The Norwegian Center for Holocaust and Minority Studies' international project on minority protection is part of the Center’s strategy to strengthen its work in the international human rights field, and to combine the Center’s competence on minority studies, genocide studies, group enmity and antisemitism.
For the period 2023-2025 the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and NORAD have funded three projects at the Norwegian center for Holocaust and Minority Studies geared towards protection of religious minorities, preventing mass atrocities, and combating hate speech ang group enmities.
Religious and ethnic minorities are particularly vulnerable during conflict. Importantly, however, minorities are also vulnerable to a range of abuses – from repression and hate speech, to atrocities and genocide – outside of armed conflict. Protection of minorities requires an approach that acknowledges that their particular vulnerabilities are different from parties to an armed conflict, and that the scale and severity of abuses – from discrimination to genocide – usually develop gradually over time. It also requires attention to related agendas that are interconnected with minority protection, such as freedom of religion or belief (FoRB) and women’s inclusion.
The projects within this framework agreement with the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and NORAD respond to the promise of the Sustainable Development Goals that no one should be left behind. This promise requires full attention to the situation of minorities. At an overarching level, the aim of the projects is to improve the situation for minorities at risk of exclusion, stereotyping, repression, persecution, atrocities and ultimately genocide. The projects are particularly geared towards producing research-based knowledge that addresses current challenges and is relevant to a wide set of actors within the field of minority protection, such as academics, civil society organizations and diplomats. Such actors need knowledge, resources and networks that strengthen their efforts to protect minorities, prevent atrocities and combat group-based enmities.
Being a research-based institution, the HL-Center has a strong track-record in producing policy relevant knowledge and disseminating this to a wide set of actors. Over the past few years, the cooperation with the MFA has allowed the Center to work internationally on topics relevant to the Global South with strong links to the FoRB agenda. The project period 2023-2025 brings the projects forward by including themes such as mass atrocity resistance under an illiberal world order; gender and atrocity resistance; online hate speech; antisemitism and other forms of group-focused enmity; and discrimination and memory politics for the Roma in Europe. Further, building on the knowledge and material generated within this and previous project periods, and the pedagogical expertise at the HL-Center, an online learning resource will communicate research-based knowledge towards academics and practitioners.
The framework agreement encompasses three projects, all of which cover regions and cooperate with partners from selected ODA-countries. The first project addresses responses to mass atrocities, including a focus on gender and atrocity prevention. It also assesses existing monitoring systems for early warning of atrocities. The second project builds on the HL-Center’s expertise on antisemitism and other forms of group-focused enmity and addresses how such enmity contributes to the dynamics of conflict on a local, regional and global level, particularly through online hate speech. The third project uses research results and online material created over the past years as well as during 2023-25 to create online course modules and research dissemination on topics related to religious minorities at risk; particularly to hate speech and recent cases of genocide and other mass atrocities.
The project will result in several activities and outputs, including:
- New, research based and policy-relevant knowledge based on international research cooperation, including partners from selected ODA-countries.
- Dissemination through research publications, policy-briefs, blog posts and podcasts.
- International network-building through webinars, seminars and conferences.
- Online learning resources geared towards academic partners and civil society experts in selected ODA-countries.
The project was also funded by the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs for the period 2017-2022, and had the following sub-projects:
1. A research project on international mechanisms for prevention of genocide and other severe human rights abuses against minorities (including early warning mechanisms).
This project looks at severe human rights abuses against minorities, in particular instances of mass atrocities. It looks at mechanisms for monitoring, warning and prevention. Currently, the project is following the situation in Myanmar particularly close. The study of Myanmar will be part of a comparative study on warnings of mass atrocity crimes (including, but not limited to genocide). Further, a central aim is to collect and develop knowledge about successful cases of conflict solution and de-escalation of violence. By focusing on a broader set of cases than clear-cut genocides, and on mechanisms that aim to monitor and prevent human rights abuses, the project aims to bridge gaps between the genocide studies field and the broader human rights field. Contact person: Ellen Stensrud
2. The Minority Network
This network facilitates dialogue between academic scholars, NGO experts and decision-makers at the national and international level on what a human rights based minority protection implies and how it may be implemented and secured in conflict-ridden societies. Originally developed in 2015 as a dialogue forum for Norwegian researchers and practitioners within the field of minority rights, the Network is now cooperating with international and regional partners in countries in the MENA region (e.g. Iraq, Syria, Lebanon) and South East Asia (e.g. Myanmar, Indonesia). In addition to organizing workshops aiming for dialogue and capacity building, network activities include development of a training manual and online course on minority rights and publication of academic articles. It particularly aims to train younger scholars from the target countries in skills of academic publication. Contact person: Ingvill Plesner
3. A research project on the impact of minority status for flight and return for Syrian and Iraqi refugees.
The main question of this qualitative, interview-based research project is: To what extent and in what way was the minority status, on ethnic and/or religious basis, a reason for flight? And how does it influence considerations of return, e.g. in terms of reflections on political and social conditions for security and inclusion? The empirical focus of this project is refugees currently based in Norway from these countries. It builds on findings from previous research on the experiences and considerations of refugees from Iraq and Syria living in neighboring countries, in particular Lebanon. Contact person: Ingvill Plesner
4. The Global Consortium on Bigotry and Hate
The project has been part of the Global Consortium on Bigotry and Hate, a global consortium that looks at local manifestations of hate in a diverse set of contexts.
International Conferences
The Center's project on minority protection and mass atrocity prevention has organized several international conferences. Scholars and NGO experts have conducted academically informed and politically pertinent discussions on issues related to genocide prevention and minority protection. The conferences build on our research projects as well as the Minority Network activities. We aimed to make the discussions relevant and accessible to scholars, practitioners, policy makers as well as the general public.
Sponsored by Norway
