Venice Commission reports on national minorities
The European Commission for Democracy through Law operated within the framework of the Council of Europe, better known as the Venice Commission, is an advisory body set up in 1990 whose main task is to monitor the implementation of the European ideal of constitutionality and the rule of law. All Council of Europe member states and, since 2002, many other non-European countries are members of the organization. The Commission’s recommendations are not legally binding. Since its inception the Venice Commission has played an important role in European countries’ national legislation aimed at the protection of minorities. In the course of drafting two important European documents (Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities, European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages) it contributed to the formulation of the final versions of the texts by checking and commenting on each draft. The Minorities Subcommittee of the Venice Commission (CDL-MIN) has been publishing thematic summaries since 2006. These conclusions of the opinions and recommendations on minorities, issued in a uniform structure and partly also intended as guidelines, constitute a standard for interpretation (e.g. Compilation of Venice Commission opinions and reports concerning the protection of national minorities (CDL(2011)018-e). The Commission’s opinions are also searchable by subject or country on its website. The Commission has often been involved in monitoring legislative acts on minority protection in the countries on the Balkans. Ukraine, Georgia, Lithuania and Hungary have also been affected. Most of the requests for opinions concern the regulation of minorities’ right to vote, language use, education in minority languages, the legal status of minorities without a kin-state (motherland) and the questions / issues regarding the citizenship status of minorities.