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CYIL 7 ȍ2016Ȏ
THE STATUS OF NEWMINORITIES IN THE LIGHT OF THE FRAMEWORK…
members of the Jewish community did not regard themselves as a national minority
but rather as a cultural or religious community. The Advisory Committee also rated
very positively that persons of Russian and Ukrainian origin, who did not have
Czech citizenship and therefore could not be considered as members of national
minorities, were granted benefits from special government programs for the
integration of foreigners. Access to state subsidies for cultural activities was also
provided to the Vietnamese minority, who at that time was not yet represented
in the Council for National Minorities and represented a prime example of a new
minority. The Advisory Committee reached the conclusion that the Czech Republic
correctly applied the article-by-article approach.
45
The third compliance report of the Czech Republic under the Framework
Convention,
46
which was submitted in 2010, did not contain a detailed explanation
of which national minorities were represented in the Council. Attached to the report,
however, there was an overview of various subsidy programs for the promotion of
national minority cultures and languages in the period from 1999 to 2008. These
statistics showed that, in addition to support provided for national minorities
represented in the Council, also the Vietnamese minority, which in 2010 was not
represented in the Council, was among the beneficiaries,. The amount of 814 500
CZK, which was spent on the support of Vietnamese culture in the Czech Republic,
even exceeded e.g. the financial support granted to the recognized Croatian, Serbian
or Ruthenian minorities.
In its third evaluation report,
47
the Advisory Committee very positively noted
the inclusion of non-citizens who identified themselves with national minorities
in the Czech Republic. The Advisory Committee also welcomed that persons of
Croatian and Serb origin, who had immigrated to the Czech Republic in the
previous two decades, could, regardless of their citizenship, participate in cultural
minority activities and thus indirectly benefit from protection under the Framework
Convention. At the same time, however, the Advisory Committee insisted that the
citizenship criterion cannot be considered as the only condition for the granting
of minority rights under the Framework Convention. According to the Advisory
Committee the citizenship requirement was not in full accordance with the spirit
of the Framework Convention. The Advisory Committee recalled that minority
rights are human rights and, therefore, they shall not be restricted to citizens. In this
context, the Advisory Committee pointed at current efforts at the European level “to
develop a more nuanced, i.e. flexible and contextualized approach to the application
of the citizenship criterion within the protection of national minorities”.
48
45
Ibid.
, para. 27-28.
46
ACFC/SR/III(2010)008.
47
ACFC/OP/III(2011)008.
48
Ibid
., para. 29-30.