G8 presents their views on minority issue

April 6th was dedicated to a working dinner of the G8, which was organized by the UK. Since the G8 includes states with very different positions on the topic it was hard to reach the consensus regarding the legal status of minorities, since some states do not even recognize national minorities as such in their national legislation. On the other hand G8 agreed that there is a need to promote principles of equality and non-discrimination. They committed "to take practical and effective actions to prevent intolerance, discrimination, and all forms of extremism".

To make a clearer picture on the G8 view on the inter-ethnic issues involving minorities, we invited the representatives of US, UK and Italy to join us at the interview.

Human rights are the cornerstone of the protection of the individuals in modern states. Enjoying human rights enables us personal development as well as access to financial resources which each of us need in order to survive. The modern state must first ensure the realization of the rights for its populous, so that individuals can share and enjoy the same freedoms, responsibilities and protection. Therefore no basis for discrimination among ethnic groups should be enabled. What I firstly asked the states was, how would they evaluate the protection of minorities in modern states?  

Diverging opinions were give as answers. In the fist place the UK  stated that "the protection of minorities varies from state to state, region to region, but unfortunately in many places minority communities and groups are denied access to education and health, as well as more vulnerable to poverty. " A more optimistic opinion was given by Italy whose delegate said that "Italy believes in international law on rights of minorities and their protection is slowly developing. Although we are witnessing a lack of definition of minority, we believe minorities are slowly becoming more and more protected. States are becoming aware of importance of protection for their internal peace and stability, and also for peace and stability in international community." 

In relation to the situation in the previous question, we asked the guests what can be done in order to reduce issues which are caused by the difficult position of minorities.

 Italy stated that to ensure the protection of minorities in the first place means that we must provide these communities with the basic human rights. Fighting discrimination and tackling racial inequalities is what the UK believes that states must commit themselves to in the first place. More precisely the delegate of UK explained that  "This means implementing measures that tackle the disadvantages that minorities face, but also providing support to ethnic, religious, linguistic or racial minorities, so they can enjoy their cultures and traditions without fear of persecution. This can foster healthy relationships within communities."  States agreed that a very important area in which efforts need to be made is the area of education. Italy said that this needs to be ensured by the "education of members of minorities and education of others about minorities, non-discrimination, solidarity, tolerance cohesion, equality and human rights." UK added that anti-discrimination legislation needs to be adopted also in "social services, public administration, and justice. Equal opportunities are the key. It also requires international cooperation, exchange of information between members states on issues relating to the protection of national minorities." Moreover Italy stated that "states have to assure understanding, tolerance, and respect for minorities, foster equality, reduction of extremism and reduction of hate crime, both at national and international level." What US added is that they are committed to advancement of human rights in relation to persons that belong to minorities and  that they believe it is very important to include a broad range of civil society organizations, NGO's, also minorities in a prices of promotion of human rights.

As a way of preventing inter-ethnic conflicts is to provide a minority with certain degree of political representation, self-government or even autonomy. What would be your approach in order to prevent endemic violence in inter-ethnic conflicts involving minorities? 

"United States of America are certain that it is important to include minority groups in all possible activities and policies."Together with equal access to all opportunities the US was also of the opinion that political participation was essential, saying that "states should do everything in their power to grant them equal access to all active and passive voting rights and ability to convey their messages and ideas." Moreover the UK stressed that they fully respect the right to self-determination.  "Within the UK we also have a system of devolution of legislating powers from the Parliament of the United Kingdom to the Scottish Parliament, National Assembly for Wales and the Northern Ireland Assembly and executive powers to the Scottish Government, Welsh Government and Northern Ireland Executive. These bodies can make make and implement laws on all matters which are not reserved, such as education, health, agriculture, local government, environment, tourism, justice and the police." What she also mentioned is the Scottish independence referendum which will be held on the 18th September 2014. Italy concluded that "minorities have to be included in the society as a whole".

Interethnic conflict could be solved either on bilateral or multilateral level- through international organizations and their mechanisms for conflict solving. To which of those you would give a priority?

The opinion of states on certain aspects is varied.. The US, for example, put their trust in the multilateral level, as it enables development of joint ventures and sharing best practices. Furthermore, US pointed out "as our priority is the promotion of already established human rights of persons belonging to minorities, this is a mechanism with a very broad scope of issue and, more importantly, solutions." However, the representative of the US does not claim that state level is to be left out:  " the state level is also important as each conflict and each minority group faces different circumstances and external environment"/.../"What is especially important on a state-level, is engaging with civil society organizations, general society and minorities. We must cooperate with everyone that advocates and represents this specific group of human rights."  The representative of UK started "The UK plays a major role in the international arena, in the EU, Council of Europe and the United Nations in order to encourage all states to adopt good practices at national level."/.../"UK is is strongly committed to working closely with Member States to tackle discrimination". On the other side they believe that "the approach should be different from state to state as for those states that have ethnic minorities, which have an ethnically related States it makes perfect sense to manage those relations bilaterally". Similar opinion has Italy, which thinks that both levels are important: "multilateral level is especially important for providing some general norms, values and directions and can also serve as a forum for multilateral negotiations on the topic of minorities. On the other hand, national and bilateral level is important for solving concrete conflicts with concrete states and concrete minorities."

Aleksandra Đurđević

Read More

G8 and forced migrations

You might have recalled the G8 working dinner statement from about two weeks ago. Among other things they also discussed the topic of forced migrations. Both the UK and USA were advocating a case-by-case approach, whereas Italy suggested that the states should also focus on burden sharing ideas. We conducted an interview with all six member states present in our GA and asked them about their plans.

While on a very  fundamental basis they do seme to agree, we have noticed some differences in priorities. While some emphasize prevention of forced migrations and protection of forced migrants, others do put the responsibility of states and the policy of burden sharing rather high on their priority scale. Most of them have already discussed the topic also with member states outside the G8 coalition but it seems that some agreements have been made more or less on regional levels.

United Kingdom wants to focus on both prevention and protection of displaced persons (refugees and IDPs). The delegate of United States of America stressed that human trafficking should be addressed also as it is important for this topic. Italy agreed with the representative of UK about prevention and it also believes that all states should share their responsibility for preventing and protecting forced migrants. The main goals of Russian Federation are to reduce statelessness, to provide that basic principles in camps are not obstructed and delimited and to prevent the abuse of granted status. France's objectives are better prevention of froced migrations and to establish a policy of burden sharing. Germany stresses that forced migrations are a serious problem and the delegate also emphasized that burden sharing is one of the solutions, although some issues on the financial part should be included so that all member states participate more than they do right now.

And how do they plan to achieve these goals? UK says by connecting different states and coalitions, discussing these topics in greater details and to look for points of consensus. USA will be disucssing this with all member states as they would like to include all states and their perspectives. Also delegate of Italy emphasized the importance of cooperation with as many member states as possible and searching for compromises. Russian Federation wants to increase collaboration with UNHCR and other states and also the overall international cooperation - but they emphasize that it must be done without interfering in the internal affairs of states.

As they all mentioned cooperation with other states, we asked them which specifically did they have in mind. UK mentioned that many European states have expressed positions that are very common to theirs and they havealso been discussing it with Commonwealth nations which have been receptive for their opinions. USA has discussed the topic within the Organization of American States. Italy has cooperated with other states that have problems with forced migrations - either receiving or member sttaes. Within this topic the Russian Federation will cooperate with G8 but they also wish to cooperate with BRICS states. France has discussed it with EU and Turkey and some African states. Germany has been cooperating with other states, especially on G8 and EU basis but the delegate did not want to comment the cooperation in detail.

See more in the video below. In the second part the image is rather poor (blurry) because of some technical issues, but the speech is very clear - which matters the most.

Tamara Kajtazović

Read More

G8 Working Dinner Statement

April 6th was marked by a Working Dinner of G8 Member States. As Ms. Petković, delegate of UK, told us: "The representatives present were USA, Italy, France, Russia and UK. Germany was unable to come. The other two remaining states are not represented in our GA composition."

In their press release they stated that ambassadors of United States of America and United Kingdom have been working closely to determine how to prevent future cases of forced migration and how to strengthen legal protection and better provide aid to refugees and internally displaced persons. They have also been building upon common positions regarding protection of minorities although the two states take slightly different positions on the matter.

They said that the ideas of the US and UK ambassadors were presented to the other present G8 states and most were well received.

Common plans, common standpoints?
On the topic of forced migration the states discussed the role of the international community and level of involvement for different cases of displacement. Both the UK and USA are advocating a case-by-case approach, whereas Italy suggested that the states should also focus on burden sharing ideas. Some G8 states agreed that looking into such proposals would be particularly advantageous.
 Another important issue discussed by the G8 were the causes of displacement, which will warrant strengthened protection and assistance.

On the topic of minorities, hurdles remain, because not all states recognize 'national minorities' in their national legislation, but do award all rights based on equality and non-discrimination to all individuals.

All G8 states expressed their willingness to continue cooperating informally and formally in the next two months in order to ensure that concrete resolutions are passed at the GA.

The UN Herald plans to conduct six detailed interviews with each G8 delegate on both topics. Expect them online next week! 

Below you will find the full media statement and also additional statement by the delegate of UK.

"On Saturday 6 April 2013 the UK hosted a G8 Working Dinner and invited all distinguished G8 delegations represented in the UNGA session to be held from April to May 2013. The G8 Working Dinner was held in Ljubljana at the residency of the Ambassador to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. United States, Russian Federation, France and Italy were able to attend this event, which proved to be an excellent opportunity for the delegations to meet and discuss topics on the agenda. Germany was unfortunately unable to attend, but the senior representative sent his deepest apologies and subsequently agreed to all statements written in this press release. 

The Ambassadors of United States of America and United Kingdom have been working closely to determine how to prevent future cases of forced migration, how to strengthen legal protection to refugees and better provide aid to both internally displaced persons and those who have fled across the border. They have also been building upon common positions regarding protection of minorities although the two states take slightly different positions on the matter. 

These ideas were presented to the other present G8 states and most were well received. On the topic of forced migration the states discussed the role of the international community and level of involvement for different cases of displacement, but both UK and USA are advocating a case-by-case approach. Italy suggested that we also focus on burden sharing ideas and some G8 states agreed that looking into such proposals would be particularly advantageous. Another important issue discussed by the G8 are the causes of displacement, which will warrant strengthened protection and assistance. 

On the topic of minorities, hurdles remain, because not all states recognize 'national minorities' in their national legislation, but do award all rights based on equality and non-discrimination to all individuals. Therefore all G8 powers agree that the wording of any future draft resolutions will have to reflect this fact. G8 states also agreed that respecting the principles of equality, equal opportunities, non-discrimination is a strategy of combating inter-ethnic violence involving minorities. 

The G8 states are now able to collectively state that they deplore all racially, ethnically and religiously motivated violence and hate crime. They are willing to take practical and effective actions to prevent intolerance, discrimination, and all forms of extremism. 

All G8 states expressed their willingness to continue cooperating informally and formally in the next two months in order to ensure that concrete resolutions are passed at the GA, but also that our common interests are protected. The outcome of this conference is expected to enhance discussions among the G8 Heads of State and Governments."

The delegate of UK, Ms. Petković, provided us with an additional statement:

"As part of the UK's G8 Presidency in 2013, we were pleased to host an informal event for the G8 representatives of the UNGA. The issues of forced migration and inter-ethnic conflict involving minorities is a pertinent issue for the UK and this was an opportunity to set the agenda for G8 discussions. Both topics are closely related to international security and peace and economic prosperity, two broad global challenges facing the international community. In the spirit of our 2013 G8 Presidency, we aimed at creating the right environment for frank and open discussions. Heated debates among the G8 states only go to show the complexity of the issues ahead of us. We were able to agree on many points, but this is just the first step.

Without genuine ambition we may be disappointed with lofty promises and wide-spread indifference." 

 

Read More