Pregledni rad
Anti-discrimination policy as a supplementary model of protection of national minorities
Antonija Petričušić
; Pravni fakultet Sveučilišta u Zagrebu, Zagreb, Hrvatska
Sažetak
A survey carried out by the Office of the Ombudsman in December 2009 about prejudices among the population against certain social groups and about the spread of discrimination identified a social distance between certain ethnic groups and the majority population of Croatia. A quarter of the respondents in the survey stated that they had experienced discrimination, while more than half of the members of national minorities in the sample said that they had been personally subjected to a form of discrimination. The respondents who reported being discriminated against by a public authority frequently stated their ethnicity and ethnic origin as the basis of discrimination. The obvious question is raised of whether existing anti-discrimination laws can enhance the exercise of national minority rights. The passing of the Anti-Discrimination Act in Croatia was a result of the pre-accession negotiations. In fact, by a series of policies and initiatives, the European Union promotes equality and anti-discrimination in areas such as employment, access to the labour market, access to health care, education, access to social benefits for endangered parts of the population or groups in the Member States. This is how, in the absence of a proclaimed minority policy, the EU enhances the protection of national minority rights in the Member States. Looking at the sources of international law prohibiting discrimination and the consolidated anti-discrimination policy of the EU in terms of content and related activities, the paper primarily tests the legal basis of anti-discrimination on the global level, as well as on the levels of the EU and of its Member States. Considering that the Republic of Croatia is a signatory to numerous international anti-discrimination instruments, the paper further investigates how the prohibition of discrimination is regulated in Croatian law, which anti-discrimination institutions there are, and in particular which anti-discrimination obligations make part of the process of accession to the EU. By interpreting the results of the survey into the attitudes and the level of awareness of discrimination and its manifestations, which applied the Bogardus Social Distance Scale in the Croatian context, the paper advocates the adoption of a more comprehensive anti-corruption policy as support to the exercise of minority rights in Croatia. Although there is a broad system of guaranteed minority rights, their full application is still lacking in some areas, in particular in the area of access to employment or receiving education in a minority language. In line with the above, the author believes that a consistent application of an anti-discrimination policy could contribute to full exercise of all minority rights laid down by the law.
Ključne riječi
social distance; elimination of discrimination; principle of anti-discrimination; legal harmonisation; European Union; national minorities; rights of minorities
Hrčak ID:
67130
URI
Datum izdavanja:
20.3.2011.
Posjeta: 3.606 *