DEMOCRACY, POLITICAL PARTICIPATION, AND NATIONAL MINORITIES : A LEGAL ANALYSIS OF THE RIGHT TO POLITICAL PARTICIPATION OF INDIVIDUALS BELONGING TO NATIONAL MINORITIES

Abstract

Political participation lies at the heart of democracy. It is also a guaranteed right in international human rights law. The fundamental importance of the right of individuals to participate in the political life of their state is based on the axiomatic presumption that it gives agency to individuals to influence public decisions which can significantly affect their lives. Individuals who belong to national minority groups are in a different position regarding the exercise of the right to political participation. Such difference is important for two main reasons. Firstly, the marginal position or numerical weakness of national minorities makes it essential to consider the role of structural impediments on the way of exercising their right to political participation. Secondly, the preservation of cultural identity intensifies the importance of the access of national minority groups to forums of public decision-making to be able to protect their cultural interests when public decisions affect them. The present thesis examines where international human rights law stands regarding political participation of national minorities. The research with a legal approach explores different aspects of the right to political participation of national minorities with a focus on the Council of Europe instruments. In this regard, the right to political participation of national minorities can be studied based on three essential criteria developed by the European Court of Human Rights. Those are first, indirect discrimination, second, the idea of the effectiveness of the exercise of rights and lastly, the principle of pluralist democracy. Although states do not have a legal obligation to adopt a more favourite approach to political participation of national minorities, based on the criteria mentioned above the research reveals that the core content of the right to political participation of national minorities is that national minorities should be represented and heard when public decisions in some way affect them