The protection of human rights minorities is a serious challenge to the establishment of democracy both in transition societies and in the European Union. The representatives of the minorities usually lack awareness of their rights and, thus, are hardly able to protect their interests and rights. Meanwhile, unrecognized entities appear in the margin of regional integration processes and do not benefit from international development opportunities. In this regard, the role of civil society institutes becomes critical, as they are at best position to raise the awareness of minorities of their rights and engage them in development processes.

Twenty six representatives of the government, civil society institutions and think tanks, private businesses and development partners discussed the these issues at "Human rights and Unrecognized Entities: National Minorities as Hostages to Conflicts and Political Interests" Off-the-Record discussion at ICHD on 1 April, 2010. ICHD will produce a Policy Brief on this matter based on the results of the discussion.