The OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities and the Protection of Minority Rights in Europe

The High Commissioner on National Minorities within the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) has played a unique role in the field of the protection of minority rights in Europe since the early 1990s. Even though the institution was not established for the protection of minority rights as such, it has functioned to protect minority rights by establishing its uniquely self-sustained practices. The central and most effective instrument for the High Commissioner in minority issues in the OSCE states is the recommendation procedure. There are two types of recommendations issued by the High Commissioner: general recommendations and country-specific recommendations. General recommendations are primarily concerned with the clarification and elaboration of existing minority rights standards in a way to present the High Commissioner's expectations and policy guidelines of minority rights for all participating states of the OSCE. The High Commissioner has also issued country-specific recommendations for the purpose of the resolution of ongoing serious conflicts regarding the treatment of minority groups in particular countries in the OSCE area. The country-specific recommendations are more carefully formulated and describe specific suggestions, which in his opinion might resolve the conflict in question. The High Commissioner has sought to induce a particular OSCE state faced with serious ethnic conflicts to comply with minority rights standards by issuing country-specific recommendations, which could have great impacts on the domestic minority policies of the state concerned. The High Commissioner has also functioned as an 'actual' monitor for the protection of minority rights, though there are no concrete provisions for such functional aspects under the Mandate. The monitoring functional aspects of the High Commissioner have become more real and effective with the normative coalition with other European organizations on human rights such as the Council of Europe whose institutional concerns also cover minority protection. Moreover, the High Commissioner seems to have contributed to providing the possibility for the protection of 'new minorities' by taking a flexible position on the question of the citizenship requirement for the minority definition under international law. The practice of the High Commissioner in the field of minority protection has shown that the High Commissioner has contributed to consolidating minority rights in Europe by playing double roles as standard-setter and monitor for the protection of minority rights. The point is that the very institutional nature of the High Commissioner in relation to minority protection is dynamic, instead of being static or neutral and these features must be considered and used more effectively in a constructive manner for the future mandates.