Rights of National Minorities as a Collective Human Rights and Position of Minority in Law of Dayton Bosnia and Herzegovina / Prava nacionalnih manjina kao kolektivna lјudska prava i status manjina u pravu dejtonske BiH

Abstract

Collective human rights are the rights of certain groups and collectives, linguistic or religious groups, ethnic minorities and the like. The right to equality is the natural right of every man, and therefore members of minority groups and should have equal rights and equal opportunities as well as members of the majority. The modern state is obligated to ensure the practice of ethnic, religious and linguistic characteristics of the group throught the right to education, religious freedom, the right of language use, cultural rights and more.
In international law there is no generally accepted concept of national minorites, or consent if it is about individual rights of persons belonging to national minorities or the collective rights of national minorites as wel as special groups and collectives.
According to census figures from 1991. in Bosnia and Herzegovina, there are seventeen national minorities. The legislative framework contains many provisions on the rights of national minorities, particularly the protection of their national, cultural, religius and linguistic identity, with a different range of individual rights. In addition to cultural and educational dimensions, a political dimension of these rights isalso significant. Protection of minorities should include not only legal rights, but also regulate the actual respect of minority rights, which is one of the requirements in the EU accession process.