The Right to National Minority Rights - A comparative legal study of the realization of the FCNM in Sweden and Finland
(2026) JURM02 20261Department of Law
Faculty of Law
- Abstract
- The Council of Europe’s Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities, the FCNM, is the world’s first legally binding multilateral instrument devoted to the protection of national minorities. The FCNM sets out a variety of principles on the protection of national minorities. These principles are to be implemented through national legislation and governmental policies of the states parties to the FCNM. The research question of this graduate thesis is how Sweden and Finland compare in how they have decided to realize the notion of national minority and the principle of free self-identification under the FCNM through national law against the backdrop of theory on the FCNM. The purpose is to ascertain how the FCNM has been... (More)
- The Council of Europe’s Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities, the FCNM, is the world’s first legally binding multilateral instrument devoted to the protection of national minorities. The FCNM sets out a variety of principles on the protection of national minorities. These principles are to be implemented through national legislation and governmental policies of the states parties to the FCNM. The research question of this graduate thesis is how Sweden and Finland compare in how they have decided to realize the notion of national minority and the principle of free self-identification under the FCNM through national law against the backdrop of theory on the FCNM. The purpose is to ascertain how the FCNM has been interpreted and implemented in practice in Sweden and Finland.
To answer the research question of this thesis, a comparative legal method is used. Swedish and Finnish preparatory works regarding the implementation of the FCNM are compared together with opinions of the Advisory Committee on the FCNM, the ACFC, and state reports regarding the implementation of the FCNM on national level by Sweden and Finland. The works of different legal scholars on the FCNM are used as a theoretical backdrop to understand and analyze the decisions of Sweden and Finland regarding the realization of the notion of national minority and the principle of free self-identification.
The main conclusions of this thesis are that Sweden has had a restrictive approach when it comes to determining the personal scope of application of the FCNM on national level while Finland has had an open and inclusive approach. Sweden has explicitly named four criteria that a minority group must satisfy in order to be regarded as a national minority and which five minority groups are considered national minorities in Sweden. Finland has decided not to give an exhaustive list of the national minorities in Finland or formulate a set list of criteria that minority groups need to satisfy. The Finnish approach to the personal scope of application of the FCNM is more in line with the approach favored by ACFC and more flexible than the Swedish approach. There is, however, less foreseeability for individuals and authorities in the Finnish approach than in the Swedish approach.
There is an intimate relationship between the personal scope of application of the FCNM, as determined by a state party, and the principle of free self-identification. In Sweden, it is easier for people belonging to national minorities to access the rights under the FCNM through free self-identification since it is clear which minority groups are covered by the FCNM as national minorities. However, persons in Sweden may feel obliged to self-identify in a certain way in order to access the rights under the FCNM. In comparison, the open and flexible approach in Finland makes it easier for persons to self-identify in a way that they themselves want to without the pressure of not being able to access the rights under the FCNM. (Less) - Abstract (Swedish)
- Europarådets ramkonvention om skydd för nationella minoriteter, FCNM,
utgör världens första juridiskt bindande multilaterala instrument till skydd för
nationella minoriteter. FCNM stadgar olika typer av principer till skydd för
nationella minoriteter och det åläggs konventionsstaterna till FCNM att
förverkliga dessa principer genom sin nationella lagstiftning och politik.
Forskningsfrågan för detta examensarbete är hur Sverige och Finland jämför
sig i hur de har beslutat att förverkliga begreppet nationell minoritet och
principen om fri självidentifikation under FCNM mot bakgrund av
teoribildning kring FCNM. Syftet är att fastställa hur FCNM har tolkats och
implementerats i praktiken i Sverige och Finland.
För att besvara... (More) - Europarådets ramkonvention om skydd för nationella minoriteter, FCNM,
utgör världens första juridiskt bindande multilaterala instrument till skydd för
nationella minoriteter. FCNM stadgar olika typer av principer till skydd för
nationella minoriteter och det åläggs konventionsstaterna till FCNM att
förverkliga dessa principer genom sin nationella lagstiftning och politik.
Forskningsfrågan för detta examensarbete är hur Sverige och Finland jämför
sig i hur de har beslutat att förverkliga begreppet nationell minoritet och
principen om fri självidentifikation under FCNM mot bakgrund av
teoribildning kring FCNM. Syftet är att fastställa hur FCNM har tolkats och
implementerats i praktiken i Sverige och Finland.
För att besvara forskningsfrågan för detta examensarbete används en
komparativ juridisk metod. Svenska och finska förarbeten som rör
implementeringen av FCNM jämförs tillsammans med utlåtanden från den
rådgivande kommittén om ramkonventionen om skydd för nationella
minoriteter, ACFC, och de nationella rapporterna från Sverige och Finland
angående implementeringen av FCNM på nationell nivå. För att förstå och
analysera de beslut kring förverkligandet av begreppet nationell minoritet och
principen om fri självidentifikation som har fattats av Sverige och Finland
används olika verk från juridiska forskare som teoribildning kring FCNM.
De huvudsakliga slutsatserna är att Sverige har haft ett restriktivt
förhållningssätt gällande att bestämma det personliga tillämpningsområdet
för FCNM på nationell nivå medan Finland har haft ett öppet och
inkluderande förhållningssätt. Sverige har uttryckligen fastställt fyra kriterier
som en minoritetsgrupp måste uppfylla för att anses vara en nationell
minoritet och vilka fem minoritetsgrupper som utgör nationella minoriteter i
Sverige. Finland har beslutat att inte ge en uttömmande lista över nationella
minoriteter i Finland eller formulera uttryckliga kriterier för
minoritetsgrupper att uppfylla. Det finska förhållningssättet till det personliga
tillämpningsområdet för FCNM är mer i linje med det förhållningssätt som
ACFC förespråkar och är mer flexibelt än det svenska förhållningssättet.
Dock finns det mindre förutsebarhet för individer och myndigheter i det
finska förhållningssättet än i det svenska.
Det finns en nära relation mellan det personliga tillämpningsområdet för
FCNM, så som det bestäms av konventionsstaterna, och principen om fri
självidentifikation. I Sverige är det enklare för individer att göra anspråk på
sina rättigheter under FCNM genom fri självidentifikation då det är tydligt
vilka minoritetsgrupper som täcks av FCNM som nationella minoriteter.
Dock kan personer i Sverige känna sig tvungna att självidentifiera sig på ett
visst sätt för att göra anspråk på rättigheterna under FCNM. I jämförelse gör
Finlands öppna och inkluderande förhållningssätt det enklare för individer att
självidentifiera sig så som de själva vill utan att känna sig pressade över att
förlora tillgång till rättigheterna under FCNM. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/9226750
- author
- Larsson, Elias LU
- supervisor
- organization
- course
- JURM02 20261
- year
- 2026
- type
- H3 - Professional qualifications (4 Years - )
- subject
- keywords
- Comparative law, Public law, Council of Europe, Minorities, FCNM, Sweden, Finland, National minority, Free self-identification
- language
- English
- id
- 9226750
- date added to LUP
- 2026-06-04 11:35:19
- date last changed
- 2026-06-04 11:35:19
@misc{9226750,
abstract = {{The Council of Europe’s Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities, the FCNM, is the world’s first legally binding multilateral instrument devoted to the protection of national minorities. The FCNM sets out a variety of principles on the protection of national minorities. These principles are to be implemented through national legislation and governmental policies of the states parties to the FCNM. The research question of this graduate thesis is how Sweden and Finland compare in how they have decided to realize the notion of national minority and the principle of free self-identification under the FCNM through national law against the backdrop of theory on the FCNM. The purpose is to ascertain how the FCNM has been interpreted and implemented in practice in Sweden and Finland.
To answer the research question of this thesis, a comparative legal method is used. Swedish and Finnish preparatory works regarding the implementation of the FCNM are compared together with opinions of the Advisory Committee on the FCNM, the ACFC, and state reports regarding the implementation of the FCNM on national level by Sweden and Finland. The works of different legal scholars on the FCNM are used as a theoretical backdrop to understand and analyze the decisions of Sweden and Finland regarding the realization of the notion of national minority and the principle of free self-identification.
The main conclusions of this thesis are that Sweden has had a restrictive approach when it comes to determining the personal scope of application of the FCNM on national level while Finland has had an open and inclusive approach. Sweden has explicitly named four criteria that a minority group must satisfy in order to be regarded as a national minority and which five minority groups are considered national minorities in Sweden. Finland has decided not to give an exhaustive list of the national minorities in Finland or formulate a set list of criteria that minority groups need to satisfy. The Finnish approach to the personal scope of application of the FCNM is more in line with the approach favored by ACFC and more flexible than the Swedish approach. There is, however, less foreseeability for individuals and authorities in the Finnish approach than in the Swedish approach.
There is an intimate relationship between the personal scope of application of the FCNM, as determined by a state party, and the principle of free self-identification. In Sweden, it is easier for people belonging to national minorities to access the rights under the FCNM through free self-identification since it is clear which minority groups are covered by the FCNM as national minorities. However, persons in Sweden may feel obliged to self-identify in a certain way in order to access the rights under the FCNM. In comparison, the open and flexible approach in Finland makes it easier for persons to self-identify in a way that they themselves want to without the pressure of not being able to access the rights under the FCNM.}},
author = {{Larsson, Elias}},
language = {{eng}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{The Right to National Minority Rights - A comparative legal study of the realization of the FCNM in Sweden and Finland}},
year = {{2026}},
}