The regression in minority rights threatens the inclusive nature of European societies, warns the Advisory Committee on the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities in its 2018-2020 report published on Wednesday 25 November (https://bit.ly/3q5UuNE ).
Equipped with increased resources thanks to a reform adopted in December 2019 by the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, the Advisory Committee notes that 2020 has been marked by the “unprecedented challenges caused by Covid-19, which has made national minorities even more vulnerable”, all in a context of “the rise of nationalist, populist and xenophobic political movements and parties, which tend, in the name of the ‘majority’, to further restrict the space occupied by national minorities”.
Although legislation now provides for greater participation of these national minorities in decision-making (parliamentary seats, consultative procedures), numerically smaller minorities are still excluded from these mechanisms, whose implementation is, otherwise, rarely evaluated satisfactorily.
It explained that in order to make national Roma inclusion strategies effective, barriers such as poverty, low levels of education, lack of identification documents, social exclusion and spatial segregation should be addressed, while training representatives and funding for participation in meetings should be considered.
Teaching is another tool, which should include multiple perspectives on history and appreciation of minorities.
The Committee notes progress in the development of national anti-discrimination bodies in Europe, but deplores their lack of powers and resources, while noting infringements of their freedom of association and an increase in attacks by politicians seeking to discredit their work. (Original version in French by Véronique Leblanc)