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Nils Muižnieks
Nils Muižnieks (born 31 January 1964 in the United States) is a Latvian-American human rights activist and political scientist. He had served as the Council of Europe's Commissioner for Human Rights between 2012 and 2018, succeeding Thomas Hammarberg (2006–2012) and Álvaro Gil-Robles (1999–2006). Early life Muižnieks' parents, Ansis and Ingrid, were both refugees who left Latvia in 1944. They spent 6 years in displaced persons camps in the American zone in Germany before moving to the United States in 1950. His father is a retired medical doctor and his mother was trained as an architectural historian. Born and educated in the United States of America, Nils Muižnieks obtained a PhD in political science at the University of California at Berkeley (1993). Prior to that, he graduated as a Bachelor of Arts in politics at Princeton University summa cum laude and obtained a Master of Arts degree in political science from the same University (1988). He married Andra Fedder ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Commissioner For Human Rights
The Commissioner for Human Rights is an independent and impartial non-judicial institution established in 1999 by the Strasbourg-based Council of Europe, to promote awareness of and respect for human rights in the council's 46 member states. The activities of Commissioner focus on three major, closely related areas: * country visits and dialogue with national authorities and civil society; * thematic studies and advice on systematic human rights work; * awareness-raising activities. The current Commissioner is Dunja Mijatović, who began her six-year term on April 1, 2018. Prior Commissioners were Álvaro Gil-Robles, Thomas Hammarberg and Nils Muižnieks. Elected by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, the Commissioner seeks to engage in permanent dialogue with member states, continually raising awareness about human rights issues, and promoting the development of national human rights structures. The Commissioner conducts visits to each member state for ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
French Language
French ( or ) is a Romance language of the Indo-European family. It descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire, as did all Romance languages. French evolved from Gallo-Romance, the Latin spoken in Gaul, and more specifically in Northern Gaul. Its closest relatives are the other langues d'oïl—languages historically spoken in northern France and in southern Belgium, which French (Francien) largely supplanted. French was also influenced by native Celtic languages of Northern Roman Gaul like Gallia Belgica and by the ( Germanic) Frankish language of the post-Roman Frankish invaders. Today, owing to France's past overseas expansion, there are numerous French-based creole languages, most notably Haitian Creole. A French-speaking person or nation may be referred to as Francophone in both English and French. French is an official language in 29 countries across multiple continents, most of which are members of the '' Organisation internationale de la Francopho ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Poland
Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, , is a country in Central Europe. Poland is divided into Voivodeships of Poland, sixteen voivodeships and is the fifth most populous member state of the European Union (EU), with over 38 million people, and the List of European countries by area, seventh largest EU country, covering a combined area of . It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordering seven countries. The territory is characterised by a varied landscape, diverse ecosystems, and Temperate climate, temperate transitional climate. The capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city is Warsaw; other major cities include Kraków, Wrocław, Łódź, Poznań, and Gdańsk. Prehistory and protohistory of Poland, Humans have been present on Polish soil since the Lower Paleolithic, with continuous settlement since the end of the Last Glacial Period over 12,000 years ago. Culturally diverse throughout ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
United Nations
The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmonizing the actions of nations. It is the world's largest and most familiar international organization. The UN is headquartered on international territory in New York City, and has other main offices in Geneva, Nairobi, Vienna, and The Hague (home to the International Court of Justice). The UN was established after World War II with the aim of preventing future world wars, succeeding the League of Nations, which was characterized as ineffective. On 25 April 1945, 50 governments met in San Francisco for a conference and started drafting the UN Charter, which was adopted on 25 June 1945 and took effect on 24 October 1945, when the UN began operations. Pursuant to the Charter, the organization's objectives include maintaining internationa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Organization For Security And Co-operation In Europe
The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) is the world's largest regional security-oriented intergovernmental organization with observer status at the United Nations. Its mandate includes issues such as arms control, promotion of human rights, freedom of the press, and free and fair elections. It employs around 3,460 people, mostly in its field operations but also in its secretariat in Vienna, Austria, and its institutions. It has its origins in the mid-1975 Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe (CSCE) held in Helsinki, Finland. The OSCE is concerned with early warning, conflict prevention, crisis management, and post-conflict rehabilitation. Most of its 57 participating countries are in Europe, but there are a few members present in Asia and North America. The participating states cover much of the land area of the Northern Hemisphere. It was created during the Cold War era as a forum for discussion between the Western Bloc and E ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
European Union
The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been described as a ''sui generis'' political entity (without precedent or comparison) combining the characteristics of both a federation and a confederation. Containing 5.8per cent of the world population in 2020, the EU generated a nominal gross domestic product (GDP) of around trillion in 2021, constituting approximately 18per cent of global nominal GDP. Additionally, all EU states but Bulgaria have a very high Human Development Index according to the United Nations Development Programme. Its cornerstone, the Customs Union, paved the way to establishing an internal single market based on standardised legal framework and legislation that applies in all member states in those matters, and only those matters, where the states have agree ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Latvia's First Party
The Latvia's First Party ( lv, Latvijas Pirmā Partija) was a socially conservative, Christian-democratic right-wing political party in Latvia. It merged with Latvian Way to form Latvia's First Party/Latvian Way in 2007. It was founded on 25 May 2002, led by Ēriks Jēkabsons and Ainārs Šlesers. The party included a number of priests from all the major branches of Christianity in Latvia (Lutheran, Catholic, Orthodox and Baptist) as well as members of ''Jaunā Paaudze (New Generation)'', a controversial charismatic group. As a result, it was informally nicknamed "the party of priests" or the "pastors' party". Using populist promises and support from religious organisations, it won 9.5% of the popular vote and 10 out of 100 seats in the Saeima after the elections of October 5, 2002 and joined all the coalition governments since that time until its dissolution. In the 2006 elections, it ran together with Latvian Way; the bloc took 8.58% but also won 10 seats in parliament ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Latvian Centre For Human Rights
The Latvian Centre for Human Rights (LCHR; lv, Latvijas Cilvēktiesību centrs) is a non-governmental organization which seeks to promote human rights in Latvia, founded in 1993. Its director, as of 2018, is Anhelita Kamenska (earlier heads of the centre were Nils Muižnieks and Ilze Brands Kehris). History The LCHR was founded in 1993. It was known as the Latvian Centre for Human Rights and Ethnic Studies (LCHRES) until 2005. Activities and international affiliation Areas of LCHR activities include social integration, closed institutions, legal assistance in human rights cases, tolerance and anti-discrimination (LCHR is a National Focal Point of EU FRA's project RAXEN) and mental disability advocacy (LCHR is member of European Coalition for Community Living). Besides, LCHR was a member of the International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights. Awards In May 1998, LCHRES has received the EU-US Democracy and Civil Society Award. In 2003, LCHRES has got the first Van der St ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Minority Rights
Minority rights are the normal individual rights as applied to members of racial, ethnic, class, religious, linguistic or gender and sexual minorities, and also the collective rights accorded to any minority group. Civil-rights movements often seek to ensure that individual rights are not denied on the basis of membership in a minority group. Such civil-rights advocates include the global women's-rights and global LGBT-rights movements, and various racial-minority rights movements around the world (such as the Civil Rights Movement in the United States). Issues of minority rights may intersect with debates over historical redress or over positive discrimination. History Prior to the Paris Peace Conference (1919–1920), the term "minority" primarily referred to political parties in national legislatures, not ethnic, national, linguistic or religious groups. The Paris Conference has been attributed with coining the concept of minority rights and bringing prominence t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Anti-discrimination
Discrimination is the act of making unjustified distinctions between people based on the groups, classes, or other categories to which they belong or are perceived to belong. People may be discriminated on the basis of race, gender, age, religion, disability, or sexual orientation, as well as other categories. Discrimination especially occurs when individuals or groups are unfairly treated in a way which is worse than other people are treated, on the basis of their actual or perceived membership in certain groups or social categories. It involves restricting members of one group from opportunities or privileges that are available to members of another group. Discriminatory traditions, policies, ideas, practices and laws exist in many countries and institutions in all parts of the world, including territories where discrimination is generally looked down upon. In some places, attempts such as quotas have been used to benefit those who are believed to be current or past victim ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Social Integration
Social integration is the process during which newcomers or minorities are incorporated into the social structure of the host society. Social integration, together with economic integration and identity integration, are three main dimensions of a newcomers' experiences in the society that is receiving them. A higher extent of social integration contributes to a closer social distance between groups and more consistent values and practices. Bringing together various ethnic groups irrespective of language, caste, creed, etc., without losing one's identity. It gives access to all areas of community life and eliminates segregation. In a broader view, social integration is a dynamic and structured process in which all members participate in dialogue to achieve and maintain peaceful social relations. Social integration does not mean forced assimilation. Social integration is focused on the need to move toward a safe, stable and just society by mending conditions of social conflic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
European Commission Against Racism And Intolerance
European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) is the Council of Europe’s independent human rights monitoring body specialised in combating antisemitism, discrimination, racism, religious intolerance, and xenophobia. It publishes periodic reports on CoE member states and general policy recommendations. The decision to found ECRI was adopted in 1993. The organization became officially active as of March 1994. Members ECRI consists of 47 experts, one from every CoE member state. The chair of the commission is Maria Daniella Marouda from Greece, since 2020. Each ECRI member is allowed a renewable term of five years through appointing by their respective governments. To maintain membership, they must also abide by these terms of the ECRI Statute: The members of ECRI shall have high moral authority and recognised expertise in dealing with racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia, antisemitism, and intolerance; The members of ECRI shall serive in their individual cap ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
