Side event to the 16th edition of the Forum of Minority Issues
Exercising the Right of Self-Determination - Opportunities and Limits of a New Treaty on Minority Rights
Coppieters’ Side event to the 16th edition of the Forum of Minority Issues brought together a group of excellent researchers and practitioners to explore the opportunities and limits of a New Treaty on Minority Rights in relation to the exercise of the Right to Self-Determination.
The 16th edition of the Forum on Minority Issues was dedicated to Minorities and Cohesive Societies: Equality, Social Inclusion, and Socio-economic Participation.
In this framework, on 30 November 2023 the Coppieters Foundation organised a side event at the UN Palais des Nations in Geneva to discuss the opportunities and limits of a New Treaty on Minority Rights.
We were honoured to have the former Special Rapporteur on Minority Issues, Fernand de Varennes, participating in our event.
The President of one of our members, CIEMEN, was also present and his speech focused on the importance of collective rights. He also explained CIEMEN’ work on promoting the Universal Declaration on the Collective Rights of Peoples, since 1989.
Fernand de Varennes noted that the draft for a New Treaty he prepared together with other 40 experts does contain collective rights. He suggested that a shift in the way the right to self-determinations is interpreted at UN level may be achieved through an evolution of the concept of “people”. This was already suggested by the Liechtenstein institute on Self-Determination in one of their report.
Now that there seem to be a backlash with regards to the minority rights protection, a global coalition is needed to advocate for strengthening the legal framework and ensure that states comply with it.