From Lund to Ljubljana: 20 years of supporting the participation of minorities in public life

Lund, Sweden,14 November 2019 – OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities Lamberto Zannier today opened a conference marking the 20th anniversary of The Lund Recommendations on the Effective Participation of National Minorities in Public Life in Lund, Sweden.

Twenty years after the HCNM published the Lund Recommendations, the context has changed but the issues at its heart remain current. How can we ensure that our societies are representative of all their members? How can we support the efforts of minority groups to voice their opinions and influence decision-making? How can we build institutions that reflect the diversity of society, thereby increasing their resilience to interethnic tensions?

Entitled “From Lund to Ljubljana: Promoting the participation of national minorities as a pathway to the integration of diverse societies”, the conference aims to explore the connections between participation and the integration of diverse societies.

In his opening speech, Zannier said: “The premise of the Lund Recommendations is that when people have a real opportunity to participate effectively in the society in which they live, including through benefitting from protections for their identity, society is less likely to be marred by conflict. It is less likely to fail.”

In her keynote speech, Tarja Halonen, Former President of Finland, said: “An issue that is sometimes difficult to tackle is structural discrimination. For better access to justice and rights, stronger co-operation – among countries, within regions, and between minority representatives and governments – is needed."

Experts explored these themes in four separate panels on political participation; cross-border and economic participation; the participation of minority women in public life, and the specific experience of Sweden.

The Conference was supported by the Government of Sweden and co-hosted by the Raoul Wallenberg Institute of Human Rights and Humanitarian Law, which played an instrumental role in drafting the Lund Recommendations in 1999.

With 57 participating States in North America, Europe and Asia, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) is the world’s largest regional security organization. The OSCE works for stability, peace and democracy for more than a billion people, through political dialogue about shared values and through practical work that aims to make a lasting difference.

The High Commissioner on National Minorities works to identify and seek early resolution of ethnic tensions that might endanger peace, stability or friendly relations between OSCE participating States or within the OSCE region.