Forum on minorities of the Diplomatic Academy of Vienna. Kompatscher set the example of South Tyrol
Last night (May 2) the President of the Province, Arno Kompatscher, was invited as its speaker at the opening of the “Europe-Central Asia Regional Forum on Minorities”, At the Diplomatic Academy of Vienna.
With the moderation of the director of the Hungarian “Tom Lantos Institute“, Anna-Maria Birótogether with Kompatscher they also spoke at the opening Peter Launsky-TieffenthalSecretary General of the Ministry for European and International Opportunities of the Republic of Austria, Kairat AbdrakhmanovOSCE High Commissioner for National Minorities, Ilze Brands-KehrisUnited Nations Deputy Secretary-General for Human Rights, e Fernand de VarennesUnited Nations Special Rapporteur on Minority Issues.
Allow minorities to decide on their own future
President Kompatscher spoke about the example ofAutonomy of South Tyrol. Where fortunately it was possible to peacefully resolve a conflict, maintaining and expanding autonomy skills. The president linked his analysis to a desire, namely that minorities around the world, following the example of what happened in South Tyrol, be given the opportunity to decide their own destiny.
Autonomy as a peaceful tool of development
As a key to the development of South Tyrol fromDe Gasperi-Gruber agreementat the arrival of the South Tyrolean question on the agenda of the General Assembly of the United Nations, up to the second Statute of Autonomy and the financial autonomy achieved today, Kompatscher indicated the importance of clear, almost irrevocable rules that give minorities the security they need to deal with the majority society.
“The example of South Tyrol is not perfect and must be continuously developed, paying attention to new challenges“, the president underlined in his speech. “But we are also aware that our autonomy has helped to resolve a conflict peacefully. The past fifty years have shown that the South Tyrolean autonomy has been an effective tool to allow the social and economic development of the Province ”.
Also the OSCE High Commissioner Abdrakhmanov underlined the positive example of South Tyrol, referring to the important contribution of Bolzano declaration on the protection of minorities, which has received a lot of attention overseas. Everything possible must be done, at all levels, to encourage states to grant broad rights to minorities, which are nothing more than human rights. The Kompatscher took the important opportunity to move a president all those present the invitation to the celebrations of theJune 11thin Bolzano, for i 30 years of the closure of the South Tyrolean dispute.
Fernand de Varennes, United Nations special rapporteur for minority issues will also be in Bolzano on 11 June. He stressed the importance ofexample represented by the anniversary of the goal reached by South Tyrol, expressing the hope that this will give a positive impulse to minorities around the world.
At the same time, de Varennes has cooled the enthusiasm, saying that in the last decade conflicts involving minorities have tripled and hate speech against ethnic or religious minorities they have multiplied, threatening more and more peace in many regions of the world.
“More than ever, it is important to recognize our common responsibility for peace and to be ready to go down and down for it“, underlined the president of the Executive, after the opening of the event in Vienna.
What is the Europe-Central Asia Regional Forum on Minorities
L’Europe-Central Asia Regional Forum on Minorities finds its foundation in the United Nations on Minor Rights of the Linguistic Declarations in December 30 years ago. This choice, among the rest, that “persons belonging to ethnic, religious or linguistic minorities (… have the right to maintain the culture, to profess and practice religion and to use the language, privately and in their own right, freely and without interference or any form of discrimination“. The Forum will end today, Tuesday 3 May.