Addressing Political Exclusion of Ethnic Minorities, IDP’s, and Refugees in the Eastern Neighbourhood

Abstract

The quality of political inclusion of ethnic minorities1 in the Eastern Neighbourhood remains a significant challenge, despite institutions in place to promote the rights of national minorities and various programming designed to foster inclusion. This rapid review surveys donor, academic and NGO literature in this field. Literature on addressing the political exclusion of ethnic minorities is limited, with discussion of donor interventions even more sparse. The report thus draws on government initiatives; and on recommendations based on the country situation and international experience, which are not necessarily based on specific programming. There was greater information on Georgia and Moldova, than on Armenia (reflected in the sub-section country titles). In addition, there is limited discussion of programming to address the political exclusion of internally displaced persons (IDPs) and refugees in the region. As such the report relies in part on general research and guidance on IDPs and refugees from a global perspective, including discussion of a few examples of initiatives outside of the Eastern Neighbourhood.