Linguistic diversity of new minorities in Europe: A crossroads of rights and duties
Medda-Windischer R, Zeba M
DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.18845602
In the frame of the nexus between old and new minorities, this research project engages with the concept of ´integrated society` with the aim to explore new and existing policy and normative frameworks to balance unity and diversity based on human and minority rights. Within the context of diversity governance and integrated societies, our research focuses on three different aspects: first, we build upon the existing knowledge on the synergies between old and new minorities, especially in autonomous territories inhabited by historical groups, by looking at both the theoretical but especially the empirical synergies among old and new minority groups and common approaches to govern diversity. Second, we study accommodation measures as major tools to strengthen living together and tolerance: our major focus is to look at cases and decisions of supra-national judicial and non-judicial bodies emphasizing the proactive role of all actors involved, in particular national and international judges, public authorities, employers, school authorities, individuals, as both mediators and promoters of accommodation arrangements. Third, we engage on a critical analysis of common values (Art. 2 TEU), their relevance and their transmission for an integrated society looking at different perspectives, needs, interests and actors. Fourth, we study how to mitigate the potential negative impacts of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) models on minorities.
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Medda-Windischer R, Zeba M
DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.18845602
Medda-Windischer R, Crepaz K
This chapter discusses the growing importance of artificial intelligence (AI) systems across different areas of human life, and subsequent concerns about these new technologies exhibiting biased or even discriminatory behaviour, especially in contexts where multiple dimensions of diversity, such as gender, colour, religion or ethnicity, overlap. Using Kimberlé Crenshaw's (1989) concept of intersectionality as our main framework and adding perspectives from current legal and social science discourses, we argue that discriminatory AI is a human-made problem and can therefore only be tackled through a human-centred approach. This approach includes discussing protected attributes and their (in)stability, vulnerability, and essentialist versus non-essentialist attribution of group identity, as well as focusing on human-made inequalities and power imbalances, with a special attention to minority women, as the source for biased AI systems. AI models are biased and discriminatory because our society structures are as well; solutions only addressing technological challenges therefore fall short of tackling the underlying issue of inequalities. The chapter analyses the EU AI Act and the European Centre for Algorithmic Transparency as possible strategies for mitigating discriminatory effects through AI governance and conclude that successfully creating fair AI will not be possible without addressing the societal roots of its discriminatory behaviour.
DOI: 10.4324/9781003510161-13
Budabin AC
This chapter explores how the social and political actors populating the UN Forum on Minority Issues promote intersectional approaches as part of transnational advocacy efforts concerning the situation and collective action of minority women. A framing analysis builds on studies that looked at how intersectionality has been used in activism and mobilisations (Roth, 2021; Evans and Lepinard, 2020; Terriquez et al., 2018; D’Agostino, 2018). Two sources of discourses of the UN Forum on Minority Issues are analysed—Independent Expert and Special Rapporteur reports and Forum statements. The chapter finds that, first, most references to intersectionality pertain to the experience of minority women and at times to other intersectional categories. Second, the vast majority of discourses adopt a frame of intersectionality that makes visible the marginalisation and vulnerability of minority women, but some discourses do politicise minority women to promote their agency in terms of participation, decision-making, and empowerment. Third, intersectional lenses are more likely to be reflected in statements by Special Rapporteurs, advocates, and activists rather than states and international governmental organisations (IGOs). Overall, the chapter demonstrates how attention to the intersectional frames used by and on behalf of minority women in global governance spaces discloses opportunities for realising solidarity, resistance, and transformation.
DOI: 10.4324/9781003510161-4
Medda-Windischer R, Maino Federica
This chapter aims to explore which lessons can be learnt from minoritized communities living in rural areas as applicable to linguistic, religious and cultural minorities likewise. Minoritized rural communities have strong bonds with their own territory and these bonds are characterized by diversity and resilience. Rural areas are often, though not always, characterized by depopulation, lack of essential services, topographic and climatic restrictions, and accordingly, when these features are present, they are considered ‘less-favoured areas’ (LFA) characterized by ‘marginality’. The approach applied in this contribution is based on cross-fertilization in terms of both the construction of synergies and sharing of common solutions among linguistic, religious and cultural minorities, on the one hand, and minoritized rural communities, on the other. This approach is particularly promising as it provides new insights on common issues such as minoritizing processes related to vulnerability and marginalization, multiple and intersectoral grouping and individual’s be Andreoli longing, asymmetry in access to power, empowerment and participation. By encompassing different marginalized groups, this contribution aims to promote solution-oriented and need-based decisions, conflicts as opportunities for change, while at the same time, emphasizing concerted processes to support structural changes.
DOI: 10.4324/9781032661780-7
More information: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.18845602
Conference: EU/CoE Training Course „Police Operating in Diverse Societies“ | Durrës, Albania | 3.6.2025 - 4.6.2025