Academic literature on the topic 'Minorities – Legal status, laws, etc. – Europe'

The article formulates classification groups of normative legal acts that will regulate the activity of the sphere of medical care ofthe population. Today in Ukraine there are a number of laws and other regulations that provide medical care. In order to improve theentire regulatory system in the study area, it is necessary to systematize all regulations, depending on the subject orientation, into classificationgroups of regulatory and legal support of medical care, depending on the subject of legal support of medical care, namely: actsthat aimed at providing medical services and medical care; acts that form the relationship of health care institutions with patients; actsthat regulate characterological social relations in the field of medical care; acts establishing legal liability for violation of norms in thefield of medical care. In accordance with the proposed classification, the author described the systematized regulations. The sources thatdetermine international legal acts in the field of health care are documents issued by the United Nations, the World Health Organi zation,the International Labor Organization, the Council of Europe and the European Union, the World and European Medical Associations, andnamely: “Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Dignity of Biology and Medicine: Convention on Human Rights and Biomedicine(European Convention on Human Rights and Biomedicine)”; “European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights andFundamental Freedoms (ECHR)”; “European Convention for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment”;“European Social Charter (ESC)”; “Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities”; “Recommendation № R(2000) 5 of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe to member states on the development of forms of participation of citizensand patients in the decision-making process affecting health care”; “Partial agreement in the field of social and public health”; “Conventionon the Development of a European Pharmacopoeia”; “Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Dignity in Respect ofthe Use of Advances in Biology and Medicine” and its protocols, etc., which are supplemented and clarified by a number of recommendationsin the field of medical care; Directive 2001/83 / EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of the European Union on theCommunity code relating to medicinal products for human use, as well as Directives of the Council of the European Union, namely: theEU Charter of Fundamental Rights; “Draft EU Directive on the rights of patients in cross-border healthcare”, etc.

Peculiarities of the international legal status determination of the national minorities within the Versailles system have been studied using the example of a number of Central and Eastern European countries. The governments of Czechoslovakia, Poland, and Hungary were asked, based on the norms of international law, to develop appropriate provisions for the protection of the rights of national minorities in order to prevent new conflicts and threats to peace. The system of treaties, declarations and agreements, which were supposed to ensure the observance of the rights of national minorities and whose guarantor was the League of Nations, has been analyzed. In practice, this was embodied in giving minorities the right to submit petitions to the Council or Assembly of the League of Nations, as well as in the activities of the Permanent Chamber of International Justice. The right to submit petitions was used at different times by representatives of the Ruthenian minority in Czechoslovakia, the Russian minority in Eastern Galicia, the Jewish minority in Hungary, the German minority in Poland, etc. The weaknesses of this system have been identified, which prevented the creation of effective international mechanisms for the protection of the rights of national minorities in the specified regions of Europe. In particular, it has been emphasized that the majority of treaties, conventions, treatises, etc. were openly sabotaged by the countries that were supposed to fulfill them. The governments of the countries of Central and Eastern Europe considered the proposed system unequal, because its conditions did not apply to a number of other multinational states that had similar problems. Conflict situations surrounding the problem of national minorities continued to arise. They were caused by various factors: from divided loyalties and irredentist movements to manifestations of governmental and social discrimination.

The article is devoted to the theoretical and practical approaches of the European Commission for Democracy through Law (the Venice Commission) to the assessment of electoral processes and elections in states. Since the Venice Commission is a subsidiary body of the Council of Europe, special attention is paid to the observance of Council of Europe standards in the field of human and civil rights in regard to elections. Through an empirical analysis of various documents of the Venice Commission (conclusions, recommendations, codes of practice, etc.), a conclusion is drawn about the existential approach of this body to assessing the electoral legislation of states. This approach is based on a wide array of sources perceived by experts of the Venice Commission, which, in addition to state legislation and official comments, may also include reports from the media, the Internet, the personal worldview of the expert and comments from other persons familiar with the situation. Based on this broad range of sources, the Venice Commission also objectifies its assessments into different acts, which may have a variety of names, but have the force of recommendations for states. Thus, the conclusions of the Venice Commission are acts of soft law and can be perceived by national legal systems using various channels of implementation. The analysis of the documents of the Venice Commission on elections and electoral processes shows that in the orbit of expertise of this body are such issues as: prevention of abuse of power and administrative resources of power in the organization and holding of elections; prevention of discrimination against opposition and various minorities, etc. The issues of gender equality in state authorities, protection of the rights of stateless persons, and voting using digital technologies are also considered.

Purpose. The purpose of the study is to develop issues of legal regulation of the status of the Ukrainian national minority in the Republic of Poland and to show the impact of foreign policy orientations of the Republic of Poland on the implementation of international law on national minorities. Methodology. Among the philosophical, general scientific and special scientific methods, the following were used: dialectical methods – comparative method – to clarify the general and specific patterns of functioning and development of legal regulation of the status of the Ukrainian national minority in the Republic of Poland. The axiological method was used to find the value of the legal regulation of the status of the Ukrainian national minority in the Republic of Poland and to reveal its theoretical and applied significance; activity method – for the formation of recommendations to improve the mechanism of protection of the rights of Ukrainian workers and meet the cultural, educational and spiritual and religious needs of the Ukrainian national minority in the Republic of Poland. Originality. The scientific novelty lies in the theoretical understanding and delineation of ways to improve the well-being of the Ukrainian community in Poland and gain better prospects, which is extremely important given the territorial dispersion of Ukrainians, and will be an essential element in filling the strategic partnership between Ukraine and Poland. Results. The study found that in view of the revival of Ukraine's interaction with the Ukrainian community in Poland and in order to preserve the ethno-national identity of Polish Ukrainians, it seems appropriate for public authorities in Ukraine to address issues such as the use of practical influence of the Council of Europe. The rights of national minorities and the rule of law in the Member States, etc. Practical importance. The results of the study can be used in law-making activities in order to legally regulate the protection of the rights of the Ukrainian national minority in the Republic of Poland.

The situation of Muslim immigrants in certain West European countriesThe article argues that the significant mobility of Muslim minorities in France, Germany and the United Kingdom resulted from an increasing need to improve the economic life of immigrants, family reunification, and the possibility of getting permanent residence through marriage with permanent residents of the mentioned countries. The situation of Muslim immigrants in the host country is regulated by individual state and European union law. Each country establishes its own laws concerning social and religious life and the possibility of obtaining citizenship. Muslim populations acquire legal status and uphold the law of the host country, often defending themselves against ill-treatment by referring to abuses in criminal cases.The integration of Muslim immigrants with Europeans has numerous difficulties as a result of cultural and religious differences. Immigrants tend to live in their own tight grouping, often isolating themselves from the society of the host country. The Muslim community will exceed 20% of population over the next 40 years. Europe will become a continent with a significant Muslim minority. This will contribute not only to major demographic changes but also cultural, economic, political and social ones in Europe in the future.

Special legal provisions on preferential treatment of expatriates introduced during last decade by the kin-states are oftentimes construed by the scholars as visible sings and effective tools of new, post-territorial nation-building in Eastern Europe. However, the analysis of Serbian and Kosovan laws on citizenship and diaspora shows that the picture is more complex, whereas the situation varies across countries of the region. Despite the rising concerns with the issues of the co-ethnics since late 2000 the Serbian government for some years has been reluctant to introduce the exclusive preferential treatment for the Serbs in the realm of citizenship. Only the law passed in 2009 overtly showed that the executives and legislators of the Republic of Serbia now are on the way of creating post-territorial Serb national community. Contrariwise the political establishment of Kosovo equally pushing forward special laws on “diaspora” in 2008 and 2011 was rather concerned with forming and reasserting of as well as tightening its grip over post-territorial citizenry because of notable social and economic problems. In contrast to Easter European status laws, trans-border “ethnic relatives” of the Kosovan majority are effectively excluded by the documents from the membership in the “diaspora,” while the representatives of ethnic minorities from the territory of the country legally qualify for being Kosovo diasporans.

The paper is devoted to questions of legal regulation of the peculiarities of insight the principles of the European Charter on the Status of Judges in the context of their labor rights in accordance with the legislation of Ukraine. It is clear that the development of the rule-of-law state, the protection of human rights and the rule of law are impossible without the effective functioning of the legal system, where one of the components of the judicial system . That is why the relevant legal system must realize the decree where a person is of the highest social value, despite the fact that those who administer justice also need proper protection. That is, it should be noted that the rights of judges as employees, taking into account the specifics of their work and status, should also be protected by the state. In joining the European community of international law, special attention should be paid to certain international standards concerning regulating relevant issues, where the European Charter on the Status of Judges of 1998, adopted within the Council of Europe, which in its turn is declarative, places particular emphasis. This document concerns, for example, issues such as appointment, status of judges, career development, responsibility, termination of judge's powers, etc. The characteristic of this document in the context of the subject under study is that most of the decree is devoted precisely to the labor rights of judges. Obviously, such decrees have become a progressive push for appropriate changes to the laws of the member states of the Council of Europe, where Ukraine did not become an exception, especially in the context of reforming the judicial system.

Corruption is one of the main threats to the entire world community. The Russian Federation takes an active part in countering this negative phenomenon. This is expressed in anti-corruption cooperation at the level of international organizations, as well as in the adoption and further ratification of international legal acts. Russia is a member of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), within which model laws are adopted, which created the preconditions for the formation of the most important anti-corruption institutions, which subsequently began to be introduced into the Russian legal system: anti-corruption expertise of legal acts, anticorruption monitoring, anti-corruption standards, anti-corruption programs, status reports corruption and implementation of anti-corruption policy measures, etc. The administrative and legal forms and methods of combating corruption in Russia are enshrined in federal laws, as well as in the laws of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation. The main form of countering corruption in Russia is government plans and programs. With regard to the field of functioning of the civil service in the Russian Federation, such an administrative and legal form as anti-corruption standards is actively developing, including a unified system of prohibitions, restrictions and permissions that ensure the prevention of corruption. Another important promising legal form of combating corruption in public administration is special administrative regulations related to ensuring the implementation of anti-corruption measures. In Belarus, a model of combating corruption is being implemented very similar to the Russian one. According to the legislation of the Republic of Belarus, public control is actively used in the fight against corruption. At the national level, special criteria for assessing the activities of state bodies and other organizations in the fight against corruption and economic offenses have been approved. One of the rather interesting anti-corruption measures used in Belarus is the payment of remuneration to an individual who contributed to the identification of corruption. The authors came to the conclusion that the de facto "ideal" model of combating corruption in the world simply does not exist. There are examples of individual countries that have indeed achieved significant results in the fight against corruption. Existing trends in domestic practice reflect a gradual shift away from the use of tough anti-corruption measures towards more flexible economic and administrative mechanisms, which are showing their effectiveness in some countries of Europe and Asia. It is important to continue working in this direction, to improve the legal and organizational foundations of combating corruption, and to gradually introduce effective anticorruption forms and methods into Russian practice. The authors declare no conflicts of interests.

The peninsula of Athos in Chalkidiki became a center of organized monachal life in monasteries in the year 963, when with the initiative of the Byzantine emperor Nichephorus Phocas the Monastery of Great Laura was founded. Since that time Mount Athos (=MA) became the "Holy Mountain" and has attracted the moral and material support of the Byzantine emperors, various Orthodox countries and the flock till today. During this long period of more then one thousand years, MA was armed with a privileged legal status, the existence of which continues till now. The legal status of MA is based on three foundations: I. The law of the Hellenic Republic, II. The Public International Law, and III. The European Law. I. Fundamental significance for the status of MA have the provisions of article 105 of the Greek Constitution. Then is the Charter of MA, which is drawn up and voted by the Athonite monachal authorities and afterwards ratified by the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople and the Greek Parliament. The Charter is a law of superior formal force in comparison to the other laws. According to the Constitution and the Charter, MA has an ancient privileged status and is a self-governed part of the Greek State, whose sovereignty remains intact. Spiritually MA is under the direct jurisdiction of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, direct in the sense that the Ecumenical Patriarch is also the local bishop of MA The territory of the peninsula is exempt from expropriation and is divided among the twenty Athonite monasteries exclusively. The administrative power lies in self-administration of the first and the second degree. The first is exercised by the ruling twenty monasteries. This number may not be changed, nor may their position in the preeminence, nor towards their dependencies (skates, cells, hermitages). Nowadays all the monasteries are coenobitic, i.e. the monks share a common life and have no private property. The monasteries are administered by the abbot, the Elders' Assembly and the Brotherhood. Second degree administration is operated by: 1. the Holy Community. It is comprised by twenty monks members, each of whom represents one monastery, 2. the Holy Community's executive organ is the Hiera Epistassia, which comprises four monks drawn annually from four monasteries in rotation. The leader of the Hiera Epistassia is called the First (= Protos). The Hiera Epistassis also performs specific duties as police force, police court and municipality of Karyes, the capital town of MA The legislative power is in the hands of: 1. The Holy Community as far as concerns the Charter of MA, 2. the Extraordinary Biannual Twenty-Members Assembly, which draws up the regulative provisions, and 3. the Greek State, as far as concerns: a) the rights and the duties of the (civil) Governor of MA, b) the judicial power of the Athonite authorities, and c) the custom and taxation privileges granted by the State to MA The judicial power belongs to: 1. the monastic courts (the abbot with the Elders' Assembly), 2. the Holy Community, 3. the Hiera Epistassia, and 4. the Ecumenical Patriarchate. The observance of the regimes is in the spiritual field under the supreme supervision of the Patriarchate and in the administrative under the supervision of the State, which is also exclusively responsible for safeguarding public order and security. These responsibilities of the State are exercised through the (civil) Governor of MA, whose rights and duties are determined by common law. All persons leading a monastic life in MA acquire the Greek citizenship without further formalities, upon admission in a monastery as novices or monks. Also persons who are not Orthodox Christians or they are schismatic Orthodox are prohibited from dwelling in MA II. The first international treaty that recognized an international protection of the MA status was that of San Stefano (1878), but only for the Russian monks. The Treaty of Berlin (also 1878) recognized the same protection for all the monks who were not borne in the Ottoman empire. Its article n? 62,8 was as follows: "Les moines du Mont Athos, quel que soit leur pays d'origine, seront maintenus dans leurs possessions et avantages ant?rieurs et jouiront, sans aucune exception, d'une enti?re ?galit? de droits et prerogatives". This provision was repeated in the special treaties of S?vres (1920) and then in the protocol of the Treaty of Lausanne (1923). These treaties safeguarded the rights and the liberties of the non-Greek monastic communi ties in MA as follows: "La Gr?ce s'engage ? reconna?tre et maintenir les droits traditionnels et les libert?s, dont jouissent les communaut?s monastiques non grecques du Mont Athos d'apr?s les dispositions de l'article 62 du trait? de Berlin du 13 juillet 1878". The same provision has been repeated in the Legislative Decree of 29.9/30.10.1923 "On the Protection of Minorities in Greece", article 13. III. Because a lot of provisions of the MA law are opposite to the principles of the European Union (for example the clausura to women, the special license in order to visit the peninsula, the taxation and customs privileges etc.), Joint Declaration n? 4 concerns MA was included in the Final Act (1979) of the Agreement concerning the accession of the Hellenic Republic in the European Economic Community, now-a days European Union. According to this Declaration, recognizing that the special status granted to MA, as guaranteed by the Greek Constitution, is justified exclusively on grounds of a spiritual and religious nature, the Community will ensure that this status is taken into account in the application and subsequent preparation of pro visions of Community law, in particular in relation to customs franchise privileges, tax exemptions, and the right of establishment. .

Recognition of regional features, outlining of the contours of regions, tendency to regionalize ethnic, economic, cultural and state-administrative space, and strengthening the ideology of regionalism in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, that is Serbia and Montenegro, appear as a practical and political but also as a theoretical problem which includes and combines several scientific disciplines. The phenomenon of regionalism is not contradictory although it is primarily expressed through the numerous conflicts of interests rivalry and antagonisms of political subjects. The problematic side of the phenomenon of regionalism includes the result of an extremely negative and existentially tragic experience of the several years-long disintegration of the complex Yugoslav state. During the partition and disintegration of the second Yugoslavia, there also happened the disintegration of the Serbian ethnic area Growth, support and instigation of regional tendencies occurred in the historical circumstances of secession and did not stop in the post-secession period. Particularization and segmentation of political area, as well as the disintegration of the former state, did not occur in accordance with the norms of internal and international law. Legality was late and was achieved within the transformation of power reflected in the changed territorial policy of the dominant alliance of great powers. The entire past decade was characterized by an extraordinary metamorphosis of political space. Secession trend had the territorial features which included the change of borders and had been long in the focus of the global geopolitical attention. Territories were divided and made smaller. Intensive territorial dynamics within the external silhouette of the de-stated SFR of Yugoslavia resulted in the creation of several state and quasi-state political formations. Former republics became semi-sovereign states. Dispersed and displaced Serbian ethnos was configured in the three territories: in the Republic of Serbia - from which Kosovo and Metohia were amputated and placed under the UN protectorate - in the entire Republic of Montenegro and in the Republic Srpska, located in one part of the former Bosnia and Herzegovina. Demopolitical result of the geopolitical destruction of the Serbian ethnos was a great movement of the Serbian population from the west to the east, and its concentration in the territory of the Republic of Serbia this implied that the Serbs were expelled from their millennia-long abodes in Croatia, parts of Bosnia and from Kosmet. The geo-economic result of the same process was the devastation of the national economic strength west of the Drina and in the southern province. Economic regression occurred also in the national parent-land state. Balkan re-arrangement of the spheres of interest in the post-bipolar period was in 1995. fixed by the interest arrangement of the great powers known under the name Dayton Peace Agreement. Redistribution of the territories from the destroyed state occurred in the post-communist period with the expansion of west-civilization structures to the European east Westernization of the eastern part of Europe, or entire Europe as the other pole of the global West, could be characterized as a dual mega-regionality. Namely, the west is composed of Europe and America; on the other side, there is the global East or its hybrid variation Eurasia. With the disappearance of their common state and its framework, south Slavs found themselves in the seemingly independent, and actually client states. Western delimitation of the south Slavic area moved from the Yugoslav borders towards a wider Balkan demarcation. One could say that the revitalized notion of the Balkans became a new, in many aspects obligatory framework for regional thinking. The Balkan macroregion is further determined by the intentions to expand the European Union. One of the Euro-centric concepts, which is being experimentally employed precisely in the Balkans, is the establishment of the so-called Europe of regions in the peripheral areas. On the other hand, even though the process of the disintegration of the Yugoslav Federation appears to be irreversible, the superordinate Euro-American factor does not give up the possibility of the mezzo-regional initiatives, cooperations, associations and integrations. This "middle" level of dealing with the specificities of the Yugoslav region is related to the states and nations from the former Yugoslavia, or the so-called West Balkans. Naturally, it is not the tendency to revive the silhouette of the previous state, but certainly there is a noticeable intention to achieve a regional linking of the related, now semi-sovereign territories which sometimes belonged to the same state framework. The fourth level deals with microregionalism, that is the relation between the different areas in the newly-created states. It is interesting that the regionalist discourse is mostly cherished exactly in the ethno-heterogeneous Serbian area, although other Yugoslav states also have or had regional tradition and mixed population, like, for example, Slovenia and Croatia Nevertheless, these former Yugo-republics are structured as mono-national states, so the regional policy and ideology of regionalism are still not in the first plane. Regionalism within the newly-formed states could be supplemented with the micron level implying specific sub-regionalism of the highest degree, within the larger regions in the same state. This could be illustrated with Backa, Banat and Srem inside Vojvodina, understood as the northern Serbian region, or Kosovo and Metohia in the south of Serbia, in the province with the same name. In the part of Serbia outside the provinces, similar things could be said for Belgrade with its surroundings, Macva, Podrinje, Sumadija, Raska District etc. Thus, when it comes to the present FR of Yugoslavia, all five levels of regional dynamics have a principled, but insufficiently studied significance. Mega-regional level is related to the mark denoting the global belonging to the West. Macroregional level deals with the European loyalty, that is inclusion of the FR of Yugoslavia into the continental European trends. This trans-continental and continental direction of inclusion implies a historical teleology of the relative eastern belonging to the absolute West, that is Euro-America, and the entrance into the full structure of the European Union. All the mentioned problems of recognition and characterization of the regional phenomenology in the political topography of the world are motivated by the tendency to achieve as clear as possible spatial-temporal national and state orientation The direction is related to the so-called safety dilemma of the nation and the country faced with the change of size and essence of one's own state, with the different geopolitical position and redefined foreign-policy priorities. It is also the case of the changed alliance policy, and the innovated strategy of integration into the old and new global and regional political structures. On the basis of the indicated components of geopolitical context, one could say that the phenomenon of regions and their cognate correlates {regionally regionalization and regionalism) should not be understood exclusively through the legal categories of international law and the so-called constitutional solutions, that is administrative division of the state territory. Actually in the analysis of regions and regionalism in Serbia and the FR of Yugoslavia it is necessary first to discuss the pre-normative or meta-le-gal factors in the creation of the regional issue within the national and state issue, which have the form of the unsolved political problem. Meta-legality is located within the domain of the international relations and geopolitic. Meta-legal or pre-normative factors of the formation or recognition of regions and regionalisms deal with the possibility of the political constitution of the Serbian, that is Serbian / Montenegrin (still Yugoslav) society. Since the unique state area was destroyed in the four-year secession wars and there occurred significant demopolitical changes, war migrations, forceful displacements and expulsion of the population - the ethnic character of many areas was also drastically changed. At the same time, the post-secession existence of the FR of Yugoslavia could be also viewed through the optics of the state residuum. The remaining Serbia or Serbia (temporarily) without Kosovo is certainly not an equivalent for the Serbian ethnic space, nor for the entire Serbian lands. It is not even the FR of Yugoslavia, as a dual con federation of the Serbian / Montenegrin nation. Geopolitical reduction of the SFR of Yugoslavia to a residual creation of the FR of Yugoslavia was not deduced from the legality sui generis, but resulted from a conflict, the defeat of integralism and the victory of separatism, as well as from a new triumphal configuration of power. The impulse implying the statism of the collective rights from the former complex federal necessarily-multinational level was transferred to a lower mononational level. Therefore, the regionalist ideology in the post-secession reality of the residual state almost inevitably, as a tendency, nears the separatory particularism. Even the lost national state and the state entirety are openly denied within the requests for the territorization of the collective rights of various minorities. Naturally these requests do not carry the primary features of the development of democracy. On the contrary, in the majority of cases this implies the rise of parish and tribal consciousness prone to narrow-minded separation. Thus the post-secession requests for the regionalization are often just a slight rhetorical mask for real separatism. For example, they are expressed through the pseudo-national separation of Vojvodina from Serbia, as well as Montenegro from Serbia, or through the establishment of state-like entities in the territorial tissue of Serbia Alleged arguments are found in the unfinished disintegration of the SFR of Yugoslavia on the one hand, and in the prevention of the creation of the so-called Greater Serbia, even within the diminished Serbia That way, even in the post-secession, reduced Serbia one could easily recognize the tendencies of federalization and confederalization, even the amputation of its remaining state space. Additional arguments for the crawling secession and prolonged territorial destruction are found in the ideology of globalization and world trends of relativizing territorial integrity and state sovereignty. On the other hand, the idea about the principled insignificance of borders in Europe without borders, as well as Europe of regions, is emphasized. Thus, it is obvious that the new state and regional delimitations and demarcations are in contradiction with the vision of the trans-statal and trans-national integrity of the European continent. In Serbia itself, me problem of the restructuring of regions is determined by the inherited and unchanged triple division of its territory into the central part and two autonomous provinces in the north and south. Thus every idea for regionalization (expert, party, leader's, NGO and the like) faces the inherited, too narrow constitutional framework and easily slides to the federalization or confederalization of the Republic, and in extreme cases to the independence and sovereignty of ethnic, religious, linguistic and other minorities. Roughly put, the tendencies for territorial separation from the Republic of Serbia still exist in several neuralgic and unstable areas or regions. In Vojvodina, the presented tendencies have the character of a meaningless internal - Serbian autonomy, autonomism, latent separatism. Authentic Serbian autonomy lost its original character long ago and deteriorated into an internal national re-statism. On the other hand, in the furthest south of Serbia, in Kosmet, the UN protectorate is established, but the region is actually occupied and thus the status of the Province is "frozen". In the three municipalities in the south of Serbia, with the relative Albanian majority, Albanian separatism smolders within the platform of the so-called east Kosovo. In the Raska region (Sandzak) there are also strong tendencies for separateness on the religious-ecclesiastical, so-called Bosniac platform, with religious solidarity, and ethnic and territorial unity of all Bosniacs. In the meta-legal or pre-normative situation - which most often denotes political and geopolitical context implying interests, power and force - the inclinations for territorial design are faced with the conflicting ideology of regionalism. Therefore, the constitutional-legal solutions of the former, present and future regions, generated within the self-created legality which does not respect meta-legal, political and geopolitical impulses regardless of how aestheticized and "humanized" they may be - at the end face the practical impossibility of realization.

Defence date: 25 February 2022
Examining Board: Prof. Bruno de Witte (EUI and Maastricht University); Prof. Gábor Halmai (EUI); Prof. Joxerramon Bengoetxea (University of the Basque Country); Prof. Xabier Arzoz (UNED Madrid)
This dissertation addresses the legal framework and social embedding of the Basque language. As a minority language located between two European states (France and Spain) with different approach towards minority languages, the task of understanding the legal framework of the Basque language and its relationship with the community of speakers is challenging. In fact, this legal framework results in a vast array of legal rules for Basque speakers. This research examines the fundamental and linguistic rights of these minority language speakers (norm users), from international and European legal frameworks to national or regional ones. It carries out a comparative analysis between France and Spain, and between the three Basque regions to examine the legal framework. This doctrinal analysis is complemented by the study of key actors participating in the context and implementation of the legal norms regulating the Basque language. An emphasis is placed on the analysis of the relationship between the legal framework of the Basque language and the Basque society, applying a sociolegal methodology. By focusing on the examples of education and media, this thesis aims to shed light on the relationship between law and context in the case of the Basque language. It displays the tension and collaboration between norm givers and norm users in the case of a minority language. Studying the examples of education and media exposes the difficulties that Basque speakers face, as well as their commitment to the survival of their language. At the same time, progressive legal frameworks for Basque have enabled the creation of linguistic policies favouring the recovery and development of this language, where active collaboration between the three Basque regions is increasing. Ultimately, this research showcases a contextualised understanding of the legal framework of the Basque language, telling the story of this minority language in law.

Defence date: 13 December 2007
Examining Board: Prof. Bruno De Witte (EUI); Prof. Paul Lemmens, (Katholieke Universiteit Leuven); Prof. John Packer, (University of Essex); Prof. Wojciech Sadurski, (EUI)
Awarded the Mauro Cappelletti Prize for the best comparative law doctoral thesis, 2008.
PDF of thesis uploaded from the Library digital archive of EUI PhD theses
This doctoral thesis aims at investigating this new international right of persons belonging to minorities to effective participation in public affairs. What is its content? What is its justification and what is it aiming at? Are there any limits to its implementation and what kind of problematic issues are involved? The example of Bosnia and Herzegovina as described above illustrates that organising representation along ethnic lines raises challenging questions. These will be explored in this PhD.Our investigation of the right of minorities to effective participation in public affairs will run through five chapters: Chapter 1 will outline the theoretical framework; Chapter 2 will examine the political rights in the general human rights instruments; Chapter 3 will study the provision on effective participation in public affairs in the three key minority rights instruments of the 1990’s; Chapter 4 will look at the range of possible domestic mechanisms implementing the right of minorities to effective participation in public affairs through a comparative national law approach; and Chapter 5 will illustrate Chapter 4 by zooming in on three case studies, namely Belgium, Italy and Hungary.

In an era of globalisation, often described as the era of mobility and of the decline of the relevance of territory, the Roma and the Travellers embody a transnational and non-territorial society. Yet this minority group experiences deplorable living conditions and the survival of its culture is endangered. A study of minority protection mechanisms in international law reveals that the grasp of territory and "sedentarism" has far from disappeared from this branch of law. Territory (or the absence thereof) and movement are the main challenges faced by international law in the development of solutions to the situation of the Roma and the Travellers. In light of the failure of current minority protection regimes, the quest for recognition of a "Roma nation" appears to be an avenue worth exploring. However, while the Roma may not fall clearly within the parameters of minority protection, they do not fall clearly within the concept of nation either. When examining the potential of such recognition, one realizes that it is necessary to redefine the right of self-determination in the context of minority protection and in a transnational and non-territorial perspective.

The protection of the rights of sexual minorities in Africa is a controversial issue. It is not unusual to find newspaper reports on gross violations suffered by this minority group. Gays and lesbians are victims of violence, sometimes resulting in death. Sexual minorities in Africa are often confronted with government actions such as those of the Nigerian government that recently submitted to the parliament a Bill to make provisions for the prohibition of relationships between persons of the same sex, celebration of marriage, registration of gay clubs and societies and publicity of same sex relationships. The objective of this study was to suggest possible legal protection and recognition of sexual minority rights under the African human rights system.

Modern parliaments are mostly compared to the top echelon of the society.The unfairness of the representation still holds true even where free, fair and periodic democratic elections are held. PWDs constitue the largest minority group accounting for 15.6% of the world's population. In Ethiopia approximately the same percentage of the population is disabled though nor fairly represented in the political system.
Thesis (LLM (Human Rights and Democratisation in Africa)) -- University of Pretoria, 2011.
http://www.chr.up.ac.za/
nf2012
Centre for Human Rights
LLM

Defence date: 20 April 2020 (Online)
Examining Board: Professor Claire Kilpatrick (EUI), Professor Bruno de Witte (EUI), Professor Colm O'Cinnedie (University College London), Professor Scott L. Cummings (University of California Los Angeles)
The thesis provides a transnational account of Roma rights activism over the last thirty years with a focus on five Central and Eastern European countries, where the majority of the European Union’s Roma live. It contributes to scholarly debate by (i) mapping ethnic/racial justice related legal opportunities; (ii) taking stock of legally focused non-governmental organisations; (iii) charting legal mobilisation in courts and enforcement agencies; (iv) presenting an alternative account of the transplantation of public interest litigation, and (v) ‘mapping the middle’ between dominant and critical narratives about the Open Society Foundations and white Europeans in the Roma rights field. Finding that international advocacy and litigation alone have been insufficient to generate social change, the thesis highlights the salience of indigenous practices. It points to the shortcomings of the elitist conception of legal mobilisation characterised by top-down, planned legal action and a focus of international NGOs. The thesis proposes to shift the limelight to the financial resources of strategic litigation, to a broad conception of collective legal action, and the necessity of investigating the role private individuals, NGOs, as well as public agencies play in promoting racial equality in general and Roma rights in particular in a transnational field. By scrutinising the ethno-political critique of Roma rights activism and pointing to its conflation with the critique of litigation - that resonates on both sides of the Atlantic - the thesis navigates between liberal internationalism and ethno-nationalism by acknowledging and celebrating organic cross-border cooperation, in other words “good transnationalism.”

The purpose of this study is to understand the nature and scope of protection of minority languages and assesses how international human rights law can protect minority languages in Africa. Focuses on three questions: (1) What is the normative content of language rights?, (2) To what extent does the African human rights system protect minority languages? and 3) What measures can be taken at the national and regional levels to improve respect for and protection of minority languages in Africa?’
Thesis (LLM (Human Rights and Democratisation in Africa)) -- University of Pretoria, 2007.
Dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Law University of Pretoria, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree Masters of Law (LLM in Human Rights and Democratisation in Africa). Prepared under the supervision of Mr E.Y. Benneh of the Faculty of Law, University of Ghana.
http://www.chr.up.ac.za/
Centre for Human Rights
LLM

The debate stirred by the recent appointment of a chief justice and deputy chief justice under the judicial reform process envisaged in Kenya‟s new Constitution has, once again, brought to the fore the attitude surrounding sexual minorities. A section of religious organisations and citizens rejected the nominees because they perceived the duo to either belong to or to support sexual minority groups. The hostility and antipathy directed at the two is not new. In recent times, the clergy and state officials have been quoted calling for the arrest of gays. It is common for perceived homosexuals and lesbians to be harassed because of their sexual orientation. Support for the rights and welfare of this group draws quick condemnation. In October 2010, a minister who stated that there should be HIV/AIDS mitigation programmes for lesbians and gays was sharply criticised by religious leaders who termed her remarks „satanic‟ and „contrary to African culture‟, and called for her dismissal.
Thesis (LLM (Human Rights and Democratisation in Africa)) -- University of Pretoria, 2011.
http://www.chr.up.ac.za/
nf2012
Centre for Human Rights
LLM

Defence date: 17 March 2022
Examining Board: Prof. Stefan Grundmann (Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin & European University Institute); Prof. Martijn Hesselink (European University Institute); Prof. Katharina Boele-Woelki (Bucerius Law School); Dr. Ruth Lamont (University of Manchester)
Cross-border child relocation cases are among the most difficult disputes that family judges need to face. Commentators across the globe disagree on the interpretation of the child's best interests and the relevance of adults' autonomy in this context. As relocations are directly concerned with free movement, the literature has expressed an interest also in the European Union's influences in this area. However, considering its lack of competence in family law and the limited jurisprudence of the Court of Justice of the European Union on such issues, some questions about the scope and nature of obligations imposed by EU law remain open. This thesis investigates, therefore, the following question: What is the (nature of) EU law's influence on cross-border child relocation and what are its effects on national legal systems? Its contribution is two-fold. Methodologically, it proposes a constructively oriented investigation of European influences in child relocation law. Cross-border movement constitutes the main raison d'être of EU law, and a defining feature of its community. Hence, a mixture of traditional values and new ways of life - sanctioned by a supranational entity - might lead to new dilemmas regarding children's interests and adult autonomy and complicate relocation decisions. The suggested approach allows contextual influences to be analysed together with legal doctrines, at both the EU and the national level. Substantively, the thesis builds on existing research to refine the understanding of child relocation in the context of supranational fundamental rights and freedoms in the EU, in their doctrinal and ideational dimensions. Finally, using case law from Germany, Poland, and England and Wales, it qualitatively investigates how national judges encounter the EU and draw from its ideational and legal features. This thesis demonstrates how the normatively inflicted EU context is occasionally used in courts but does not seem to consistently reorient national approaches towards the EU.
Chapter 3 ‘Child relocation and the European framework of human rights' of the PhD thesis draws upon an earlier version published as an article 'Child relocation, soft law, and the quest for umiformity at the European court of human rights : part one' (2020) in the journal ‘Prawa prywatnego’
Chapter 3 ‘Child relocation and the European framework of human rights' of the PhD thesis draws upon an earlier version published as an article 'Child relocation, soft law, and the quest for umiformity at the European court of human rights : part two' (2021) in the journal ‘Prawa prywatnego’

In this chapter, we present the legislative branches of eight countries (Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Romania, Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia and Hungary) through the following subjects: a) legislative bodies and sources of parliamentary law (laws regulating the function of the parliament, bylaws etc.); b)the authorities of parliaments; c) the officeholders of parliaments, the house president, and committees of parliaments; d)parliamentary groups; e) the legal status of officeholders (rights of the MPs, conflict of interest, immunity). The structure of the study follows the order of the above-mentioned subjects and treats them as subchapters. At the beginning of each subchapter is a short explanation of the subject, highlighting in broad terms what it wishes to showcase. The study focuses on the legislative branches of governments as the main goal of the study is to observe their legislative ecosystem and organs, powers and members.