FEDERAL REPUBLIC of GERMANY Under Article 25, Paragraph 1, of the Council of Europe's Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
Germany: State Report on National Minorities (1999) ACFC/SR (2000)1 Report submitted by Germany pursuant to Article 25, Paragraph 1 of the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities (Received on 24 February 2000) - 1 - Germany: State Report on National Minorities (1999) FIRST REPORT submitted by the FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF GERMANY under Article 25, paragraph 1, of the Council of Europe's Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities 1999 - 2 - Germany: State Report on National Minorities (1999) Contents Page Part I Preliminary Remarks................................................ 3 Part II Articles of the Framework Convention....................... 13 Article 1 ............................................................................................ 13 Article 2 ............................................................................................ 16 Article 3 ............................................................................................ 17 Article 4 ............................................................................................ 19 Article 5 ............................................................................................ 29 Article 6 ............................................................................................ 46 Article 7 ............................................................................................ 54 Article 8 ............................................................................................ 57 Article 9 ............................................................................................ 60 Article 10 ............................................................................................ 72 Article 11 ............................................................................................ 80 Article 12 ............................................................................................ 84 Article 13 ............................................................................................ 99 Article 14 ............................................................................................ 102 Article 15 ............................................................................................ 112 Article 16 ............................................................................................ 116 Article 17 ............................................................................................ 119 Article 18 ............................................................................................ 121 Article 19 ............................................................................................ 123 Article 20 ............................................................................................ 123 Article 21 ............................................................................................ 124 Article 22 ............................................................................................ 124 Article 23 ............................................................................................ 125 Article 30 ............................................................................................ 125 The following appendices are not available in electronic form: Appendix A Legal regulations in the Federal Republic of Germany that serve to protect groups falling under the Framework Convention (German Texts) Appendix B Exemplary legal regulations in the Federal Republic of Germany that serve to protect groups falling under the Framework Convention (in English translation) - 3 - Germany: State Report on National Minorities (1999) Part I Preliminary Remarks: The members of the groups of German citizens protected under the Framework Con- vention for the Protection of National Minorities - i.e. the national minorities of the Danes, of the Sorbian people and of the German Sinti and Roma, and the ethnic group of Frisians in Germany (cf. the comments under Article 3, para. 1, no. 1, below) - have, with the exception of the German Sinti and Roma - their respective traditional settlement area only in certain Länder [federal states] of the Federal Republic of Germany. These are the Land of Schleswig-Holstein, the Free State of Saxony, and the Länder of Brandenburg and Lower Saxony. Due to this geographical distribution of minorities, the present State Report focuses on the information provided by these Länder on legislative acts and on other measures taken to enforce the principles established in the Framework Convention. In addition, specific parts of the Report deal with the German Sinti and Roma in the other Länder of the Federal Republic of Germany. I.1 The members of the groups protected under the Framework Convention for the Protec- tion of National Minorities, as German citizens, enjoy all rights and freedoms granted under the Basic Law [Constitution of the Federal Republic of Germany] without any restrictions. The ban on discrimination pursuant to Article 3, para. 3, 1st sentence of the Basic Law also includes the members of these groups. The principle of equal treatment and the prohibition of discrimination bind legislation, the executive, and the judiciary as directly enforceable law (Article 1, para. 3, of the Basic Law). The constitutional stipulations regarding the protection of these groups are put into concrete terms by laws, ordinances, statutes, and administrative action. The constitutional rules also apply directly in the Länder and are explicitly confirmed in the Constitutions of some of the Länder. The legislation of the Länder refers to national minorities who have their settlement area in the respective Land. The relevant instruments of international-law instruments governing protection of minorities form an integral part of national law. Germany also actively supports the protection of minorities at the international level. (For details, cf. the full account given in Part II below regarding Article 1 of the Framework Convention.) - 4 - Germany: State Report on National Minorities (1999) I.2 Under the Federal Act of 22 July 1997 ratifying the Framework Covention, the latter ranks, in Germany as a federal law which takes precedence over subordinate law, including Land laws [supremacy of federal law], and as a matter of principle [primacy of international law], is to be applied as the more specific law overriding other federal laws. Full compliance with the Convention at the national level is legally guaranteed. For details, cf. Part II below. I.3 The Federal Republic of Germany is a federated state. The public authority established by the Basic Law is divided among the state as a whole - i.e. the "Bund" or federal level or Federal Government, - and its various constituent states, i.e. the Länder. The pertinent distribution of authority (division of responsibilities) derives from the Basic Law, which contains detailed provisions on the tasks for which the Bund has law-making power [either exclusive legislative power or concurrent power with the Länder] and/or which are subject to federal administration. Any intervention by the Bund in the jurisdiction of the Länder in the sense of federal "superordination" is only admissible in exceptional cases as defined in the Basic Law. For legislation (laws and ordinances having the force of law), the primary responsibility lies with the Bund, and implementation of laws, i.e. administration, with the Länder. The Länder execute federal laws in their own right, i.e. on their own responsibility. In addition, local governments are guaranteed the right to regulate all local affairs in their own right, within the limits prescribed by the laws; in particular, this includes their own responsibility for staffing matters, organisational jurisdiction, fiscal jurisdiction/financial sovereignty, right to make by-laws/ordinances, and local town and county planning. I.4 Germany has a population of some 82 million inhabitants (as of 31.12.1996), of whom about 7.49 million persons are non-citizens. Statistics based on ethnic criteria are not gathered. Consequently, only estimates are available as regards the number of persons protected under the Framework Convention. Everybody is free to acknowledge his or her affiliation with any of the groups protected under the Framework Convention [belonging to any of these groups is the personal decision of every individual, which is not registered, verified or contested by state authorities]. With the exception of some communities with a Sorbian or North Frisian majority, the members of the groups protected under the Framework Con- vention form the minority of the overall population in their settlement areas. - 5 - Germany: State Report on National Minorities (1999) I.4.1 The Danish minority The Danish minority, like the German majority population, live in their traditional settlement area in the German part of Schleswig, just as the German minority and the Dan- ish majority population do on the Danish side in North Schleswig - Sønderjylland. Germans and Danes have been living together in this area for more than one thousand years. Today's border between the two countries was established in 1920 on the basis of the results of two plebiscites agreed upon in the Treaty of Versailles. The number of members of the Danish minority living in the Schleswig region of the Land of Schleswig-Holstein is estimated at some 50,000 persons who, for the most part, live in the city of Flensburg, in the Kreise [county-type administrative districts] of North Friesland