By evaluating both the strengths and limitations of the statutory derivative action, the paper explores its ability to provide an effective remedy for minority shareholders facing misconduct by majority shareholders or directors. Additionally, it compares the statutory derivative action with other shareholder remedies, such as the unfair prejudice petition, and provides recommendations for enhancing its effectiveness.

Als Sitz des Völkerbunds sowie einer Reihe weiterer  zwischenstaatlicher Einrichtungen und Nichtregierungsorganisationen erscheint die schweizerische Stadt Genf in der Zwischenkriegszeit als Kulminationspunkt von seit dem 19. Jahrhundert verfolgten Bemühungen, die internationalen Beziehungen zu institutionalisieren. In diesem Kontext war Genf auch Ort einer jüdischen Diplomatie, die mittels Fürsprache und der Inanspruchnahme von vom Völkerbund garantierten völkerrechtlichen Regularien den Schutz der Juden insbesondere im östlichen Europa zu erwirken suchte. Das begrenzte und insbesondere seit der NS-Herrschaft weiter in Mitleidenschaft gezogene Potential des Völkerbunds zur Konfliktverhütung und zur Garantie des Prinzips der kollektiven Sicherheit kann als Gradmesser für die Möglichkeiten der jüdischen Interessenvertretung internationaler Politik verstanden werden.
Die Kapitel dieses Beitrages gliedern sich wie folgt: 1. „Genfer Geist“; 2. Jüdische Diplomatie und Völkerbund; 3. Verfall der Genfer Ordnung; 4. Zweiter Weltkrieg und unmittelbare Nachkriegszeit.

This paper conducts a multi-value Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA) of the formal adoption and sustainability of minority protection rules in four new EU member states (Poland, Romania, Estonia, Latvia) over a twelve-year period including pre-and postaccession phases (1997)(1998)(1999)(2000)(2001)(2002)(2003)(2004)(2005)(2006)(2007)(2008) and five minority protection related issue areas (nondiscrimination, language use, education, citizenship, integration of Roma) based on four conditions (external incentives, government position, veto players, size of minorities), in order to investigate under which external and domestic conditions minority protection and nondiscrimination measures are adopted, maintained or revoked in new member states before and after accession to the EU.

Újvári Edit A kulturális identitás kérdésköre és kutatásának lehetséges irányai. A SZTE JGYPK Felnıttképzési Intézetének identitáskutató programja. A NEMZETISÉGI -NEMZETI -EURÓPAI IDENTITÁS konferenciát -amelynek elıadásaiból készült tanulmánykötetet tartja kezében a kedves olvasó -egyetemi kutatómőhelyünk rendezte 2008. november 12-13-án a Szülıföld Alap pályázati támogatásával. A konferencia a Szegedi Tudományegyetem Juhász Gyula Pedagógusképzı Kar Felnıttképzési Intézetének kutatási programjába illeszkedett. Az Intézet Identitáskutató mőhelye 2007 júniusában alakult, kutatási programjaként a kulturális identitás kérdéskörét határoztuk meg. Az identitás, amelyen mind az egyén, mind egy adott közösség önmeghatározását, azonosságtudatát értjük, úgy véljük, a kultúra aspektusából adekvát módon elemezhetı és kellıen átfogó téma, hogy közös kutatóprogramként megállja a helyét. Intézetünk oktatói eddigi kutatásaikat integrálhatják és továbbgondolhatják ebben az irányban. A bevezetı tanulmány elsı része elméleti megközelítéső, a kulturális identitás fogalmának körüljárására vállalkozik, majd a második részben öt, intézetünkben körvonalazódó kutatási programot mutat be, amelyeknek kidolgozása kutatómőhelyünkre vár. Konferenciakötetünk ennek a munkának elsı jelentıs eredményét publikálja.

This panel will be focused on the portrayal of minorities in education, which plays a crucial role in shaping how minorities see themselves and how they are perceived by society. The Forum will highlight the key role of education in ensuring that all students learn about the existence, unique characteristics and contribution to society as a whole of minority groups, with an emphasis on promoting a curriculum that reflects diversity. The Forum will also explore how minority students can effectively exercise their right to learn about their own history and culture, highlighting the significant role of education in ensuring intergenerational transmission and reducing intercommunal tensions. A central theme will be the need for the active participation of minorities in shaping educational policies, ensuring that their perspectives are taken into account throughout the process.

Minority protection is considered to be one of the most urgent problems relating to the enjoyment of fundamental human rights. After the turbulent 20th century, the winner powers of the two world wars have redrawn the borders of Europe. Unfortunately, the new frontiers were arbitrary and did not respect ethnic lines or the principle of national self-determination. Unfortunately Austrians, Germans, Hungarians become minorities in newly independent states. However the host states of these minorities have violated repeatedly their fundamental rights. In the recent years, this problem has still relevance even on the global level since these minorities have become targets of discrimination, aggressive assimilation policies and/or deportation. The problem of minority protection via an effective autonomy unites all the nationalities from various countries which are subject of these measures.
This thesis offers a comprehensive analysis of the minority protection and presents its instruments on the international, regional, and the domestic level. The research will be conducted in a deductive approach.
The focus will be on South Tyrol, which after the 1st World War has become the part of the Italian Kingdom. The region belonged the Austro-Hungarian Empire, which was habited predominantly by Austrians. During the fascist period an aggressive Italianization took place in the region. South Tyrol has adopted the second autonomy statute in 1972, which eased the tensions between the Austrians Ladins and Italians and with further amendments it has contributed to peaceful cohabitation. Despite the several infringements of minority rights during the Mussolini era, the South Tyrolean autonomy model has been evolved to role model worldwide. Italy is an example of a state that has recognized early on how to reconcile the tensions between the nationalities and establish economically prosperous region with wide self-autonomy.

Édouard Louis új regényében, a Monique szökésében tovább gombolyítja anyja szenvedés- és meneküléstörténetének fonalát, ezúttal egészen a jelenig, a fellélegzésig, a szabaddá válásig eljutva. A könyv szándékoltan szikár irodalmi eszközökkel mutatja be, hogy mit jelent szabadnak lenni annak, aki a szabadságot, a békét és a függetlenséget korábban sosem tapasztalhatta meg.

National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) is a quasi judicial body which takes care of the disputes arising out of the company. It is the most important jurisdiction of the company as the integral part lies towards maintaining the peacefulness of the company by settling the dispute.

On 22 February 2024, the Advisory Committee on the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities published a critical opinion on Latvia within the framework of the fourth monitoring cycle. This text is centred on government comments as an important element of the standardised FCNM monitoring mechanisms provided by the Latvian Government during the four monitoring circles. This study identifies and assesses the key arguments and techniques employed by Latvia in this sectoral dialogue framework. It shows that the Latvian authorities view diversity as a threat to social cohesion, and their endeavours, inter alia, in the minority education domain, combine references to Latvia's traumatic historical experience, constitutional identity, and the margin of state discretion that camouflage the absence of political will to advance minority rights. Among other negative factors, this signals a dangerous path that could likely be followed by other states that are parties to this Convention.

Human and minority rights map an area in which the EU's external relations have pushed for a (partial) rethinking of the EU's internal values, objectives and policies. While minority issues have been at the forefront of the enlargement rhetoric and are often singled out as a prime example of the EU's positive stabilising impact in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), the EU has in fact promoted norms which lack a basis in EU law and do not directly translate into the acquis communautaire. The analysis of EU conditionality presented in this paper will proceed in two steps. Firstly, the EU's minority criterion will be 'unpacked' both in terms of its inherent dilemmas and the way in which the EU translated it into an institutional process. Secondly, this paper locates the EU's minority criterion in the domestic political context of three accession countries (Hungary, Slovakia, Romania) in order to establish the balance between internal and external incentives for policy change and the effectiveness of EU conditionality. The empirical evidence suggests that, on balance, international actors and a vaguely defined European norm framed the debates and perceptions and affected the timing and nature of specific pieces of legislation, while the domestic political constellations and pressures ultimately had a more significant effect on the institutional and policy outcomes.

In this chapter, I interrogate the Vested Property Act (VPA) to explore one aspect of the uneven and contradictory project of democratic state formation in Bangladesh. The Act, initially sanctioned by the state of the then-East Pakistan, and continued in independent Bangladesh through various military regimes and democratically-elected governments, paved the way for the displacement of millions of Hindus from both ownership rights and their security as citizens. By drawing attention to the Act’s institutionalisation and struggles over its legitimacy, I show how the promise of democracy, as well as of secularism, reveals the violences that are entailed in actually existing democratic practice, including in the construction of the Hindu citizen as unworthy and a threat to national security. This construction of the minority as “other” and the making of majoritarian rule reveal the violence that attends to a democratic politics that includes everyday inaction and omission, rather than ...

This book explores the practice of non-territorial autonomy, a concept based on collective rights and used to address national diversity within a single state. It examines its strands of development and the processes of transfer in the Habsburg monarchy and Russia, connecting them to processes in the interwar period. The flexible instrument was able to adapt to different political and ideological frameworks.

The study traces the origins of the modern philosophy of history, largely based on Hannah Arendt’s book On Revolution. The basic idea is that the birth of the modern philosophy of history coincided with the birth of the modern concept of history, and consequently we can say, strange as it may sound, that the modern concept of history was not created by historians but by philosophers. And this fact is extremely important, since philosophers, unlike historians, were not so much concerned with knowing the facts of the past as with knowing the regularities of history. The first part of the study examines the historical experience that led to the development of the modern concept of history, starting from the assumption that at the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries it could not have been anything other than some experience of the great French Revolution. The second part discusses two characteristics of the modern philosophy of history. On the one hand, it always looks at history from the point of view of the spectator (not the agent) and, on the other hand, considers that it is possible to speed up or to accelerate the course of history. Based on these characteristics, the final part of the study argues that the ideological thinking that came to dominate the totalitarian regimes of the 20th century is undoubtedly the heir of the philosophy of history of the 19th century.

From the 1990s a solid legal regime of minority rights protection has developed in international relations. New instruments and new institutions opened new political fora for minority representatives. Through the mechanisms offered by these instruments-to some extent minorities could be seen as becoming actors in international relations. Another important development can be seen in European integration offering new opportunity structures for minorities. This paper offers an overview of the existing international monitoring and consultative mechanisms relevant to minorities. Comparing these institutions with some political opportunities offered by the EU to minorities will reveal that minorities still miss any institutional recognition of their right to participate at international affairs even on issues affecting them.

Kings Chambers Disputes between majority and minority shareholders with regard to the provision of fi nancial information to the minority raise issues regarding the rights of the minority and the duties of the majority. This article considers whether there are circumstances in which there may be a fi duciary relationship between the majority and minority shareholder such that equal access to fi nancial information may be required.

in-englandhistory-programmes-of-study/national-curriculum-in-england-history-programmesof-study#key-stage-3 [Letöltve: 01 05 2016]. Department for Education, 2014a. History GCSE subject content and assessment objectives. London: Department for Education. Department for Education, 2014b. Promoting fundamental British values as part of SMSC in schools Departmental advice for maintained schools.

This article deals with the contemporary legal status of Roma in the Eastern and Central European States, as it is regulated in special legal stipulations in international and national documents. It comprises three main topics: Project on Ethnic Relations. According to the interpretation of the authors, words such as "Gypsy" (English)and "Gitano" (Spanish) originate from the Greek word "Aigutianos." 3 The most dramatic among them were measures of forced division of very small Roma children from their mothers and their upbringing in orphanages. 71

After fascism had closed German schools in South Tyrol, transferred or dismissed teachers and civil servants and banned the use of German in public offices, it took decades before the injustice could be righted. It was not until the Treaty of Paris between Austria and Italy in 1946 that the "German-speaking citizens" were guaranteed the right to education in their mother tongue ("elementary and secondary teaching in the mother-tongue").  The first Autonomy Statute (AuSt 1948, Art. 15) and the new AuSt of 1972 (Art. 19) ensured that the German school could be re-established alongside the Italian school and a bilingual Ladin school with equal numbers of pupils. They stipulate that children have the right to be taught in their mother tongue by teachers "for whom this language is also their mother tongue".
Fortunately, Italian parents now want their children to learn good German. This must be seen as a positive thing! As they fear that the Italian school is not capable of doing this, many Italians send their children to the German school, even if the children are not able to follow the lessons linguistically. This causes problems! In addition, in recent times the children of foreigners have not been able to speak either the one or the other national language. Teachers and parents, particularly in the cities, are therefore complaining that the standard in the classroom is falling, especially as in some classes at German-speaking elementary school in Bolzano, the proportion of children who do not speak German is higher than that of German children. Politicians are looking for solutions. What measures can be taken to solve the problem?
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Nachdem der Faschismus in Südtirol die deutschen Schulen gesperrt, die Lehrer und Beamten versetzt oder entlassen und den Gebrauch der deutschen Sprache in öffentlichen Ämtern verbannt hatte,  hat es Jahrzehnte gedauert, bis das Unrecht wieder gut gemacht werden konnte. Erst aufgrund des Pariser Vertrages zwischen Österreich und Italien von 1946 wurde den „deutschsprechenden Bürgern“ das Recht auf Unterricht in der Muttersprache zugesichert („elementary and secondary teaching in the mother-tongue“).  Schon das erste Autonomiestatut (AuSt 1948, Art. 15)  und  das neue AuSt von 1972 (Art. 19)  haben dafür Sorge getragen, dass neben der italienischen Schule, und einer paritätisch, zweisprachigen Ladinischen Schule, auch die deutsche Schule wieder errichtet werden konnte. Sie sehen vor, dass die Kinder das Recht auf den Unterricht in ihrer Muttersprache haben, der von Lehrpersonen erteilt werden muss, „für die diese Sprache ebenfalls die Muttersprache ist“.
Erfreulicherweise wollen neuerdings italienische Eltern, dass ihre Kinder ein gutes Deutsch lernen. Das muss positiv bewertet werden! Da sie befürchten, dass die italienische Schule dazu nicht in der Lage ist, schicken viele Italiener ihre Kinder in die deutsche Schule, auch wenn die Kinder sprachlich nicht in der Lage sind, dem Unterricht zu folgen. Das wirft Probleme auf! Dazu kommt in jüngster Zeit, dass die Kinder der Ausländer weder die eine noch die andere Landesprache beherrschen. Vor allem in den Städten beklagen deshalb Lehrpersonen und Eltern, dass das Niveau in der Klasse sinkt, zumal in manchen Klassen der deutschsprachigen Grundschulen in Bozen, der Anteil jener, die kein Deutsch sprechen, größer ist als der der deutschen Kinder. Die Politik sucht nach Auswegen. Welche Maßnahmen können zur Lösung der Problematik getroffen werden?

In this chapter, I interrogate the Vested Property Act (vpa) to explore one aspect of the uneven and contradictory project of democratic state formation in Bangladesh. The Act, initially sanctioned by the state of the then-East Pakistan, and continued in independent Bangladesh through various military regimes and democratically-elected governments, paved the way for the displacement of millions of Hindus from both ownership rights and their security as citizens. By drawing attention to the Act's institutionalisation and struggles over its legitimacy, I show how the promise of democracy, as well as of secularism, reveals the violences that are entailed in actually existing democratic practice, including in the construction of the Hindu citizen as unworthy and a threat to national security. This construction of the minority as "other" and the making of majoritarian rule reveal the violence that attends to a democratic politics that includes everyday inaction and omission, rather than one which focuses solely on acts of force that usually involve physical harm or injury.

Even before the dissolution of the USSR, Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia, issues concerning minorities and protection of their rights and interests had once again become topical. These problems have now come to overshadow many other issues concerning the protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms. In this article, after a brief historical excursus into the issue, I will consider the minority situation in the new states which have emerged in lieu of the erstwhile Soviet Union. I shall draw too on some examples from other post-socialist states. As nationalism clearly affects the resolution of minority problems, special attention will be given to this issue. Finally, some controversial legal and political questions concerning the protection of minorities in the light of relevant international instruments will be analysed and a number of proposals made. A Some Historical Remarks on the Problem An early focus of attention on issues of minorities was concerned with the protection of religious minorities in different European countries in the seventeenth century. For example, the Treaty between the King of Hungary and the Prince of Transylvania of 1606 accorded to the protestant minority in Transylvania free exercise of its religion. Again, one of the most famous treaties of that timethe Treaty of Westphalia, concluded in 1648 between France and the Holy Roman Empire and their respective alliesgranted religious freedoms to the Protestants in Germany in terms of equality with Roman Catholiw2 Approximately at the same time, European powers started to conclude treaties with the Ottoman Empire in order to protect their respective religious minorities. Article 7 of the Austro-Ottoman Treaty of 1615 reads as follows: Ceux qui proffessent Ctre le peuple de JCsus-Christ et qui obCissent au Pape, de quelque dknomination que le soit, kclesiastiques, moines, ou JCsuites, auront le droit de construire les Cglises dans les Etats du s6rCnissime Empire des Turcs oh ils pourront d'aprks leurs usage, conformdment au statut de leur ordre et d'aprks l'antique rite, lire I'Cvangile, se rkunir en assemblks et vaquer ou service divin.' It is interesting to note that already in the nineteenth century recognition of new states was linked with their treatment of minorities. The contracting parties to the Treaty of Berlin of 1878

The EU Commission has recently launched an infringement procedure against Bulgaria in view of its breaches of Directive 2016/343 on the presumption of innocence and on grounds I have been raising in formal complaints to EU institutions since 2018. My 5-year long disillusioning experience of raising concerns about Bulgaria's deliberate breaches of EU law before the EU Parliament and the EU Commission may serve as a case study providing some food for thought about the value of fundamental rights in the eyes of these EU institutions, as well as their handling of reasoned citizen complaints.

Észrevétlenül szerettem volna belopakodni [a] mai előadásomba […]. 1 z identitás (azonosság) fogalmát általában reláció-fogalomként alkalmazzák; általában valaminek valamivel való azonosságát jelenti, és talán Hegelnél következik be az első elmozdulás, amikor az önmagával való azonosságról beszél. "Mivel a lehetőség a konkréttal, mint valóságossal szemben a magával-való-azonosság puszta formája, ezért a szabály reá nézve csak az, hogy valami magában ne mondjon ellent magának, s így minden lehetséges; mert az absztrakció minden tartalomnak megadhatja az azonosságnak ezt a formáját." 2 És megint némi óvatossággal: az első filozófus, aki ezt a fogalmat magára az énre kezdte el alkalmazni, Arthur Schopenhauer volt. Az önmegismerésben "az akarat önmagában egyszerű és azonos lényege szétterítve életrajzként jelenik meg. De az önmagát bemutató eredeti egyszerűsége és identitása miatt a karaktere mindig pontosan ugyanaz marad; ami miatt az életrajznak is végig ugyanaz lesz az alaphangja […]." 3 Milyen szép előadást tarthattam volna erről a jelentésváltozásról, ennek a jelentésnek a pici elmozdulásáról. Arról, hogy az identitás hogy alakul át logikai fogalomból a személy fogalmává, az utóbbi kritériuma-mint fent láttuk-az egységes karakter, és a biográfia egységes alaphangja. Erről beszélhettem volna, és milyen szívesen tettem volna.-Csakhogy magyarul az identitás logikai értelmét azonosságnak, a személy értelmében való jelentését pedig identitásnak szokás nevezni. A konferencia témakijelölése alapján azt gondoltam, hogy mégis az utóbbiról kellene (vagy illene) beszélnem: az identitásról mint egy személy attribútumáról, vagy a személy legfontosabb konstituens sajátosságáról. A vizsgálódás ekkor társadalomfilozófiai lesz, de azon belül is a hangsúly az individualitás és a társadalom kapcsolatára fog esni, néha ezt a szocializáció elméletének, néha szociálpszichológiának nevezik.-Előadásom három részből fog állni: az első részben egy elméleti hátteret szeretnék fölvázolni, amelynek az a vezérkérdése, hogy mi az identitás, és egyáltalán hogyan lehet megközelíteni. Ennek végén szeretnék eljutni az úgynevezett kisebbségi identitás fogalmának bevezetéséhez. A második részben a

Nincs itt hely arra, hogy akár csak vázlatosan is áttekintsem e területek egyre bővülő szakirodalmát, de jelzem, hogy az ikonográfia klasszikusainak-Abraham M. Warburgnak, Erwin Panofskynak vagy Ernst Gombrichtnak-az elméletét ma már igen sokan alkalmazzák a jogra. Elég utalni a francia Robert Jacob és az osztrák Gernot Kocher mára már klasszikus elemzéseire, a Yale Egyetem két kutatójának egy témát összegző közös művére, valamint a genti, leuveni és bruges-i szellemi műhelyekben született írásokra. Vö. Robert Jacob: Image de la Justice. Essai sur l'iconographie judiciaire du Moyen Âge à l'âge classique (Párizs: Le Léopard d'or 1994); Gernot Kocher: Szimbólumok és jelek a jogban. Történeti ikonográfia [ford. Herger Csabáné]

The Bolzano/Bozen Recommendations in Historical Perspective 29 Jennifer Jackson Preece 3. Minorities, states and international security: The contribution of the Bolzano/Bozen Recommendations to managing the "minority problem" 45 Petra Roter 4. The "Kinterested" State and the H C N M Bolzano "Rules of Engagement" 63 Bogdan Aurescu 5. A reconsideration and more in-depth analysis of the relationship between the prohibition of (racial) discrimination and minority protection: The Bolzano/Bozen Recommendations on National Minorities in InterState Relations revisited 79 Kristin Henrard 6. The Rights of Minorities and their Interstate Dimension.

In this Essay, we demonstrate that there is no legal way under current
European Union (EU, the Union) law to adopt a citizenship-based ban on
entering the Schengen zone. The de facto national-level ban against Russian citizens introduced by Poland, Finland, and the Baltic States breaches EU law. Further, amending the law to allow for a citizenship-based ban goes against the core values the Union is based upon, pitting populist proposals against the rule of law. References to “wholly exceptional circumstances” would not help either. Any proposal to ban Russian citizens’ entry would prevent dissenters and deserters, who are unwilling to contribute to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s
war, from seeking refuge in EU territory and imply impermissible
discrimination. It is no surprise that such a proposal was defeated in the Council of the EU (Council). After this defeat, however, the Baltic States, Poland, and Finland proceeded to implement such a nationality-based ban on entry at the national level in breach of EU law, using Russian citizenship as a ground for refusal of entry within their borders as well as into other Schengen states. Central to the citizenship-based travel ban is a replacement of the rule of law reasoning with politically motivated retribution, which is prima facie unrelated to any legitimate aim that the measure could achieve. Such a replacement counterproductively strengthens Putin’s totalitarian regime and its military: those unable to flee to Europe may be conscripted for Russia’s war of aggression.

The de facto ban, even if outright unlawful, is difficult, in practice, to reverse. This difficulty makes it imperative for other Member States, as well as theinstitutions of the Union, to put sufficient pressure on the violators to save the Schengen system from unlawful populist fragmentation. The Union’s strength is precisely in its safeguards against acting along the populist lines the ban implies, rather than one of its weaknesses, contrary to the alarmist agitation of some Member States. We demonstrate that the debate around the blanket citizenship-based visa and entry ban, as well as the Union’s unwillingness and powerlessness
to prevent Member States’ arbitrary replacement of the law with hateful
citizenship-based retribution, is a stress-test of the rule of law in the EU.

The beginning of the 21st century is being defined by new politics, the new economy, the information society, techno sciences, multiculturalism, globalisation and new lifestyles, all of which have some impact on art. Art is beginning to omit the nature of the stable artefact as well as the traditional functions of representation and embellishment and is becoming post-aesthetical and process-like. Because the key feature of the finished and stable artwork is not as important as it used to be, the ontological question of what art is has also become an issue of no great importance. Instead, relation questions regarding the interaction between art and techno-sciences, new technologies, the new economy and the new politics have arisen. The key concern of this essay is the highlighting of the cultural turns which have, in these days of the Internet, techno-sciences, the new economy and globalisation, influenced the new concepts and placements of contemporary art and digital textuality. Ar...

Even before the dissolution of the USSR, Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia, issues concerning minorities and protection of their rights and interests had once again become topical. These problems have now come to overshadow many other issues concerning the protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms. In this article, after a brief historical excursus into the issue, I will consider the minority situation in the new states which have emerged in lieu of the erstwhile Soviet Union. I shall draw too on some examples from other post-socialist states. As nationalism clearly affects the resolution of minority problems, special attention will be given to this issue. Finally, some controversial legal and political questions concerning the protection of minorities in the light of relevant international instruments will be analysed and a number of proposals made. A Some Historical Remarks on the Problem An early focus of attention on issues of minorities was concerned with the protection of religious minorities in different European countries in the seventeenth century. For example, the Treaty between the King of Hungary and the Prince of Transylvania of 1606 accorded to the protestant minority in Transylvania free exercise of its religion. Again, one of the most famous treaties of that timethe Treaty of Westphalia, concluded in 1648 between France and the Holy Roman Empire and their respective alliesgranted religious freedoms to the Protestants in Germany in terms of equality with Roman Catholiw2 Approximately at the same time, European powers started to conclude treaties with the Ottoman Empire in order to protect their respective religious minorities. Article 7 of the Austro-Ottoman Treaty of 1615 reads as follows: Ceux qui proffessent Ctre le peuple de JCsus-Christ et qui obCissent au Pape, de quelque dknomination que le soit, kclesiastiques, moines, ou JCsuites, auront le droit de construire les Cglises dans les Etats du s6rCnissime Empire des Turcs oh ils pourront d'aprks leurs usage, conformdment au statut de leur ordre et d'aprks l'antique rite, lire I'Cvangile, se rkunir en assemblks et vaquer ou service divin.' It is interesting to note that already in the nineteenth century recognition of new states was linked with their treatment of minorities. The contracting parties to the Treaty of Berlin of 1878

Contents 1. The Bonn-Copenhagen Declarations of 1955: Background, Context and Impact of the Danish-German Minority Regulations, by Jørgen Kuehl 2. Languages and Identities in the National Minorities in the Danish-German Border Region and in the Bonn-Copenhagen Declarations, by Karen Margrethe Pedersen 3. The Danish-German border Region as an Example for Integration in the European Context, by Martin Klatt 4. Trans-Border Cooperation and Ethnic Diversity, by Francesco Palermo