CYIL Vol. 7, 2016

CYIL 7 ȍ2016Ȏ THE STATUS OF NEWMINORITIES IN THE LIGHT OF THE FRAMEWORK… of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination in Denmark. 18 The Committee encountered two problems concerning the status of new minorities in Denmark. First, it criticized that the Danish government, on the one hand, provided financial support for the bilingual education of children coming from countries of the European Economic Area and, on the other hand, stopped funding bilingual education for children from third countries. The Committee recommended Denmark to reconsider this policy as the Danish measures seemed to be disproportionate. In other words, the Committee considered a practice of differentiation based on citizenship as discriminatory. 19 Second, the Committee appreciated that Denmark had taken steps to strengthen the economic and social participation of persons belonging to national or ethnic minorities. According to the Committee, however, the relevant integration programs failed to take into account the reality of cultural diversity in Danish society. The Committee recommended the Danish government to introduce such a concept of education which enables all children to learn about their culture. So, for children belonging to new ethnic communities and members of traditional national minorities the same standard shall apply. 20 The efforts of the Committee, whose mission is to eliminate all forms of racial discrimination, are to a certain extent certainly very laudable. Through the prism of the history of racism any distinction between ethnic groups has to be viewed as highly problematic. However, the strategy of the Committee may ultimately lead to counterproductive effects. Interventions that are conducted in favor of minorities are usually related to considerable costs. Ensuring bilingual teaching requires the employment of bilingual teachers, the production of mostly rather expensive teaching materials and textbooks in minority languages, as well as adjustments with respect to the minimum number of students in minority classes. An excessive anti-discrimination policy for the benefit of all ethnic groups, including immigrant communities, will encounter the problem that in practice available resources are limited.Therefore, countries which are traditionally quite benevolent towards traditional national minorities might reconsider their generous approach and cut financial funding for traditional minorities, if they were required to provide the same benefits to new minorities. 5. New Minorities and the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities The Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities of 1995 serves as the main point of reference for minority rights in Europe. As far as the supervision of compliance is concerned an advisory committee has been established

18 CERD/C/DEN/CO/17. The report was adopted on 19 October 2006. 19 Ibid ., para. 19. 20 Ibid ., para. 22.

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