Rethinking non-discrimination and minority rights

Abstract

The overall question to which this publication wishes to shed light from different academic perspectives is whether it is possible to consolidate non-discrimination and minority rights protections. These two strands of the human rights discourse are typically developed separately, as non-discrimination is conceived at as an approach, which strives for more equality and sameness between different individuals and groups of peoples. Minority rights, for their part, seem to represent a clearly different approach in which the guaranteeing of the rights to difference and to different treatment take the highest ranking. In this publication an interdisciplinary group of researchers make efforts to combine the two approaches. The book is a result of interaction between German scholars and the Finish research project "Rethinking legal strategies and ethnic discrimination" (Restra), funded in 2001-2003 by the Academy of Finland within its"Syreeni" research programme on racism and discrimination in Finland. In eleven essays the authors critically examine exisiting international and national legal (hard and soft law) frameworks for the protection of minorities and for combating racism and ethnic discrimination.