Are Minority Rights Still Relevant?
The Impact of Minority Protection Regimes in the 21st Century

Budapest, Hungary, 10 – 16 July 2016

The Tom Lantos Institute (TLI) and the National University of Public Service (NUPS) in cooperation with the Middlesex University London (MU) and with the support of the Hungarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade are organising their fourth international Summer School on Minority Rights with a special focus on the relevance of existing regimes for minority protection.

Recent years have seen an increase in the vulnerability of significant sections of the global community. The agreed human rights frameworks, based on individual rights protection at national, regional and international levels, have appeared inadequate in the face of widespread conflict, grinding poverty and mass exodus in the Middle East, Africa and to some extent reaching the borders of Europe. The phenomenon of oppression has largely been experienced by members of ethno-cultural groups, rather than by individuals. These groups’ quest for greater human security has put infrastructure, communities and systems under pressure at a time of economic hardship. However, the existing minority rights regime has not been adequately considered, discussed or utilised in this context.

Addressing these challenges from an international human rights law perspective requires clarity of vision, the ability to frame policies and to develop comprehensive approaches that offer flexible and creative solutions. Using the framework of international minority rights and drawing on wider socio-legal and policy orientations, this iteration of GMRSS will seek to highlight the importance of strategic action (civic, governmental, intergovernmental, local, national, transnational) in arriving at workable solutions. It will do so in two specific ways:

by exploring existing avenues at international, regional and national levels that could be activated and drawn upon in the quest to protect vulnerable and socially excluded groups;
by articulating strategies tried by specific excluded groups in seeking to alleviate their own plight.
In doing so GMRSS will focus on the extent to which well-designed minority protection norms can be advanced through creative legal, political, socio-economic strategies at national, regional and international levels.

The Summer School will host 30 participants from all over the world and offers a forum to discuss relevant issues related to minorities with leading experts and practitioners in the field of international human rights law, political science, sociology, and history. Lectures include:

Who is a minority? Theory and practice;
Anti-discrimination: an adequate framework for minority protection?
International and regional regimes for the protection of minorities;
Comparative approaches to minority protection: the cases of China and India, Hungary and South-Tyrol, Nigeria and South Africa;
Principled activism of minorities;
A critical assessment of the UN regime of minority protection and of the UN Forum on Minority Issues;
Strategies of minority rights activists: Conversations between activists for the rights of Afro-descendants, Dalits, Hungarian minorities, Roma and Indigenous Peoples.
The programme starts with a pre-summer school workshop on “migrants, refugees, new minorities and international law” (working title).

The Summer School aims to:

Critically assess international norms of minority protection and their relevance for minorities on the ground;
Review and compare existing practices of minority protection in different regions of the world;
Understand and discuss principled activism of minorities and strategies of civil society advocacy.
This Summer School is envisaged as a space for meeting, consulting and debating with authoritative academics, practitioners, public servants and decision-makers. It provides excellent networking opportunities and the chance to share experiences and discuss current research projects. The programme is complemented by interesting and informative cultural events.