National Human Rights Institutions and Access to Justice for National Minorities in Europe

This article focuses on the role that National Human Rights Institutions play in guaranteeing access to justice for national minorities. Based on the osce hcnm Graz Recommendations on Access to Justice and National Minorities, this study aims at identifying commons issues and good practices by comparing rules and practices concerning minority representation in nhris, nhris’ focus on national minority issues, and nhris’ role in providing access to justice for national minorities. Separate subsections cover collective-groups’ complaints and the relevance of groups during investigations; regional offices; and websites, languages, and online complaints. The conclusion highlights that protecting access to justice for national minorities entails both more ‘focus’ and ‘access’. More focus should be guaranteed by relevant legislation and nhris’ annual reports through separate chapters or sections on minorities. More access includes minority representation in nhris, regional offices, groups’ complaints, multilingual and easy-to-access websites, as well as online tools for complaints.