MINELRES: MIRIS: Newsletter No.2

[MINELRES moderator]

Original sender: Eva Maria Moar <EvaMaria.Moar@eurac.edu> 


Dear colleagues and friends,

in this second MIRIS-newsletter, you will find a selection of recently
stored documents (case laws, domestic legistlation,reports), briefly
commented by the MIRIS Team.

If you are interested in other documents, please go directly to the
MIRIS database: www.eurac.edu/miris.

We would be glad to inform you about future updates of the database. You
have the possibility to subscribe to the MIRIS-newsletter, which will be
issued on a bi-monthly basis.

http://dev.eurac.edu:8085/mugs2/about.jsp?sideBarItem=newsletter
(or reply to this mail)

Best regards,

Eva Maria Moar 

____________

Eva Maria Moar
European Academy of Bozen/Bolzano
Dept. Minorities and Autonomies
Drususallee 1
I-39100 Bozen/Bolzano

Tel:+39-0471-055 218
Fax:+39-0471-055 299

www.eurac.edu
____________


Recently added documents to MIRIS - www.eurac.edu/miris 


DOMESTIC LEGISLATION/REGULATION
CROATIA
Constitutional law on the rights of national minorities - English 

The new Constitutional Law on Minorities passed in December 2002 created
the ground for the political participation of minorities in the
Parliament and in self-government units. Participation of minorities in
the local level will be enhanced by the establishment of new councils in
those self-government units in which a single minority form at least
1.5% of the total population. Election for the councils are taking place
in the following weeks. However, Italian minority organisations
protested that they were not given enough time for preperation and
therefore did not present their candidate list. 

DENMARK
Danish legislation concerning the protection of minorities in Denmark
has been inserted in MIRIS, a.o. the special Home rule Acts of Greenland
and the Faeroe Islands and a number of laws concerning the German
speaking minority in South Jutland (mostly in Danish). 

LATVIA
Regulations on Spelling and Identification of Names and Family Names
(2000) - English and Latvian 

The law establishes how foreign names and family names shall be spelled
and used in the Latvian language as well as spelled and identified in
documents. These regulations were challenged as non-constitutional but,
in 2001, the Constitutional Court ruled that the reproduction of the
personal name is not its translation into Latvian (it is not
Latvianization) but only its adjustment to the specific features of the
Latvian grammar. 

MOLDOVA
Law concerning the rights of persons belonging to the national
minorities and the legal status of the organizations thereof (2001) -
English and Romanian 

The framework law on minorities rights in Moldova forbids discrimination
provides for education in the mother tongue, for the use of minority
languages in relation with public administration where persons belonging
to the national minorities amount to a significant percentage of the
population and recognize their right to association and representation 

Law concerning civil status documents (2001) - English and Romanian 

The law provides the rules regarding the names, nationality and language
applicable to birth, death, martial and divorce certificate. 

The Criminal Code of the Republic of Moldova (2002) - English and
Romanian 

The law replaces the old Penal Code from 1961, contains
non-discrimination provisions and punishes more severe the crimes if
they were committed as a result of national, racial or religious hatred 

NORWAY
Act relating to the strenthening of the status of Human Rights in
Norwegian Law - English 

Translations of Norwegian legislation in English have been inserted in
MIRIS. In the Act of 21 May 1999 relating to the strengthening of the
status of Human Rights in Norwegian law, Norway international
obligations and their status in Norwegian law is put down. 

ROMANIA
Guidelines of National Council for Combating Discrimination no. 1 of
March 5, 2003 concerning the obligations of employers and the
representatives thereof, as well as of the authors and makers of
publicity announcements and their representatives, with respect to
conditioning employee positions in announcements and/or competitions and
the publication of such announcements (2003) - English and Romanian 

The guidelines stipulates the obligation of employers to provide free
access to all stages in the employment process to all persons, without
distinctions, exclusions, restrictions or preferences based on race,
nationality, ethnic origin, language, religion, social group or
membership in an underprivileged category, age, sex, sexual orientation,
and belief, with the exceptions provided under applicable laws 

Decision of National Audiovisual Council no. 94 of 09.12.2002 concerning
the withdrawal of Broadcasting License no. S-TV 31 of 03.27.2001 granted
to S.C. FIRST MEDIA ADVERTISING S.R.L. for the OMEGA TV Bucharest
satellite channel (2002) - English and Romanian 

This is probably the most well known decision of the National
Audiovisual Council (NAC) because it withdraws the License of a TV
channel that violated the Audiovisual Law by broadcasting anti-Semite,
xenophobic, discriminatory and libelous statements. It is the first
NAC?s decision concerning the withdrawal of a License based on this
ground. Audiovisual Law (2002) - English and Romanian 

The law provides for the obligation to preserve national minorities?
culture and languages and contains non-discrimination provisions. It was
the legal text that allowed the National Audiovisual Council to issue
the decision above. 

ORDER no. 3699/2002 facilitating the access of Roma candidates to
universities and colleges (2002) - English and Romanian 

The order of Ministry of Education provides for special places for the
Roma/Gypsies candidates for different specializations in State
universities. 

SERBIA AND MONTENEGRO
The Charter on human and minority rights and civil freedoms - English 

The Constitutional Charter of the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro -
English 

Law on Implementation of the Constitutional Charter of the State Union
of Serbia and Montenegro 

On 26 March 2003, Serbia and Montenegro joined the Council of Europe as
its 45th member state. On 28 February, the Yugoslav federal parliament
and parliaments of both republics approved the Charter on Minority and
Human Rights and Freedoms, and in this way satisfied the final
precondition for the creation of a new state union between Serbia and
Montenegro. 

SPAIN
Regional Decree no 29/2003 regulating the use of Basque language in the
public administration of Navarre (2003) - Spanish and Basque 

The decree replaced the regional decree 372/2000 that was declared null
and void by The High Court of Justice of Navarre which considered it
restrictive as regards the use of Basque language in this Autonomous
Community. 

CASE-LAWS
BULGARIA
Constitutional Court Decision No 2 of February 18, 1998 on the
compliance of the Framework Convention for Protection of National
Minorities with the Constitution of the Republic of Bulgaria (1998) -
English and Bulgarian 

The Court ruled that the provisions of Arts. 7, 8, 9, 10 and 11 of the
Framework Convention on the Protection of National Minorities and the
Convention as a whole comply with the Constitution of the Republic of
Bulgaria 

Decision on the constitutionality of the political party United
Macedonian Organization Ilinden - Party for Economic Development and
Integration of the Population (OMO Ilinden-PIRIN) (2000) - English and
Bulgarian 

The Court ruled that the political party United Macedonian Organization
Ilinden - Party for Economic Development and Integration of the
Population (OMO Ilinden-PIRIN) was anti-constitutional because it acted
against country's sovereignty and territorial integrity. 

GREECE
Sotiri Bletsa case - Athens Court of the First Instance's Decision No
11263/2001 (2001) - English and Greek 

The Court ruled that the reference to the speaking of languages other
than Greek constitutes a criminal offence under the Greek Penal Code.
Mr. Bletsas was sentenced to 15 months imprisonment and a fine of
500,000 drachmas because he distributed an English-language publication
from the European Bureau of Lesser Used Languages (EBLUL), which, among
other things, stated that in certain regions of Greece five other
languages are spoken in addition to Greek. 

MOLDOVA
Decision of the Constitutional Court concerning the constitutionality of
several provisions of Law no. 100-XV of April 26, 2001 Concerning civil
status documents and of the Law no. 382-XV of July 19, 2001 Concerning
the rights of persons belonging to the national minorities and the legal
status of the organizations thereof (2002) - English and Romanian 

The Court ruled that the provisions regarding the education in
minorities? languages are constitutional, as well as those regarding the
publishing of the normative/administrative documents in a minority
language. The judges decided also that the provisions regarding the use
of Russian toponyms, street names and public institutions firms and the
use of Russian language in the civil-status records issued by
authorities are unconstitutional. 

Decision of the Constitutional Court concerning the constitutionality of
Art. 1.4 of Law no. 344-XIII of December 23, 1994 on the special legal
status of Gagauzia (Gagauz-Yeri) (1995) - English and Romanian 

The Court ruled with one separate opinion that the Article 1 (4) of the
Law on the Special Status of Gagauzia (Gagauz-Yeri) no. 344-XIII of 23
December 1994 is constitutional so the people of Gagauzia have the right
to external self-determination in the event of a change in the status of
the Republic of Moldova as an independent State. 

SPAIN
Decision of High Court of Navarre on the appeal against the Regional
Decree 327/2000 regulating the use of Basque language in the public
administration of Navarre (2002) - Spanish 

The High Court of Navarre declared null and void the Regional Decree no
372/2000 regulating the use of the Basque language in the Public
Administrations of Navarre, according to which the obligatory use of
Basque in the mixed zone of such Autonomous community would disappear,
as well as it also affected the Basque-speaking zone where it intended
to change the regulation on the Basque language requirements for posts
in the public administration. 

REPORTS
KOSOVO
Tenth Assessment of the Situation of Ethnic Minorities in Kosovo (Period
covering May 2002 to December 2002) (OSCE) 

On 10 March 2003 the 10th Report on situation of minorities in Kosovo
prepared by the OSCE Mission in Kosovo and the UN High Commissioner on
Refugees (UNHCR).was released. The Report provides an objective
assessment of the situation of minorities in Kosovo, advocates changes
that need to be made in order to improve conditions for Kosovo's
minorities and to create an environment conducive for returns of all
ethnic groups, particularly concerning minority access to justice,
essential services, property rights, public, civil, and political
structures and their security and freedom of movement in Kosovo.