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INTERPRETATION AND MEANING OF ARTICLE 27 OF THE INTERNATIONAL COVENANT ON CIVIL AND POLITICAL RIGHTS

100%

Bialek T.

Studia Prawnicze

2007

issue 1(171)

51-65

The aim of the author is to prove that Article 27 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights is in fact widely considered to be the primary provision guaranteeing protection by the UN to persons belonging to minorities. The scope of Article 27 has been subject to many discussions and interpretations. The Human Rights Committee (HRC) had an important role to play in clarifying the scope and application of the article. The case-law of the HRC has been presented by the author. The terms used in article 27 indicate that the persons designed to be protected are those who belong to a group and who share in common a culture, a religion and/or a language. Those terms also indicate that the individuals designed to be protected need not be citizens of the State party. The existence of an ethnic, religious or linguistic minority in a given State party does not depend upon a decision by that State party but requires to be established by objective criteria. Although article 27 is expressed in negative terms, that article, nevertheless, does recognize the existence of a 'right' and requires that it shall not be denied. Moreover, State party is under an obligation to ensure that the existence and the exercise of this right are protected against their denial or violation. Although the rights protected under article 27 are individual rights, they depend in turn on the ability of the minority group to maintain its culture, language or religion.

PROTECTION OF THE RIGHTS OF PERSONS BELONGING TO NATIONAL MINORITIES IN THE LEGAL FRAMEWORK OF THE COUNCIL OF EUROPE

63%

Bialek T.

Przegląd Zachodni

2007

issue 3(324)

The history of the 20th century made it clear that persons belonging to national minorities are in need of special protection. The aim of the article is to establish whether the mechanism of the Council of Europe, with a variety of approaches and working methods at its disposal, really makes a difference to the protection of national minorities. Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities (adopted in 1995) as the primary document guaranteeing protection by the Council of Europe to persons belonging to minorities and The European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages adopted in 1992 to protect and promote historical regional and minority languages in Europe, are precisely analyzed in the article, also within the context of the effectiveness of their control mechanisms. The previous protection, based only on the general rule of non-discrimination (article 14 of the European Convention on Human Rights) was insufficient, although the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) had an important role to play in clarifying the scope and application of article 14 to persons belonging to national minorities. The author also presents the case-law of the ECHR. Considering the fact that the Convention and Charter contain mostly programme - type provisions, the article presents the activity of the control bodies - especially Advisory Committee on Minorities, which has put a lot of time into interpreting the provisions as well as providing guidance to States on how to implement them. The author also presents practical and political obstacles to full implementation of the provisions mentioned above.

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1 Przegląd Zachodni

1 Studia Prawnicze

2 Bialek T.

2 2007

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INTERPRETATION AND MEANING OF ARTICLE 27 OF THE INTERNATIONAL COVENANT ON CIVIL AND POLITICAL RIGHTS

PROTECTION OF THE RIGHTS OF PERSONS BELONGING TO NATIONAL MINORITIES IN THE LEGAL FRAMEWORK OF THE COUNCIL OF EUROPE