Panayote Elias Dimitras Minority rights seem to be one of the dominant characteristics of contemporary political life.
Most minorities enjoy today many more rights than ever before.
Some, unknown a generation ago, have won international recognition. Others have ceased to be minorities as they were able to secede and form their own states. The Council of Europe has produced two binding documents, the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities and the European Charter of Regional or Minority Languages, that came into effect in 1998. At the same time, though, we have witnessed a series of devastating and atrocious wars, in former Yugoslavia and former Soviet Union. They were, in a way, about minority rights.