European Centre for Minority Issues
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European Centre for Minority Issues (ECMI) is the joint project of Germany and Denmark, supported by the governments of these states and to a great extent funded by the European Union. It is an autonomous, politically independent organization. It was announced in 1990 with the goal to address the minority issues within the wider Europe through research, documentaiton and action. It is headquartered in Flensburg, Germany.
The Centre also offers advisory services concerning majoriy/minority relations in Europe, to governments and intergovernmantal organizations.
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ECMI was founded in 1996 by the governments of Denmark, Germany, and Schleswig-Holstein. As of 2006, ECMI has not received core funding from the European Union. ECMI conducts practice-oriented research, provides information and documentation, and offers advisory services concerning minority-majority relations in Europe. It serves European governments and regional intergovernmental organizations as well as non-dominant groups in the European area. The Centre also supports the academic community, as well as non-dominant groups in the European area. The early monitoring, study and resolution of ethnic tension and potential conflict in all regions of Europe - East and West - provides one of the major focal points for the activities of the Centre.
The Centre organizes its activities around three principal themes. It is concerned with the evaluation and further development of universal, regional, bilateral and national standards that may assist in consolidating democratic governance on the basis of ethnic diversity and human rights. In this context, ECMI is also particularly interested in the emerging convergence of standards between EU member states and applicant states.
A second area of interest relates to implementation procedures and mechanisms for such astandards and the study of their effectiveness. At times, ECMI may also be invited to consider implementation issues and majority-minority relations in particular states in cooperation with the government of that state and local groups.
The third strand of ECMI's activities concerns constructive conflict-management. ECMI is at present developing its capacity to assist international peace-support efforts in addressing conflicts with an ethnopolitical dimension in the wider Europe. ECMI also maintains links to several regions of tension in Europe and engages local protagonists in dialogue, either in the region or in a neutral environment. In so doing, the Centre can draw upon the successful history of managing minority issues in the German-Danish border area, being based in Flensburg, Germany, at the very heart of that region.
ECMI is a non-partisan and interdisciplinary institution which can draw uplon an international core staff of the highest calibre, supplemented by a number of Visiting Fellows and Visiting Research Associates from all over Europe and beyond. The Centre also maintains active relations with other institutions involved in conflict resolution and interethnic relations and engages in collaborative projects with them. While its core funding is provided by its governmental sponsors, the Centre actively pursues project-based funding to support its rapidly expanding activities. ECMI is governed by a Board of nine members: three from Denmark, three from Germany, and one representative each from the OSCE, the Council of Europe, and the European Union. The working language of ECMI is English.
ECMI occupies a historic building in the centre of Flensburg where it also holds meetings and conferences. The building also houses its specialized library and provides the hub for ECMI's ambitious publishing projects and Internet information programme. These activities are supported by a dedicated IT and library team.
