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'This paper aims to discuss the institutional set-up around civil integration and minority protection issues in Georgia since the 'Rose Revolution', and the study reviews the state structures relevant for governance and legislative practices on civil integration and minority issues. It seeks to provide an overview of the institutional problems that beset civic integration by presenting a brief outline of the history and responsibilities of the relevant state bodies and analyzing some of the problems in the current institutional arrangements. The research for this paper has been conducted by way of consultations and interviews with the representatives of the bodies concerned, both executive and legislative. Use is also made of official documents, principally the mandates, constituting decrees, legal documents and regulations of the bodies covered by our research. The paper is divided into three sections. The first section examines the emergence of institutional structures for handling minority issues during Shevardnadze's rule and discusses the institutional changes and cabinet reshuffles after the 'Rose Revolution', reviewing all of the nine reshuffles since 2004. The second section describes the current mandates and activities of minority policy related bodies at the executive level of governance, while the third section presents some of the key activities and work of the legislative body in relation to minorities. The paper contains four annexes: one describing a few temporary bodies that existed for a short time after the 'Rose Revolution', two sets of tables that graphically outline the institutional development of the government bodies from 2004 to the present and the text of the National Concept for Tolerance and Civil Integration.' (excerpt)

'This paper aims to explore the extent to which national minorities in the Georgian provinces of Kvemo Kartli and Samtskhe-Javakheti are integrated into the economic and political life of Georgia and to investigate how government policy in the aftermath of the Rose Revolution of November 2003 has affected the relationship between the state and minority communities in these two regions. It is divided into eight parts. First I provide a general overview of the main characteristics of the population of the two provinces in terms of ethnicity and language use. The second part turns to the economy of the two regions, focusing on both agricultural and industrial production. The next section turns to state-society relations by showing how government policy in the fields of education, local government, infrastructure and economic development has impacted upon the integration of national minorities in the two provinces. The fourth section explores in greater depth the modes of local governance in the two municipalities of Samtskhe-Javakheti (Akhalkalaki and Ninotsminda, collectively known as Javakheti) and the five municipalities of Kvemo Kartli (Gardabani, Marneuli, Bolnisi, Dmanisi and Tsalka) in which members of national minorities are concentrated, by identifying the main power brokers in these municipalities and by looking at how local power structures have changed in the last five years. The following part focuses on the process of migration and includes both permanent migration of Georgians and members of national minorities within Georgia and to destinations beyond the country's borders, as well as seasonal migration abroad. The sixth part deals with the issue of land distribution, which has been a contentious one in both provinces. The seventh section is the final substantive part of the paper; it takes the 'view from below' by looking at the most salient issues from the point of view of members of national minorities that live in the two provinces. The paper then c

Der Beitrag befasst sich ausführlich mit der gegenwärtigen Situation und den Lebensbedingungen der Minderheitengruppe der Osseten in Georgien. Es werden zunächst die demographischen Entwicklungen und die Siedlungsgebiete der Osseten in Georgien dargestellt. Dabei wird deutlich, dass vor dem Südossetien-Konflikt seit 1989 mehr als zwei Drittel der Bevölkerung Südossetiens ethnische Osseten und nur 25-30% der Bevölkerung Georgier waren. In einem weiteren Kapitel werden die Integrationsprozesse der Osseten in die georgische Gesellschaft beschrieben. Der Hauptteil der Studie widmet sich den Migrationsprozessen in der ossetischen Gemeinschaft, die durch den Kaukasus-Krieg 2008 ausgelöst wurden, und ihrem Einfluss auf die ossetisch-georgischen Beziehungen in Politik, Wirtschaft, Kultur und Gesellschaft. Die Studie beruht auf Feldforschungen in zahlreichen georgischen Dörfern und bezieht auch Befragungsergebnisse aus Erhebungen des European Centre for Minority Issues (ECMI) von 2002 mit ein. Ein umfangreicher Tabellenanhang informiert unter anderem über die Siedlungsstrukturen der Osseten und die geographische Verteilung der Bevölkerungsgruppe in Städten und Gemeinden. (ICI)

Ziel der Europäischen Charta der Regional- und Minderheitensprachen ist es, die Sprachen als einen einzigartigen Bestandteil des kulturellen Erbes Europas zu bewahren und ihren Gebrauch im Bereich des Rechts, der Schulen, des öffentlichen, kulturellen, wirtschaftlichen und sozialen Lebens sowie der Medien zu fördern. Der vorliegende Beitrag beschäftigt sich mit der Bewahrung der sprachlichen Vielfalt in Georgien und stellt zunächst die Regelungen des zweiten Teils der Charta dar, in welchem allgemeine Zielsetzungen und Grundsätze zum Schutz der Regional- und Minderheitensprachen formuliert werden. Die Regelungen des dritten Teils der Charta werden anschließend auf den Fall Georgiens bezogen und für folgende Bereiche näher untersucht: Bildung, Justizverwaltung, Verwaltungsbehörden und öffentliche Dienstleistung, Medien, Kultur, Wirtschaftsleben und grenzüberschreitender Austausch. Im Anhang des Beitrags wird die Europäische Charta der Regional- und Minderheitensprachen im Wortlaut wiedergegeben. (ICI)

Der Beitrag beleuchtet den möglichen Einfluss nationaler Minderheiten im politischen Entscheidungsprozess nach der EU-Erweiterung. In einem ersten Schritt wird zunächst das Mehrebenenmodell der Governance in der EU beschrieben, wodurch lokale und regionale Autoritäten eine stärkere Rolle in der EU-Politik einnehmen. So gliedert sich das politische System in drei Ebenen: die Ebene der Supranationalität, die Ebene der Mitgliedsstaaten sowie die Ebene der Regionen. Ferner werden die Begriffsbestimmung der so genannten nationalen Minderheitenregion (NMR) formuliert und die NMR-relevanten Themen im EU-Handlungskontext dargestellt. Der zweite Schritt umfasst die Grundzüge der 'Dritte-Ebene-Politik' der NMRs und deren Institutionen. Dazu gehören (1) das Komitee der Regionen, (2) die Kohäsionspolitik der EU, (3) Parteikoalitionen nationaler Minderheiten, (4) die Repräsentation in Brüssel sowie (5) die praktizierte Para-Diplomatie. Der dritte Schritt stellt sodann die bekanntesten NMRs in Europa vor, und zwar die flämische bzw. wallonische Gemeinschaft in Belgien. Im Anschluss folgen neben der Bretagne (Frankreich) neu hinzugekommene NMRs im Zuge der EU-Erweiterung in Estland, Lettland, Polen, Rumänien, Slowakei, Zypern und der Türkei. NMRs repräsentieren sowohl starke soziale als auch antagonistische kulturelle Kräfte in der EU. Somit haben die nationalen Minderheiten aufgrund ihrer Fähigkeit zur politischen Mobilisierung durchaus die Möglichkeit, die politische Landschaft der EU nachhaltig zu prägen. (ICG2)

'The aim of the project is the evaluation of the cultural policies of the National Action Plans (NAPs) on Social Inclusion under the European Union's Open Method of Coordination (OMC) in six member states: Estonia, Latvia, Czech Republic, Slovak Republic, Slovenia and Sweden. The project evaluates the effectiveness of cultural policies of the NAPs aimed at the social inclusion of ethnic minorities by identifying appropriate indicators - a set of Common Inter-Cultural Indicators (CICIs) feasible for cost-effectiveness analyses, and using a cost-effectiveness evaluation approach. Latvia is traditionally a multiethnic society. Before restoration of independence in 1990 and as a result of the ethnic policy of the USSR, the proportion of multiethnic minorities comprised of 48% of the total population. It has diminished since, but ethnic and social integration is still a very important part of the national policy. Societal integration is oriented towards the individual and mutual understanding and cooperation between different groups, based on Latvian language as the state language as well as on the loyalty towards the Latvian state. For an individual, integration is an increased opportunity to experience one's human rights and freedom, as well as to increase participation in social and political life. Of the minority cultural policies - culture, education, mass media and social participation - that are aimed at social inclusion of minorities, the Latvia language and education policy has been the most important recently, as education reform has been implemented and bilingual education programmes, which began in 1999, have been introduced in minority schools. In this report, we will first provide a brief overview of the ethnic composition of the population of Latvia. Then, we will explore the relationship between the language, education and social inclusion policies in Latvia, and NAP (2004-2006) and related policy documents regulating the minority culture and social inclu

Der vorliegende Beitrag untersucht, wie verschiedene institutionelle Mechanismen für die legislative Repräsentation die ethnische und soziale Zusammensetzung der gesetzgebenden Versammlung beeinflussen. Das Papier liefert zuerst ein Gesamtbild der ethnischen Repräsentativität des rumänischen Parlaments. Dabei beschäftigt es sich mit der Proportionalität der ethnischen Repräsentation und diskutiert kurz, wie die rumänischen Daten einige der liberal-demokratischen theoretischen Bedenken hinsichtlich der Gerechtigkeit von Mandatsreservierungen für Minderheiten illustrieren. Es wendet sich dann der Diskussion darüber zu, wie Daten über das ethnische Profil der parlamentarischen Vertreter das Herangehen der Mainstream-Parteien an die Rekrutierung von Minderheiten und, allgemeiner, den Wettbewerb um die Unterstützung von Minderheiten erhellen. Der letzte Abschnitt untersucht, wie inklusiv die Abgeordnetengruppen, die durch verschiedene institutionelle Kanäle gewählt wurden, in Bezug auf Geschlecht, beruflichen Hintergrund und andere soziale Merkmale sind. Das Papier fasst am Ende zusammen, was die rumänische Daten über ethnische und soziale Repräsentation aussagen über die Auswirkungen alternativer Wahlmechanismen auf die soziale Inklusion und welche weiteren Beweise erforderlich sind, um Hypothesen zu bestätigen oder zu widerlegen, die durch das Studium der rumänischen Erfahrung entstanden sind. (ICD)

'The social exclusion of members of ethnic minorities is viewed as a serious political problem that carries the potential danger of escalating ethnic violence. Consequently, EU member countries are looking for tools to help to prevent that happening. We understand social integration as a multi-dimensional process involving the integration of the individual into the broader social structures (social groups) of a given society and culture. Current social integration NAPs appraise differences in the populations of EU member countries using socio-economic indicators (gross domestic product, rates of employment and unemployment, poverty etc.) but they usually miss the cultural dimension. As far as the Czech Republic is concerned, cultural policy is a matter for the Ministry of Culture whereas social inclusion matters fall within the competence of the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs. This Ministry supports research into social integration including that of ethnic minorities, particularly, as far as this report is concerned, the Roma community. Other state institutions play a complementary role within the inclusion process. Every ministry has its own concepts and distributes financial resources to projects in respective areas. The aim of this report is to provide a description of the concepts and policies towards and the current situation of national minorities and the Roma and foreign communities as regards participation, education and mass media publicity. These relatively independent populations occupy different positions in society and, in some cases, have different legal status so that different policies are required to bring about their social inclusion. Cost effectiveness analysis was limited in our report to educational policies concerning the Roma only, an approach which was agreed at the workshop in Flensburg. The measurement of cost effectiveness in the areas of participation and media policy is extremely complex due to the multilevel influences of social

'This paper is divided into three parts. The first section is mainly descriptive; its goal is to provide a general overview of the main economic, demographic, and political trends in Tsalka district from the late Soviet period until the present day. The second section is more analytical; it analyses the real and potential arenas of conflict in the district, namely conflicts between communities and conflicts between communities and the state. It also looks at the impact of international organisations on the conflict dynamic by focusing first on the construction of the BTC pipeline by a consortium led by BP (British Petroleum) and then on the initiative of the Greek government to reduce conflict by supporting local law enforcement bodies and helping to regulate migration. The third and final part will summarise the main causes of conflict in Tsalka district and will provide recommendations for the Georgian government and for the international donor community.' (author's abstract)

'The main purpose of this report is to evaluate the cultural policies introduced in the Slovenian National Action Plan (NAP) on Social Inclusion (2004-2006) in terms of their impact on promoting social inclusion of ethnic minorities. Cultural policies are here understood in a broad sense of the word - encompassing all policies that pay regard to any aspect of culture, be it culture in the sense of creative artistic activities (theatres, music, etc.) or in the sense of specific cultural/ ethnic identity of the target groups. In the report we focused on policies which are aimed at promoting the social inclusion of the Roma and the 'new ethnic minorities'. These are the only ethnic minorities that the Slovenian NAP/ inclusion 2004-2006 pays attention to - Roma are considered as one of the groups most at risk of social exclusion in Slovenia. On the other hand the NAP 2004-2006 does not deal with the new ethnic minorities as with vulnerable groups (groups with highest risk of poverty and social exclusion); they are, however, included in the part of NAP 2004-2006, which deals with access to culture. We chose to evaluate three policies: education policy for the Roma, employment policy for the Roma, and the policy to promote access to culture for minority ethnic groups (among them we focused on the Roma and the 'new ethnic minorities'). The first chapters of the report bring some general information on the ethnic structure of the Republic of Slovenia, on the legal protection of ethnic minorities in Slovenia, and on socioeconomic development of the country. Some aspects of the social exclusion of the Roma and the new ethnic minorities in Slovenia are presented in the fourth chapter, focusing especially on the attitudes of the majority population towards these ethnic groups. In the fifth chapter we briefly presented how the key challenges to social inclusion are defined in the Slovenian NAP/ inclusion (2004-2006), what are the NAP's main objectives and which are the groups ta

'The restoration of the Baltic states' independence, back in 1991, brought about a number of political and legal challenges. The presence of large non-titular communities in Estonia and Latvia has proven to be the most pressing of these. Notwithstanding the fact that the European Commission already in 1997 concluded that 'on the whole the rights of the Russian-speaking minorities are observed and safeguarded', the legal status of these living relics of the Soviet period remains controversial. A resolution of the Council of Europe Committee of Ministers, adopted on 13 June 2002, criticised the protection of national minorities in Estonia. In the lead-up to the December 2003 parliamentary elections, the Russian Duma adopted a resolution 'on gross violations of human and minority rights in the Republic of Latvia'. Dmitry Rogozin, chairman of the Parliamentarian Committee on International Relations, announced that Russia should consider the weapon of economic sanctions to put pressure on the Baltic state, which he described as 'a land of hooligans' where 'Nazis have come to power'. Whereas these statements have to be situated within the context of the ongoing election campaign, the remarks of Alvaro Gil-Robles, European Council Commissioner for Human Rights, are to be taken more serious. During his visit to Riga in October 2003, the High Commissioner criticized the lack of citizenship for more than twenty per cent of Latvia's population and recommended the granting of voting rights to non-citizens in municipal elections. On the other hand, Günter Verheugen, EU Commissioner responsible for enlargement, declared that Latvia fulfils all the criteria in the field of societal integration and has complied with all international requirements regarding its ethnic minorities. The striking differences between the statements of the Council of Europe and European Union representatives contribute to the existing ambiguity surrounding the legal status of Estonia's and Latvia's Russia

'The report of the Slovak team is divided into three parts. The first one describes social inclusion policies of Roma in Slovakia in general. The second evaluates inclusion policies of the National Action Plans on social inclusion by analyzing focus groups with experts, and the third one brings analysis of particular inclusion policies. The paper finally brings also rather theoretical input whether Roma have where to integrate and describes structural problems of social inclusion policies. The first part brings information on ethnic composition of the population of Slovakia and specificities of a Roma minority. Authors analyze how the Roma issue became the hottest topic in Slovakia over the period since 1989 and how policy makers started to realize the importance of investing significant amounts of time, money, social capital, and especially political will into solving the so-called Roma issue. The paper brings also insides into legal protection mechanisms, strategic Slovak governmental materials addressing the problems of Roma since 1989 and describes state institutions dealing with the Roma issues. The second part analyses the focus group results. The Slovak NAP on social inclusion has been identified as one-dimensional, focused primarily on economic dimension of the problem, and incomplete due to inability to identify target group. The most visible problem of a NAP is also a lack of focus on segregated Roma communities. Paper points out also at a missing bridge between cultural policies and social inclusion and describes how a support for culture in a sense of increasing participation is completely missing in all materials. A paper defines also strategies of the state and local authorities towards Roma population. The third part analyses particular policies included in the National Action Plan on social inclusion. It describes desegregation measures and causes of low education participation of Roma children, and is assessing costs in the field of education. In th

'The position of ethnic minorities, their integration and assimilation into the society where they exist, along with ethnic majorities, has been an area of conflict, an area of discrimination, and an area of social tension. This report examines a policy of inclusion working next to a policy to fight exclusion as Sweden tries to establish a dual program including 'soft' measures within culture and 'hard' measures within the structural-economic sphere to counteract poverty and abuse as a means to promoting inclusion in a multicultural society. Sweden's National Action Plan (NAP) does not expressly refer to ethnic minorities. The goals reflect a concern with poverty, education and substance abuse. Two years after accepting a NAP in 2001, Sweden adopted the Agenda for Culture 2003-2006 (Agenda 2003) as a companion to the NAP. The Agenda 2003 emphasizes the concept of the equal value of all people and attempts to promote inclusion for all residents in Sweden premised on the shared value of equality among all citizens. Both the NAP, which focuses on the reduction of those at risk for exclusion, and Agenda 2003 with a focus on inclusion, developed strategies to reach their goals. Similar strategies and goals show that both the NAP and Agenda 2003 emphasized children, language and work. In all three areas the NAP and Agenda 2003 use strong rhetoric that supports the values of strengthening integration, improving access for participation and enlarging collective meeting places for all individuals. Both the NAP, which focuses on the reduction of those at risk for exclusion, and Agenda 2003 with a focus on inclusion, developed strategies to reach their goals. Similar strategies and goals show that both the NAP and Agenda 2003 emphasized children, language and work. In all three areas the NAP and Agenda 2003 use strong rhetoric that supports the values of strengthening integration, improving access for participation and enlarging collective meeting places for all individuals. T

Der vorliegende Beitrag befasst sich mit der Minderheitenpolitik in Georgien. Der erste Teil gibt einen Überblick über den Prozess, der zur Ratifizierung des Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities (FCNM) führt und analysiert die Gründe, warum sich die Unterzeichnung verzögert. Im zweiten Teil geht es um die Prioritätensetzung der georgischen Regierung im Kontext des FCNM. Dabei stehen folgende Fragen im Zentrum: (1) Was ist eine nationale Minderheit? (2) Wie muss mit Minderheiten in der öffentlichen Verwaltung und im Bildungsbereich umgegangen werden? (3) Welche gesetzlichen Bestimmung müssen erlassen werden, um eine Diskriminierung nationaler Minderheiten zu verhindern? Abschließend analysiert der Autor die Probleme und Herausforderungen, die sich im Falle der Ratifizierung für Georgien ergeben. (ICD)

'The paper will be divided into two sections. The first section will examine how the existing status quo in which Georgian is the only official language in all parts of Georgia outside Abkhazia affects the working of the courts, the local organs of state administration, the media and the education system in Javakheti. It will then assess whether or not the current situation is sustainable. The argument is that, for the present time at least, language use within state bodies in Javakheti corresponds to informal arrangements rather than formal laws. To retain the status quo, I argue, is likely to further entrench these informal practices and may hinder rather than promote integration. The paper then discusses whether it would be possible to somehow tinker with the legislation in order to mitigate these undesirable consequences in the short term while retaining the status of the Georgian language as the only administrative language at all levels of government, or whether some kind of administrative status could be granted to minority languages in those districts (such as Akhalkalaki and Ninotsminda) in which national minorities are compactly settled. It then goes on to list certain specific conditions that any new legislative arrangement should meet. The second part of the paper will examine how the issue of minority languages is dealt with in Romania and Croatia, two countries in which the relationship between the majority and minorities has, in recent years, been highly sensitive. I show how in both of these counties, a model has been developed that grants minority languages some kind of official status at local level but falls short of granting these languages full official status at the national level. Both models, I argue, promote bilingualism and encourage integration and may be valuable models for the Georgian government to look to as it elaborates legislation on minority languages.' (excerpt)

Die Region Samtskhe-Javakheti in Georgien wird von einer großen Anzahl ethnischer Gruppen armenischen Ursprungs bewohnt, deren 'erste' Sprache armenisch oder russisch ist. Zudem leben kleinere Gruppen russischer Dukhobors, Griechen und Georgier in Javakheti. Neben der sprachlichen und kulturellen Vielfalt zeichnet sich die Region, die zu den ärmsten Gebieten des Landes gehört, durch eine sehr bescheidene zukünftige Wirtschaftsentwicklung aus. Vor diesem Hintergrund befasst sich der Beitrag mit zwei Fragen: Wie kann die Auswanderung der jungen gebildeten Generation verhindert werden? Wie kann der georgische Staat die ethnische Diversität in der höheren Bildung verbessern und das Bildungsangebot für Studenten nationaler Minderheiten attraktiv gestalten? Zur Untersuchung der Aufgabe angemessener Hochschulbildung werden erfolgreiche Lösungsansätze aus zwei Ländern mit ähnlichen Problemen herangezogen. So haben öffentliche und private Institutionen der tertiären Bildung in Mazedonien und Rumänien Bildungspolitiken entwickelt, die auch auf die Situation in Javakheti angewendet werden können. Nach einer Darstellung der Bildungssituation in der georgischen Region wird zunächst die 'Strategie des flexiblen Gebrauchs der Sprachen' aus Mazedonien beschrieben, die an der Südost-Europäischen Universität in Tetovo zum Tragen kommt. Im Anschluss wird ein multikultureller Ansatz präsentiert, welcher an der Babes-Bolyai Universität in Rumänien die ethnische Vielfalt im Bildungsbereich berücksichtigt. Die Ausführungen schließen mit einer Reihe von Empfehlungen für die Ausgestaltung des Bildungswesens in der Region Javakheti, die auf den geschilderten Fallbeispielen basieren. (ICG2)