Kisebbségvédelem, XII. (2025)
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- ItemOpen AccessTerra de Miranda unveiled. The Mirandese minority in Portugal's monolingual myth(Károli Gáspár Református Egyetem, 2025) Rito da Silva, Constança; Fernandes, MartaThis paper examines the Mirandese linguistic minority of Terra de Miranda as a paradigmatic case illustrating the persistent gap between formal legal recognition and substantive protection for regional minority languages within unitary states. It addresses the central research question of how formal acknowledgement of minority languages can be transformed into effective revitalisation within a unitary and ostensibly monolingual state. Combining doctrinal legal analysis, policy review, and qualitative fieldwork, including semi-structured interviews with Mirandese language scholars and representatives of the Associaçon de la Lhéngua i Cultura Mirandesa, the paper adopts an interpretive case study design. Primary sources comprise Portuguese legislation (notably Law No. 7/1999), Council of Europe monitoring reports, and recent sociolinguistic data. The interviews were complemented by data triangulation, integrating documentary evidence, legislative materials, and sociolinguistic studies to ensure analytical and contextual accuracy. The findings reveal that, despite official recognition since 1999, the Mirandese language continues to face severe implementation deficits. Limited funding, fragmented educational provision, lack of professionalised teachers, and minimal administrative or media presence have confined Mirandese to a largely symbolic status. Recent developments, including Portugal’s 2021 signature of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages and the 2025 creation of the Mission Structure for the Promotion of the Mirandese Language, mark steps forward but remain insufficient to reverse its decline. Current estimates indicate that fewer than 1,500 active speakers remain, placing the language at a critical risk of extinction. The study’s originality lies in linking international law and local practice to propose a sequenced roadmap for revitalising a minority language. It concludes that protecting Mirandese is not only a matter of cultural heritage but a test of democratic pluralism and human-rights compliance in modern Europe.
- ItemOpen AccessKisebbségvédelem és/vagy a határok sérthetetlensége. Hegyi-Karabah tanulságai(Károli Gáspár Református Egyetem, 2025) Fedinec Csilla; ELTE - Bölcsészet- és Társadalomtudományi KarThe decades-long conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh took a radical turn in 2023 when Azerbaijan’s military operations finally ended the region’s de facto independence. These events significantly altered the relationship between Armenia and Azerbaijan, as well as the regional geopolitical landscape. This study examines the historical context of the conflict, the political evelopments following the collapse of the Soviet Union, and the exodus of Karabakh Armenians. Particular emphasis is placed on the minority issue: the loss of rights by the Karabakh Armenian community and the resulting dilemma of reconciling the principle of territorial integrity with the minorities’ demand for self-determination. The analysis reveals that, despite the slow normalisation of relations between the two states following the conflict’s resolution, the situation of minority communities remains a source of ongoing tension, which may continue to affect stability in the South Caucasus in the long term.
- ItemOpen AccessBook Review: AI and the Human Rights of Minorities(Károli Gáspár Református Egyetem, 2025) Saleem, Rutaba; Corvinus EgyetemThis book review analyses Artificial Intelligence and Human Rights (Oxford University Press, 2023), an edited volume by Alberto Quintavalla and Jeroen Temperman, which provides a comprehensive examination of how artificial intelligence (AI) technologies intersect with international human rights law. Focusing on nine key chapters, the review emphasises the book’s relevance for minority protection. It examines how biased data, and opaque algorithms reproduce structural discrimination in policing, employment, and digital speech regulation; how facial recognition and predictive analytics threaten liberty, assembly, and privacy; and how “digital authoritarianism” is proportionately targets ethnic and religious minorities in the Global South. The contributors’ interdisciplinary approach, bridging law, ethics, and computer science, underscores that algorithmic harms are embedded throughout the AI life cycle and must be anticipated through rights based risk assessments rather than mitigated ex post facto. The book’s novelty lies in integrating minority protection into broader debates on AI governance and in advocating for participatory mechanisms that include affected communities in the design of regulations.
- ItemOpen AccessDual roles and rights implications. The unsettled dynamics of AI use in relation to minoritised communities(Károli Gáspár Református Egyetem, 2025) Dabis Attila; Corvinus EgyetemThis paper explores the volatile relationship between artificial intelligence (AI) tools and minoritised communities, addressing the primary research question: In what ways does the deployment of AI technologies in both democratic and authoritarian contexts affect minoritised groups, particularly regarding bias, discrimination, human rights violations, and the preservation or erosion of cultural and linguistic identities? The study utilises a mixed-methods approach, integrating content analysis of international human rights instruments and relevant scholarly literature with case studies, such as the implementation of AI-driven surveillance on the Uyghur community in China or various instances of language revitalisation supported by AI tools. The research underscores the dual nature of AI applications. On the one hand, AI tools can be employed for oppressive measures, including ethnic profiling, extensive surveillance, and cultural oppression, as demonstrated in the Uyghur case. Conversely, AI offers promising avenues for preserving the identity of minoritised communities, par ticularly through language revitalisation and cultural preservation, fostering inclusivity and empowering marginalised populations within digital environments. This study aims to contribute to the underexplored intersection of AI and minoritised communities by presenting an interdiscipli nary perspective that connects AI development with the protection of minority rights. The findings emphasise the necessity of a humanrights-based framework in AI design and implementation, highlighting the potential for AI to enhance the empowerment of minoritised communities while also recognising the dangers of exploitation in authoritarian regimes.
- ItemOpen AccessAz őshonos kisebbségek aktuális helyzete Franciaországban. A Nyelvi Charta ratifikációjának kérdése és a Molac-törvény(Károli Gáspár Református Egyetem, 2025) Collet-Retkes Dorottya; KRE - Állam- és Jogtudományi Doktori IskolaThis paper examines the legal and political status of France’s traditional minority languages by analysing the constitutional constraints that hinder the protection of linguistic rights and explaining why France has repeatedly failed to ratify the 1992 European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. Using a doctrinal legal method supported by the qualitative analysis of arliamentary debates, constitutional case law and the historical evolution of French language policy, the study compares French constitutional principles with European minority protection norms and identifies the structural tensions between them. The findings show that France’s constitutional framework, particularly the principles of state indivisibility and the exclusive status of the French language, systematically blocks the recognition of collective linguistic rights, which in turn explains both the unsuccessful ratification attempts of the Charter and the Constitutional Council’s 2021 annulment of key provisions of the Molac Law. By integrating legal, political, and historical perspectives, the paper demonstrates that these structural constraints continue to impede the meaningful protection of regional languages and argues that overcoming this constitutional barrier is essential not only for safeguarding France’s linguistic heritage but also for reinforcing Europe’s broader minority rights architecture.