International commitments of Lithuania for protection of national minorities

LTReikšminiai žodžiai: Žmonių teisės; Mažumų teisės; Tarptautiniai įsipareigojimai; Human rights; Minority rights; European Union; International commitments; Europos Sąjunga (European Union).

ENInternational community has developed protection of minorities from simple guarantees that once were given to conquered nations to a system of treaties and bodies functioning to protect specific needs and requirements of persons belonging to national minorities. This process may be evaluated by a number of treaties or reports, but this is not what makes the real difference. Treaties and declarations must be implemented, as only then they acquire their true meaning. The aim of recognizing minority rights is understood not as elimination of the differences but as their maintenance. Protection of national minorities usually steams from protection of individuals belonging to certain minorities as provided in international documents of various nature. Most documents indicate that certain rights and freedoms are established for individuals and not for their groups. At the same time it is also true that many of these rights can only be implemented if such a person belongs to a minority. Hence, the rights are individual but their exercise is affiliated with belonging to certain groups. Describing a nation minority is another challenge in trying to ascertain the extent of international regulation. They are mentioned in different documents, but only some of them actually provide what is explicitly meant by the term. It could be argued that it is self-evident; though looking at a legal text it might not be the case. However, this does not preclude existence of their protection as long as it is possible to establish their existence. Also there is a problem of terminology - some documents refer to national connections, others - to ethnical ones. The usage of different terms may be caused by different reasons, but what remains clear is that none of these terms determines belonging to a minority by citizenship of persons’ concerns. [Extract, p. 39]