Minority rights constraints on a state's power to regulate citizenship under international law.

Park, Jungwon (2006) Minority rights constraints on a state's power to regulate citizenship under international law. PhD thesis, London School of Economics and Political Science.

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Abstract

In international law, there is no officially accepted definition of a minority. The traditional view on the definition of a minority requires that in order for persons belonging to ethnic, religious or linguistic groups to receive minority status and enjoy relevant minority rights, they must hold the citizenship of their State of residence. This thesis questions the traditional approach to the concepts of minority and minority rights with special reference to the case of the ethnic, linguistic Russians in Estonia and Latvia. It presents an analysis of the international legal and normative bases for justifying the effective protection of the ethnic, linguistic Russians in Estonia and Latvia as persons belonging to minorities with reference to their citizenship status. It is argued that at least three international legal and normative bases may be invoked for the effective protection of the ethnic, linguistic Russians in Estonia and Latvia. Such legal and normative bases can be found in minorities-specific standards with the focus on the protection of cultural identity for minorities, general human rights standards with an emphasis on substantive equality, and the right to internal self-determination. The linkage of these legal and normative bases to the protection of the ethnic, linguistic Russians in Estonia and Latvia as persons belonging to minorities with reference to citizenship in their States of residence strongly suggests that Estonian and Latvian citizenship laws are problematic from the perspective of minority protection. It also implies that Estonia and Latvia should protect the minority rights of the ethnic, linguistic Russians in an effective manner at the domestic legal level through the implementation of concrete protective measures to that effect, by taking into account their various needs and problems, including the matter of citizenship for the ethnic, linguistic Russian non-citizens and stateless persons. The discussion about the legal and normative bases for the protection of the ethnic, linguistic Russians in Estonia and Latvia with reference to their citizenship status also indicates that a State's power to regulate citizenship can be constrained 'to the extent' that it is obliged to protect minority rights in an effective manner at the domestic legal level under international law.

Item Type:	Thesis (PhD)
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Political Science, International Law and Relations, Baltic Studies
Sets:	Collections > ProQuest Etheses Departments > Law
URI:	http://etheses.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/2795

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