About 50 researchers and experts from nine countries gathered on the northern Adriatic island of Brijuni on Friday for a three-day international conference on national minorities, migrations and security.
Chairman of the National Minorities Council Aleksandar Tolnauer said that the times in which we live present new challenges in migration and security, as well as the escalation of violence, hate speech, historical revisionism and glorification of past criminal regimes, which, in turn, cause divisions in society and “the erosion of fundamental democratic postulates and standards of the European Union.”
After Croatia joined the EU in July 2013, certain social and political groups attempted to bring minority rights, especially their political representation, into question, Tolnauer said.
“Any form of restrictive interference in the level of rights attained would have very negative consequences for Croatian society. Minority rights are not any sort of additional rights that would put minorities above others, but they ensure that minorities equally exercise their human rights along with others,” Tolanuer said.
The government devotes special attention to safeguard the respect for the rights and liberties of the national minorities, which are enshrined in the Constitution and the constitutional law on national minority rights, said Alan Tahiri, head of the Government Office for Human and National Minority Rights, established in 2012.
“Minority rights, founded on justice, security and peace, form the basis of social coexistence,” said Tahiri.
It is necessary to stimulate further research regarding national minorities, migration, and security in democratic societies, said the chairman of the organising committee, professor at the Zagreb’s Faculty of Science, Sinisa Tatalovic.
“The struggle to protect minority and human rights and, with it, the fight against all forms of discrimination, never ends,” Tatalovic said.
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