CYIL 2012

HUMAN RIGHTS PROTECTION AND MULTICULTURALISM: A MONTENEGRO PERSPECTIVE Therefore cultural diversity is protected in those countries where the law rules over force. Protection of the right to be different from the majority secures multiculturalism through a set of rights and freedoms that guarantee the preservation of identity and public participation of minorities. In a country where the rule of law is a living principle of everyday existence and work, there is no room for violations of the right to cultural diversity. The international legal background that protects respect of diversity and minority rights is currently well-developed, especially at the regional European level. Nowadays, apart from the modest universal legal background of minority rights protection (article 27 of ICCPR, UN Declaration of 1992), there is a set of documents of imperative character at the European level, as well as those that are treated as soft law , such as recommendations 13 of the OSCE. Concerning minority identity protection and other minority rights the most important are the instruments of the Council of Europe – Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities and Charter of Regional and Minority Languages. Montenegro accepted all above mentioned international obligations stipulated in those instruments. Respect of diversity, as such, is protected at the European Union level by the Charter on Fundamental Rights, which stipulates in article 22 that “[t]he Union shall respect cultural, religious and linguistic diversity”. In its Preamble, it is emphasized that “[t]he Union contributes to the preservation and to the development of these common values while respecting the diversity of the cultures and traditions of the peoples of Europe as well as the national identities of the Member States and the organization of their public authorities at national, regional and local levels; it seeks to promote balanced and sustainable development and ensures free movement of persons, services, goods and capital, and the freedom of establishment”. In comparison with the situation at the beginning of the UN, where the dominant concept was connected to an individual human rights approach towards protection of persons belonging to minorities as the highest level of international protection of diversity, the situation is currently much brighter. Apart from the mainstream approach, there is also a strong direction towards a collective rights protection approach, which is more and more visible in soft law documents. A joint approach, or protection of both individual and collective minority rights, is the model leading towards full protection of minority identity and cultural diversity. It is especially important for the Western Balkans. 14 13 Recommendations of the OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities, which are the most important in this regard are the following: Hague Recommendations – Recommendations on the education rights of national minorities (adopted 1 October 1996), Oslo Recommendations – Recommendations regarding the linguistic rights of national minorities (1 February 1998), Lund Recommendations – Recommendations on effective participation of national minorities in public life (1 September 1999). 14 More in: Varadi T.: Minorities, Majorities, Law, and Ethnicity: Reflections of the Yugoslav Case, Human Rights Quarterly 19, 1997, pp. 21-28.

125