Implementation of the FCNM - Groups Concerned in Switzerland
Switzerland declared that in Switzerland national minorities in the sense of the framework Convention are groups of individuals numerically inferior to the rest of the population of the country or of a canton, whose members are Swiss nationals, have long-standing, firm and lasting ties with Switzerland and are guided by the will to safeguard together what constitutes their common identity, in particular their culture, their traditions, their religion or their language.
The linguistic minorities from the French-speaking, Italian-speaking and Rhetoromanic-speaking parts of Switzerland are the first concerned by the Convention. Other communities, such as the Jewish community or the Travelling People of Switzerland may also claim this protection. However, groups of foreign nationals are not protected by this Convention. The following paper in German studies the issue of the definition of "national minorities" in the Swiss cotnext:
- Welche
Minderheiten? Von der fehlenden Definition der nationalen Minderheit zu
einer dynamischen Auslegung im Rahmenübereinkommen des Europarats. (pdf, 750 KB, 89 pp.)
Diploma by the Bernese jurist Doris Angst, 2005
Update: 31.10.2008
