Dear Colleagues,
The Council of Europe's Framework Convention for
the Protection of National Minorities (FCNM) is celebrating its 10th anniversary
this year. On this occasion, a conference is organised aimed at assessing the
impact of this premier legal instrument for the protection of minority rights in
Europe. The conference
‘Assessing the Impact of the Framework Convention:
Past Experience, Present Achievements and Future Challenges’ will be held
in Strasbourg from 9-10 October 2008.
An important component of this
conference is the participation of NGOs who over the past decade have carried
out work on the promotion and strengthening of the implementation of the
Framework Convention.
Some 32 minority rights NGOs from the Council of
Europe area have worked together and drafted a Declaration on the impact of the
Framework Convention. The document will be presented at the Conference. The
purpose of the Declaration is to provide a strong NGO perspective on the FCNM’s
impact to date, how implementation can be strengthened, ratification expanded
and greater impact secured in the future. The Declaration contains specific
recommendations for a variety of stakeholders involved with the Framework
Convention such as the Advisory Committee, the Council of Ministers, CoE Member
States, as well as civil society organizations.
Please find the NGO
Declaration in the attachment.
In order to make this document as strong
as possible, we hope that other minority rights NGOs, beyond the original group
which prepared the text, will join this initiative. If you support the
Declaration and would like your organisation to be among its signatories, please
send an email by 7 October to
FCNM.co...@mrgmail.org
Thank you in advance for your
cooperation.
With best regards,
Galina Kostadinova
Human Rights
Law Officer (Europe)
Minority Rights Group International
54 Commercial
Street
London E1 6LT
United Kingdom
Tel.
+44 (0)20 7422 4217Fax.
+44 (0)20 7422 4201