Within the OSCE the protection of national minorities in a part of the policy

This statement is the conclusion, to which the participants of the recent lecture have come, the lecture being a part of a bigger project called “Improving skills at human rights in terms of EU and international law”.

The system of cooperation between member states of the OSCE is based on the idea that if all member countries reach mutual agreement, it will ensure their peace and security and that forced regulations are practically ineffective. Making this idea the basis of its operation, the OSCE linked the idea of human rights to the concepts of international collaboration between states, regional security and international economic relations. OSCE documents, which only have a political meaning (called soft law) have a significant meaning in reality. Going against these soft law rules is unacceptable as would be breaking international law.

The lecture attendees analysed a series of OSCE documents directly linked to the rights of national minorities, i.e. Bolzano recommendations on National Minorities in International Relations context, Hague recommendations on National Minorities’ Education laws. Based on those documents, the rights of national minorities have been closely linked to the responsibilities of the country in which the minorities reside. The role of the international society in terms of protecting the rights of those who qualify as a national minority and their duty to cooperate with the rest of society in working towards that aim, has been also highlighted.

The organiser of the lectures, the Association of Polish Lawyers in Lithuania in cooperation with the European Foundation of Human Rights invites you to join them at the next lectures about human rights and rights of national minorities. The entry is free for all.

Translated by Kamil Szwarc within the framework of a traineeship programme of the European Foundation of Human Rights, www.efhr.eu.

„Kurier Wileński”