The Council of Europe Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities and its Impact on Central and Eastern Europe
Publisher: Journal on Ethnopolitics and Minority Issues in Europe Volume: 18 pages, pdf Description: The Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities of the Council of Europe can be regarded as a direct, although belated result of the changes after 1989 in Central and Eastern Europe. While the OSCE Copenhagen Document (1990) started a process of strengthening minority protection in general and put minority rights into political declarations of intent, the Framework Convention was another milestone in this process, converting the political declarations and intents into legal terms, becoming, as often stressed, the first legally binding international instrument generally devoted to minority protection.