1. Overview

This text updates the 4^th report circulated in June 1998. In that report information was provided on the staffing and organisation of the Ethnobarometer Programme (EP). That information will not be repeated. The programme is now fully operational and both partner organisations have recruited appropriate professional staff to handle documentation, communications systems and publications.

The project operates mainly through correspondents in selected countries. These have been appointed in each of the countries included in the first year of operation (Russia, Ukraine, Turkey, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, Slovakia and selected countries in Western Europe including Greece, Italy, France, Germany and Belgium). All the individuals selected are highly competent in the field of ethnic and migration studies with good field research and data collection experience. Many correspondents are, however, still juniors in their academic careers. They have produced reports in June and these have been revised, updated and extended in October. They will produce a final report for 1998 in December.

This first regional workshop was held in Bucharest on May 1-2 1998. This was very successful in focussing specifically on the general methodology to be used for EP. An EP methodological position paper (see infra 2.1.3) was presented and thoroughly analysed and criticised in the light of the correspondents' experience in the field.

Although at first sight the gathering and reporting of information on inter-ethnic relations might seem a straightforward operation, in fact the long-term success of a monitoring system, especially in term of the widest possible usefulness of its results, largely depends on the methodological bases on which it is constructed. The choices of terminology, of the key concepts, and of the major indicators that guide the gathering, elaboration, and reporting of information must be made in such a way as to maximise standardisation, while at the same time taking into account as much as possible the peculiarities of the countries involved. Only in this way real added value will be extracted from the comparative scope of the project and the results will be easily accessed and used by an international audience of policy makers, journalists and human rights activists. In the past months EP staff has engaged in a thorough review of the state of the art (2.1.1 and 2.1.2) and has now developed a first outline of the project’s methodology (2.1.3)

The academic literature dealing with terminological, conceptual, theoretical and methodological issues in the field of ethnic and migration studies has been extensively reviewed. This review process will be continuous as all major journals in the field are monitored in order to keep up with new theoretical and methodological contributions (see 2.2.1).

One step toward more relevant questions has consisted of a review of already existing Early Warning and Monitoring operations in the field of ethnic and migration studies, in terms of their methodological approach and of the results obtained. Using the Internet we have been able to draw up an inventory of all such operation currently running (according to our estimate about 40) and through accessing their website we have managed to analyse and evaluate both their methodology and the results achieved.

Building on step 2.1.1 and 2.1.2, and through a critical appraisal of the state of the art, EP staff have drafted the methodological position paper "Implementing the Ethnobarometer" laying the major principles for EP operation. This paper has benefited from the discussion held in Bucharest during the first regional workshop with correspondents, and naturally will be improved in light of the practical experience we accumulate as the project unfolds. Moreover a valuable contribution will come from the "Technical workshop" we plan to organise during the coming autumn (see infra 6.1).

New primary research and information reporting from correspondents on the field (both of which are contemplated in EPs short and medium term institutional aims) greatly improve the understanding of ethnic and migration issues. On the other hand a lot of secondary sources on the topic of interest already exist, and to gather, concentrate and organise such information is a value adding service EP aims to provide.

As a result of step 2.1.1 and also of the long experience of EP staff in academic research, a database of published works, both on general topics and on country specific empirical studies, is being built up. Eventually this will lead to the publication of an analytical bibliography of great value for the academic community.

All this material is currently being gathered and organised and will be eventually made available on the Web in the form of a concentration of on-line sources

One of the aims stated in EP’s initial proposal is to avoid duplication of work and to achieve co-operation with other existing Early Warning and Monitor operations. This goal has been effectively pursued in the first six months of activity

EP is an active partner of the Forum on Early Warning and Early Response (FEWER), an independent and interdisciplinary consortium of inter-governmental organisations, non-governmental organisations and academic institutions. FEWER's aim, among others, is to provide a forum for co-operation and discussion to organisations involved in monitoring ethnic and migration development which will help such organisation to share their experience, establish joint projects, and thus contribute to the improvement of information gathering and dissemination.

PER, Project on Ethnic Relations, which is funded among others by the Carnegie Corporation, has several offices in Central and Eastern Europe. The project organises seminars and meetings with the participation of government officials, journalists, civic organisations and scholars, aimed at encouraging the peaceful resolution of ethnic conflict. It has an electronic information facility at Warsaw University and small libraries of reference material in other local offices. Dr Silj met twice with PER's President, Prof. Allen Kassof, to discuss ways of sharing resources and exchanging information. It was agreed that initially co-operation would take the form of an exchange of information between PER and EP in Slovakia (the correspondent from Bratislava working for both projects).

The Centre of Ethnosociological and Ethnopolitical Studies (CEES) of the Institute of Sociology of the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences in Kiev is the leading research institution dealing with ethnic and migration studies in Ukraine. CEES has its own network of monitoring which covers all of the Ukrainian territory (including Crimea), has conducted field and survey research on refugees for the UNHCR, and carries out periodically survey of inter-ethnic attitudes among the multiethnic population of Ukraine for the State Committee on Nationalities and Migration of the Ukrainian Government. CEES founder and former director, Volodymir Evtukh, is currently serving as the Ukrainian Ambassador in Rome. As in the case of Russia, for Ukraine EP did not hire an individual correspondent but reached an agreement with the institution CEES. This will allow EP to access all of the research material and the monitoring information collected by CEES. One of the result of this co-operation is a project stimulated by EP to promote the training and research activity of young scholars working at CEES (see infra 6.3)

Access is a non-profit association whose aims include the promotion of mutual tolerance and better understanding of multi-cultural diversity in the Balkans. The Association has several ongoing projects dealing with community development, intercultural education and Balkan regional dialogue. ACCESS has also set up a Balkan Civic Network to develop ties between regional organisations. Their publications include a bi-annual newsletter in English and a Concise Ethnopolitical Dictionary. Dr Silj visited them in Sofia in September 1997 and more recently in Bucharest and both Dr Cross and Dr Silj met with ACCESS director, Dr Valerie Roussanov, to discuss future co-operation.

One of the aims of EP is to promote the production (by members of its staff, by the correspondents and by external experts) of working papers and of other types of publication, which further the analysis of important ethnic and migration development issues. Publications which have been produced or which are in preparation include the following.

Ethnic Relations and Human Rights in Europe: Annual Report of the Ethnobarometer Programme 1998 (February 1999)

Working Paper 1.
Illegal Migration and Criminality: the Case of Albanians in Italy

by A. Jamieson and A. Silj (Published November 1998)

This paper analyses both the facts (available statistics) and the social constructions regarding the phenomenon of Albanian immigration to Italy, and in particular the flow, which followed Albania's political crisis in the spring of 1997.

by Cristiano Codagnone (Published November 1998)

"New Migration and Migration Politics in Post-Soviet Russia" consist of two parts. In the first part, using available statistics and experts estimates, the paper gives a typological overview of the new migration trends (repatriation of ethnic Russians, refugees from areas of conflict in the former Soviet Union, undocumented Chinese immigration into the Russian Far East, etc) emerging since the early 1990s. In the second part it analyses the development of migration legislation, the political and public debates surrounding migration issue, and the official and non-official governmental migration policy.

by Gilles de Rapper (Published November 1998)

First drafted as "Les réactions des populations albanaises d’Albanie et de Macédoine aux événements du Kosovë" this paper is based on field research conducted for EP in Albania and in Macedonia and analyses the events in Kosovo from the perspectives of how they are perceived by Albanians living in Albania and in Macedonia.

Working Paper 4
The Kurdish Issue: Turkish Policy in South-East Anatolia

by Mario Zuccone (early 1999)

This paper examines the background and current policy of the Turkish government towards South East Anatolia and, in particular, the issues raised by the demands of Kurdish separatists. The paper pays particular attention to the role this issue has played within modern Turkish politics.

Working Paper 5
Controlling Ethnic Conflict: Approaches to the Integration of Migrants in Western Europe

by Malcolm Cross (early 1999)

Ethnic Studies in Europe: A Survey of Research Centres and Resources (February 1999)

This directory is a unique report on the developments in social science research in Europe on issues of interethnic relations and human rights as they relate to these issues. It is based on information supplied by three hundred research organisations, institutes and university departments. It includes an essay on the main approaches in European social science, short reports on individual countries and listings of the main centres showing their research programmes and publishing activities.

EP staff members are currently planning a special issue of this major journal drawing on the expertise in the project. The special issue will consist of 9-10 essays providing an up-to-date overview of emerging issues in Western, Central and Eastern Europe. The essays will be first presented at a seminar on the same theme to be held in Milan in the spring of 1999 (see below under Workshop).

EP has been using the possibilities offered by new communication technology in the most advanced way to foster electronic groupware work and asynchronous communication. EP in fact has now workspace on the web that can be accesses only by its staff members and by the correspondents in each country. The space is used to keep common agenda and meetings and to upload relevant documents that then can be retrieved at any moment and from any place as long as one has a simple access to the Internet and naturally the password to enter Ethnobarometer Intranet.

6. Projects

In collaboration with the research centre CEDEM of the University of Liege which is directed by Prof. Marco Martiniello, CEMES will hold a two-day technical workshop "Implementing the Ethnobarometer Project" in Milan in 1999. Twenty of the foremost experts in ethnic and migration studies from EU countries, Eastern Europe and the USA will participate in this exercise. During the workshop, which is paid for separately by DGXII of the European Commission, EP staff will present the methodological position paper and invite comment and discussion from other experts with a view of achieving the best possible methodological basis for a monitoring operation. In particular the following issues will be the object of discussion in Milan:

The future entry of new Eastern European countries into the European Union will result in new migratory tensions and problems for the EU migration regime in general. Border regions of such countries are at the moment areas of free movement and trade. Currently, for instance, individuals from Galizia (the Western district of Ukraine, part of Poland before 1939) move back and forth across the Polish-Ukrainian border for temporary work or petty trade, a movement that is structurally facilitated by the presence of relatives divided by such border. In principle, this situation will have to stop when Poland enters the EU, and will definitely create new migratory tensions and new flows of undocumented migration. The same holds true for the border between the Czech republic and Slovakia and between Estonia and Latvia.

EP plans to conduct a preliminary fact-finding exercise in relation to these situation with a view to the possible inclusion of such border regions in year two of the monitoring project.

More than 120 ethnic groups are currently represented in the territory of Ukraine. Particularly interesting is the fact that, as a result of its territorial history (for a long time divided between the Russian and Austro-Hungarian empires, and existing in its present border only since the end of World War II), several of these groups reside on areas bordering or not distant from their historical motherland such as the Bulgarians, Rumanians, Hungarians, Polish, Slovaks. Conversely, communities of ethnic Ukrainian can be found in Hungary, Poland, Romania, Bulgaria, and Slovakia.

One of EP’s institutional aims is to promote research, the training of young scholars, and practical activities for the improvement of inter-ethnic relations in the countries included in its monitoring operation. For this reason we have stimulated and will try to support (with assistance in the drafting of an English language proposal and subsequent fund-raising activity) the initiative of a group of young Ukrainian scholars on ethnic relations. The initiative consist in the creation of a an NGO named "The Association of Youth for Inter-ethnic understanding in Ukraine and Bordering States" The NGO will focus on ethnic minorities of bordering states present in Ukraine and on the Ukrainian minorities residing in such bordering states. Its activity will be twofold: a) monitoring of the situation of such groups b) organisation of events to promote inter-ethnic agreement. To achieve this a network of members will be created to cover both the Ukraine and the bordering states. Therefore, though based in Kiev, this is an initiative that, if financed, will involve also Hungary, Romania, Slovakia, Bulgaria and Poland, all of which (except Poland) are already included in EP monitoring operation.

MC/CC/AS