From Lund to Ljubljana: Promoting the participation of national minorities as a pathway to the integration of diverse societies

Participants are kindly requested to register online here. Places are limited and will be allocated on a first-come, first-served basis. 

DRAFT PROGRAMME

Venue: Grand Hotel, Bantorget 1, 222 29 Lund, Sweden

Master of Ceremonies: Christophe Kamp, Director, HCNM

09.00-09.30 Registration and coffee

09.30-10.15 High level introductory panel

• H.E. Lamberto Zannier, OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities
• H.E. Annika Ben David, Ambassador for Human Rights, Democracy and the Rule of Law, Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Sweden
• H.E. László Bukovszky, Plenipotentiary of the Government of the Slovak Republic for National Minorities, Representative of the 2019 OSCE Chairmanship
• H.E. Roberto Montella, Secretary General of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly
• Ingibjörg Sólrún Gísladóttir, Director, OSCE Office of Democratic Institutions and Human Rights
• Morten Kjaerum, Director, Raoul Wallenberg Institute

10.15-10.45 Keynote speech

H.E. Tarja Halonen, Former President of Finland

10.45-11.15 Coffee break

11.15-12.30 Panel 1A “Opportunities for and barriers to the participation of minority women in public life”

This panel will review both possibilities for and impediments to the effective participation of women in all aspects of political and public life. In particular, it will highlight good practices within the 57 OSCE participating States that promote the representation of women in political parties, assemblies and other public offices at all levels of decision-making.

Panel Experts:

• H.E. Ketevan Tsikhelashvili, State Minister of Georgia for Reconciliation and Civic Equality
• H.E. Enikő Katalin Lacziko, Secretary of State, Department for Interethnic Relations, Government of Romania
• H.E. Henrik Villadsen, OSCE Project Co-ordinator in Ukraine
• Ingibjörg Sólrún Gísladóttir, Director, OSCE Office of Democratic Institutions and Human Rights

Moderator: Besa Arifi, Vice-Rector for Research and International Relations, South East European University, North Macedonia

Questions & Answers

11.15-12.30 Panel 1B “Minority participation: focus on Sweden”

This panel will address and explore the potential contribution of the Lund Recommendations in strengthening and framing the effective participation of Swedish national minorities in public life. Representatives of four national minorities (i.e. Roma, Jews, Sami and Finns) will reflect and share their experiences regarding the effective involvement of Swedish minorities in public life and, in particular, at local level.

Panel Experts:

• Julia Sällström and Olga Friberg Jonsson, Roma Information and Knowledge Center, Malmö Municipality, Sweden 
• Jarmo Lainio, Professor of Finnish, Stockholm University, Sweden
• Isak Reichel, Secretary General, Judiska Församlingen i Stockholm, Sweden
• Marie B. Hagsgård, Second Vice President of the Advisory Committee for the Framework Convention on the Protection of National Minorities

Moderator: Ilze Brands Kehris, Member of the UN Human Rights Committee; Affiliated Mandate-Holder, Raoul Wallenberg Institute (RWI)

Questions & Answers

12.30-14.00  Lunch co-hosted with the City of Lund

Welcome remarks by Lars V Andersson, Deputy Mayor/Deputy Chairman of the City Council, City of Lund

14.00-14.15  Screening of film on HCNM participation project in Georgia

14.15-14.30 Book launch: Effective Participation of National Minorities and Conflict Prevention

Editors: William Romans and Anton Thomsen

Moderator: Christophe Kamp, Director, HCNM

14.30-16.00 Panel 2A “Effective participation in social and economic life: the role of national minorities in regional development”

This panel will discuss how higher levels of participation by national minorities in political, economic and social life at the local and regional level can generate economic growth in regions where national minorities reside, both within and across borders. It will present lessons learned from cases of regional development in areas where national minorities have settled in the border regions of Europe and explore the reasons behind their economic success.

Panel Experts:

• Ana Nikolov, Head of the Association for European Border Regions Balkan Office
• Mihail Shalvir, Director of the Centre for Regional Initiatives, Gagauzia, Moldova
• Yulia Tyshchenko, Head of the Board of the Ukrainian Centre for Independent Political Research
• Omar Khan, Director, Runnymede Trust

Moderator: Tove H. Malloy, Professor, Europa-Universität Flensburg

Questions & Answers

14.30-16.00 Panel 2B “Advancing the meaningful participation of national minorities in political life: good practices”

This panel will review different state policies and measures that create incentives for increased and more effective participation of national minorities in public life. It will identify good practices by the OSCE participating States that ensure not only nominal but also substantive and enduring representation of national minorities in political parties, parliaments and other public offices which translate into influence in the decision-making process.

Panel Experts:

• Kristina Kallas, Research Fellow, University of Tartu
• Ružica Jakešević, Faculty of Political Science, Zagreb University
• Alex T. Johnson, Chief of Staff, Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe, U.S. Helsinki Commission

Moderator:  Gaetano Pentassuglia, Professor, University of Liverpool

Questions & Answers

16.00-16.30 Coffee break 

16:30-17:15 Closing panel “Next steps in promoting public participation of national minorities”

In the closing panel, the moderators of the four parallel sessions will present the conclusions and recommendations from discussions in their respective panels to further advance the meaningful and sustainable participation of national minorities in the governance of the multi-ethnic states in the OSCE region.

Besa Arifi, Ilze Brands Kehris, Tove Malloy, Gaetano Pentassuglia

Moderator: Morten Kjaerum, Director, Raoul Wallenberg Institute

Questions & Answers

17.15-18.00 Closing remarks

• H.E. Rolf Ekéus, Former OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities
• Gudmundur Alfredsson, Professor of Law, University of Akureyri and the China University of Political Science and Law, Beijing
• H.E. Lamberto Zannier, OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities

18.00-19.00 Reception

Contact person: Jelena Nikolić, Associate Policy Support Officer, [email protected]

Please be aware that photographs and video/audio-recording of this event may be taken and used by the OSCE for publication purposes.