Minority Rights: an International Concern and Its Actors (Thursday, December 9, 2010)

The fifth day of the program focused on uncovering some institutional aspects of minority rights. The first session took place in the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, in the Organization for Security and Cooperation, where the @ctivation.pl group was hosted by Mr. Andrzej Mirga, PhD (Contact Point for Roma and Sinti). He spoke about the difficult inclusion process for Roma in Polish society. In his speech he stressed the roles of culture and education as preconditions for successful integration, and shared some good examples of practices and initiatives in keeping with these goals.

Later on, the group moved to another important international institution – the Representation of the European Commission in Poland. Representatives from the European Commission and the European Parliament participated in a panel addressing the role of both institutions in the protection of minority rights. They also discussed the role of the European Union in this respect, all the challenges it faces and its institutional shortcomings.

The last session of the day was called “Action! Bazaar”. It was meant to provide @ctivation.pl participants an opportunity to meet up with representatives of two organizations: Polish-Ukrainian Cooperation Foundation PAUCI and Education for Democracy Foundation, both of which carry out projects devoted (among other things) to broadening knowledge about democracy, strengthening civil society and energizing young people to become active in Poland and neighboring countries in the East. During the meeting, experts shared some very concrete experiences about working on the ground and gave examples of successfully implemented grass-root activism. The day ended with a group discussion, mostly touching upon the role of NGOs in bringing societal change about.