Press release issued by the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly

VIENNA, 29 April 2011 - The following is a press release issued by the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly on 29 April. The views expressed in this press release do not necessarily reflect those of the OSCE Chairmanship, nor of all OSCE participating States.

Event to Refocus Attention on National Minorities Legislation

COPENHAGEN, 29 April 2011 – The Italian Delegation to the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly today called for more parliamentary cooperation to enact legislation aimed at protecting national minorities.

In inviting parliamentarians to a conference on minority issues to take place in Bolzano on 20 May, Senator Riccardo Migliori, OSCE PA Vice-President, said “It was exactly in Bolzano three years ago that the OSCE and the High Commissioner on National Minorities issued the 19 Bolzano recommendations. It is now high time to study these ideas.” (a video of Senator Miglioro about the conference is available.)

The one-day conference will focus on legislative follow-up to the Bolzano Recommendations, which range from respecting international borders and rights of all minorities to avoiding a country conferring citizenship en masse to minorities living abroad or forcing minorities to assimilate against their will where they are residing.

Participants will include OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities Knut Vollebaek, Senator Migliori, Mr. Matteo Mecacci, Rapporter of the OSCE PA human rights committee, and President Luis Durnwalder of the Autonomous Province of Bolzano-Bozen. Leading academics will also address the conference and discuss specific cases related to the treatment of national minorities.

“Recommendations are not made to be stagnant or to sit on a shelf,” Senator Migliori said. “For these recommendations to become real policy, we must examine these ideas in the present day and push our national parliaments and governments to take the needed action to ensure minorities receive equal treatment regardless of where they reside.”