Donor: Sixth Framework Programme of the European Commission, Brussels
Duration of the project: May 2006 – April 2009
This project was financed by the European Commission and the research topics to be addressed in this (3 years 2006-2009) project were human rights and conflicts, foundation of human rights and its application in conditions of conflict and war, perceptions of human rights and their violation in conflicts, relations of human rights and rights of ethnic minorities and human rights in the European foreign policy. The reports and special country reports prepared throughout the project are available to the scientific community, policy makers and wider public through a website specifically created for the project. Leading organization in this project was the European Academy of Bolzano (EURAC) – Italy, while the BCHR was partner together with the University of Graz (Uni Graz) – Austria, University of Frankfurt (Uni Frankfurt) – Germany, University of Cologne (Uni Köln) – Germany, London School of Economics (LSE) – UK, University of Bath (Uni Bath) – UK, Institute for Ethnic Studies (IES) – Slovenia, Human Rights Centre Sarajevo (HRC-Sarajevo) – Bosnia-Herzegovina and Human Rights Centre Pristina (HRC-Pristina) – Kosovo.
So far the analysis of minority rights systems is almost exclusively undertaken by lawyers, whereas ethnic conflict resolution is mostly the prerogative of social scientists. This research project undertakes to bring both these approaches together in an interdisciplinary endeavour. Moreover, minority protection and legal mechanisms have so far been treated under the prerogative of national state sovereignty. The innovative approach here is again the treatment of minority rights as a problem of multi-level governance and multi-layered citizenship, in particular through research on the interplay of minority rights mechanisms on the national and supra-national level, as well the ability of international and regional organisations to encourage the implementation of such mechanisms at the domestic level in the states concerned.
The aim of this research project was to provide new approach for the question of minority rights. So far the analysis of minority rights systems is almost exclusively undertaken by lawyers, whereas ethnic conflict resolution is mostly the prerogative of social scientists. This research project undertaken to bring both these approaches together in an interdisciplinary endeavour. Moreover, minority protection and legal mechanisms have so far been treated under the prerogative of national state sovereignty.
The innovative approach here was again the treatment of minority rights as a problem of multi-level governance and multi-layered citizenship, in particular through research on the interplay of minority rights mechanisms on the national and supra-national level, as well the ability of international and regional organisations to encourage the implementation of such mechanisms at the domestic level in the states concerned. The main goal was to analyse which status human and minority rights did and do have in all phases of ethnic conflicts, and, finally, in the phase of re-construction and reconciliation and to help in building a coherent EU-policy of the new neighbourhood (Caucasus, Ukraine, Russia) and to learn how to accommodate ethnic and cultural diversity in order to prevent serious human rights violations in existing and possible future conflicts. The overall objective of the project was to contribute to the process of development of the EU foreign policy and its shift from re-active crisis management to regional stabilisation and association. During the project Belgrade Centre for Human Rights conduct the research in three topics and produced three country reports. If You would like to read them…
