Improving the position of national minorities – Study visit to Schleswig-Holstein

The study visit to the regions of Schleswig-Holstein in Germany and North Schleswig in Denmark, known for their well-developed and specific policies towards minorities and a wide range of actors involved in the protection of minorities, enabled the exchange of experiences between civil servants from the Republic of Serbia and their counterparts from the Federal Republic of Germany and the Kingdom of Denmark. The participants of the study visit were introduced to examples of good practice in the field of protection of national minorities in German province of Schleswig-Holstein (Danish, Frisian and national minorities of Roma and Sinti in Schleswig-Holstein, as well as the German minority in Danish region of North Schleswig), as well as the functioning of minority institutions in this border region.

As part of the visit, civil servants from the Republic of Serbia visited the European Centre for Minority Affairs (ECMI), the headquarters of the Danish national minority in Germany and the Consulate of Denmark in Flensburg, the State Office and Parliament of Schleswig-Holstein, as well as the Association of Roma and Sinti in Kiel, as well as the headquarters of the German national minority in Aabenraa and the German Museum of North Schleswig in Sonderborg, Denmark.

The study visit was carried out as part of the “Facility Supporting Strengthening Rule of Law in Serbia" jointly funded by the EU and the German Federal Ministry for Economic Development and Cooperation (BMZ), implemented by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit GmbH (GIZ), i.e. the project "Minority protection for EU accession (MPA), implemented by the European Centre for Minority Issues (ECMI) in cooperation with GIZ and Ministry of Human and Minority Rights and Social Dialogue. In addition to the representatives of the Ministry of Human and Minority Rights and Social Dialogue, the delegation from Serbia also included representatives of the Ministry of Culture, the Ministry of Information and Telecommunications, the Ministry of Public Administration and Local Self-Government, the Ministry of Education, as well as the Provincial Secretariat for Education, Regulations, Administration and National Minorities - National Communities.