News from ECMI InfoChannel

2022-03-08
ECMI Welcomes Researchers Affected by the War in UkraineThe ECMI announces its readiness to host academics and scholars displaced by the war in Ukraine. / Європейський центр з питань меншин (ЄЦПМ) висловлює готовність стати приймаючою організацією для українських дослідників/-ниць та вчених з науковим ступенем, які постраждали унаслідок війни в Україні.
2023-03-13
Applications for Summer School 2023 are now openEver since its first edition in 2011, the Annual Summer School on National Minorities in Border Regions has been one of the fundamental annual activities of the European Centre for Minority Issues. Scholars, Ph.D.- and MA students from various fields connected to minority studies are welcome to appl
2023-02-21
JEMIE listed under ScopusWe are thrilled to announce that the Journal on Ethnopolitics and Minority Issues in Europe (JEMIE) has been accepted in Scopus.
2023-02-02
Cooperation between OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities and ECMI to be strengthened in 2023Participation in consultative bodies and the production of specialised policy analyses, present important tools for the centre to involve in minority policy. ECMI experts are regular participants in the Council of Europe’s Steering Committee on Anti-Discrimination, Diversity and Inclusion (CDADI) and its Committee of Experts on Roma and Traveller Issues (ADI-ROM). For the OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities (HCNM) , the ECMI has produced reports on the socio-economic participation of national minorities and will further contribute to the launch of a new set of HCNM recommendations on socio-economic participation of minorities in 2023. As a kick-off event for the 30th anniversary of the HCNM of the OSCE this year, the ECMI has been asked to host an Expert Meeting in May.
2023-01-30
Call for papers. The war in Ukraine and its impact on ethno-religious minorities in the regionOur upcoming workshop will examine how the war affected Ukraine's ethno-religious minorities, their identities, religious and cultural practices, and value orientations. We invite abstracts focusing on the transformations in the life of ethno-religious minorities after the annexation of Crimea and the beginning of the war in Donbas, and, in particular, after the full-scale Russian offensive in February 2022. This project aims to produce a collective volume on the war in Ukraine and its impact on ethno-religious minorities in the region. We see its implementation as a two-stage process: an expert workshop in May 2023 and an edited volume in late 2023 or early 2024.
2023-01-24
ECMI Minorities Blog. 50 Years of South Tyrolean AutonomyAndrea Carlà
With its second Statute of Autonomy, the Italian province of South Tyrol is usually considered a model for resolving ethnic conflicts. In the light of the 50th anniversary of the Statute, this blogpost aims at discussing the current status of South Tyrol’s autonomy and measures to protect the province’s German and Ladin-speaking population. In particular, the analysis focuses on the effects of the second Statute of Autonomy on the South Tyrolean population over the past five decades and the relationships between the linguistic groups. In bringing together a variety of research conducted on South Tyrol, the author highlights both the successful results in terms of peaceful cohabitation as well the limits and problematic aspects that still persist.
2023-01-11
2023: Serbia is calling. A new action-oriented project and the annual summer school both will take place in the Republic of SerbiaThe initiative 'Minority Protection for EU Accession' is funded by the German development agency GIZ and will be carried out in close collaboration with the Serbian Ministry for Human and Minority Rights and other stakeholders. The Summer School on National Minorities in Border Regions will take place in Belgrade from 27 August - 3 September 2023 and partner with the Institute of Social Sciences in Belgrade.
2022-12-21
ECMI Minorities Blog. National and Linguistic Minorities in the Context of Professional Football across Europe: Five Examples from Non-kin State Situations.Craig Willis, Will Hughes & Sergiusz Bober
Football clubs are often analysed by scholars as ‘imagined communities’, for no fan of any team will ever meet, or even be aware of most of their fellow supporters on an individual level. They are also simultaneously one of the most tribal phenomena of the twenty-first century, comparable to religion in terms of the complexity of rituals, their rhythm and overall organizational intricacies, yet equally inseparable from economics and politics. Whilst, superficially, the events of sporting fixtures carry little political significance, for many of Europe’s national and linguistic minorities football fandom takes on an extra dimension of identity – on an individual and collective scale, acting as a defining differentiation from the majority society. This blogpost analyses five clubs from non-kin state settings, with the intention to assess how different aspects of minority identities affect their fan bases, communication policies and other practices.
2022-12-12
Study Visit in Berlin – the participants of the ‘Future Minority Leaders Initiative’ spent one week together in the German capitalA packed programme allowed the young, motivated minority members, state representatives and activists to learn more about the minority protection regime in Germany. The participants’ curiosity and eagerness to learn more about minority rights and minority participation were impressive. ‘Future Minority Leaders Initiative’ is a project funded by the German Federal Foreign Office.
2022-12-01
Call for papers / Journal on Ethnopolitics and Minority Issues in Europe (JEMIE)We are looking for submissions for our next general issue of the Journal on Ethnopolitics and Minority Issues in Europe (JEMIE). The deadline is 15 January 2023.
2022-11-10
The First Touring Exhibition on Minorities Is Now in FlensburgThe exhibition has been initiated by the Minorities Secretariat in Berlin. In early summer this year, it was presented at the German federal parliament and has since been touring within the country. Now it can be seen in the library of the Europa Universität Flensburg for the next six weeks. Yesterday evening, (Nov.10, 22) the exhibition formally opened. Assoc. Prof. Martin Klatt, Head of the Danish-German Minority Issues Research Cluster at the ECMI, gave an opening lecture.
2022-11-01
ECMI Minorities Blog. Romanians and Moldovans in Ukraine and their kin states’ engagement before and after the war – towards a triadic partnership for effective minority protection?Sergiu Constantin
Ukraine recognizes Romanian and Moldovan as distinct minority languages, even though the official language of the Republic of Moldova is Romanian. This distinction between Romanian and Moldovan is not merely a symbolic matter, it has practical, negative consequences for members of the minority communities concerned. Since the 1990s, Ukrainian-Romanian relations have been affected by mutual distrust rooted in historical resentments, stereotypes, and prejudice at the level of both political elites and the general public. Moldova and Ukraine have experienced ups and downs in their bilateral relations due to the complex geopolitical context and growing Russian interference. The ongoing Russian war against Ukraine has had a strong impact on Moldova and Romania as well as on their kin minority communities in Ukraine. This war marks a turning point in history. It has caused tectonic shifts in global affairs, in the Euro-Atlantic community, and in national politics and interstate relations. Ukraine, Romania, and Moldova can turn the ongoing crisis into an opportunity to reset their (dysfunctional) bilateral relations. It is high time for a paradigm shift towards a new, enhanced triadic partnership which is able to ensure an effective system of minority protection.
2022-10-25
Changes to the ECMI Executive BoardIn early November, the ECMI Executive Board will hold its regular autumnal meeting, which will feature a number of changes in the Board’s composition due to rotations and replacements.
2022-10-24
ECMI Minorities Blog. National Minority Media and Work of Minority Journalists in the Time of the War of Aggression against UkraineKateryna Haertel
In this blog post, the author examines the specifics of the work of minority media and minority journalists during the first six months of the war of aggression against Ukraine. The text is based on the author’s interviews with representatives of different types of minority media outlets – printed, digital, as well as the public broadcaster – operating in different regions of Ukraine. The key findings indicate a tendency towards scarcer reporting about the daily lives of ethnic communities and a more vulnerable situation for minority reporters, many of whom have fled abroad, of all media outlets scrutinized. Moreover, a significant decrease in broadcasting in minority languages through the public broadcaster is identified in one of the multi-ethnic regions.
2022-10-21
Seminar in ECMI Headquarters' Region: CIVIL SOCIETY DIALOGUE - BETWEEN MINORITY AND MAJORITY IN THE GERMAN-DANISH BORDER REGIONAs you might know, we are a founding member of the Minderheiten Kompetenz Netzwerk (Minorities Competence Network) and would in this context like to draw your attention to a five day seminar which will be held at the end of November. The event will take place at Akademie Sankelmark, only 12 km away from our headquarters in Flensburg.
2022-10-17
ECMI Minorities Blog. How Moscow ‘Eliminates’ Its National Minorities in the War with UkraineIhor Lossovskyi
As Russia is increasingly losing its military personnel in the war with Ukraine, the Kremlin is trying to make up for these losses in every possible way. Following a period of covert partial mobilization, since 21 September 2022 Russia has launched a partial mobilization; both involved disproportionately the male population from remote underdeveloped regions with concentrated populations of national minorities, particularly from the Far East, North Caucasus, Buryatia, Khakassia etc., as well as from the occupied areas of Georgia, Ukrainian Donbas, and Crimea. Conscription is much less common in Russia’s large economically and socially developed cities, where the majority of the population is ethnic Russian. The number of representatives of the poorest national minorities from remote regions of Russia who were injured or killed during the war disproportionately exceeds the respective share of ethnic Russians who have suffered the same fate. Beyond the economic reasons for the increased participation of minorities in the war, this disproportionality raises questions as to the intentions of Putin’s regime in sending these populations - rather than the Russian majority – to the frontlines.
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