Re-thinking Ethnic and Cultural Rights in Europe

TY - JOUR

T1 - Re-thinking Ethnic and Cultural Rights in Europe

AU - Keller, Perry

PY - 1998

Y1 - 1998

N2 - In 1998 the Council of Europe's Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities will come into force. But this treaty will only achieve its potential as the centrepiece of ethnic and cultural rights in Europe if the narrow, biased perspective held by many of the state parties can be overcome. This article argues that a just and workable approach to ethnic rights should be informed by contemporary socio-anthropological understandings of ethnicity and culture. When this understanding is considered within the liberal philosophical foundations of the European human rights system, a universal right to ethnic identity emerges. It is thus apparent that immigrant minorities, often excluded from the development of minority rights in international law, have an equal claim to the benefits of the Framework Convention. There is, moreover, a strong argument that ethnic minority rights must involve some measure of long term, positive support for minority languages and traditions.

AB - In 1998 the Council of Europe's Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities will come into force. But this treaty will only achieve its potential as the centrepiece of ethnic and cultural rights in Europe if the narrow, biased perspective held by many of the state parties can be overcome. This article argues that a just and workable approach to ethnic rights should be informed by contemporary socio-anthropological understandings of ethnicity and culture. When this understanding is considered within the liberal philosophical foundations of the European human rights system, a universal right to ethnic identity emerges. It is thus apparent that immigrant minorities, often excluded from the development of minority rights in international law, have an equal claim to the benefits of the Framework Convention. There is, moreover, a strong argument that ethnic minority rights must involve some measure of long term, positive support for minority languages and traditions.

U2 - 10.1093/ojls/18.1.29

DO - 10.1093/ojls/18.1.29

M3 - Article

SN - 0143-6503

VL - 18

SP - 29

EP - 59

JO - OXFORD JOURNAL OF LEGAL STUDIES

JF - OXFORD JOURNAL OF LEGAL STUDIES

IS - 1

ER -