@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}},
}