Language and Cultural Rights of Minorities and Indigenous People in Europe: Comparing Russian Federation and European Union (Veranstaltung: 28.08.- 01.09.07, Berlin) )

The major aim of the conference is to discuss and prepare an application for a research project for the initiative "Einheit in der Vielfalt? Grundlagen und Voraussetzungen eines erweiterten Europas" on the topic of "Linguistic and Cultural Rights of Minorities and Indigenous Peoples in the Russian Federation" of the Volkswagen Foundation in Germany. The other aim is to foster discussion among social scientific, legal and liguistic scholars on issues related to human rights, minority rights and indigenous peoples' rights. It is expected that this productive mix of experts from different fields, countries and disciplines will help the applicants to produce a coherent application with substantial involvement of scientists who themselves have a minority background in Russia. As these scholars often have left the country in order to gain university education, this project could be a helpful instrument in supporting promising young Russian scholars with a minority background to conduct research among their own ethic group.