The legal aspects of the protection of minorities in the process of stabilization and association

Abstract

Among the main conditions for joining the European Union (EU) is the protection of human rights, particularly the protection of minority rights. This paper will consider the protection of minority rights in Croatia since independence in 1991. In four chapters the paper analyses some of the essential segments of the protection of minorities in the international context as well as the obligations of Croatia in this context. The analysis centres on the Constitutional Law on the Rights of National Minorities adopted in December 2002. The position of minorities before and after this law came into force is compared