Country of residence

Italy

Brief introduction

Roberta Medda-Windischer, Senior Researcher/Group Leader at the Institute for Minority Rights of the European Academy (EURAC) is an international lawyer specialised in human rights and minority protection. After a law degree, an LL.M in International Human Rights Law at the Essex University (UK) and a PhD at the University of Graz (AT), she gained a solid experience by working as Legal Officer for various international organisations, including the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR, Tuzla, BiH), the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE/ODIHR, Faculty of Law, Shkodra, Albania), the UN Centre for Human Rights (OHCHR, Geneva) and, the European Court of Human Rights (CoE/ECHR, Strasbourg). At the European Academy, her research focuses on the protection of minorities, particularly religious minorities, in international law and on new minorities stemming from migration on which she authored and edited monographs and multi-authored volumes, and published numerous articles and chapters in edited volumes in Italy and abroad. Dr Medda-Windischer lectures in various post-university programs, including the Master Programme for Peace Mediators in International Conflicts (OdP - University of Bologna), the European Master Programme in Human Rights and Democratisation (EIUC -Venice School of Human Rights), and the Joint European Master in Comparative Local Development (CoDe - University of Trento).

Education

PhD, Law, 2007, University of Graz (Austria)

Academic profile

Dr. Medda-Windischer´s major research interests and competences focus on International and European Law on Minority Protection, including Roma, Sinti and Travellers. An important part of her research analyses the interaction and complementarities between ´old` and ´new ` minority groups. This methodological approach is particularly suitable to addressing some of the issues related to the integration of Roma as many of them are ´new minorities` originating from migration into the country in which they reside, whereas many others of them belong to communities considered in many European countries to be ´old` minorities. The most relevant competence and major research interest of Dr. Medda-Windischer is to look at the Roma communities from the perspective of the CoE Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities and the European Convention on Human Rights and the case-law of the European Court of Human Rights. In this field, major aspects in Dr. Medda-Windischer´s research focus on the relationship between Romani mobility and respect for their traditional lifestyle and cultural identity, education and the so-called ´special` schools as well as housing and positive actions and whether it is possible to derive social policy prescriptions from the Strasbourg case-law that can be imposed on member states.

Publications

• The Roma and the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities : a Tool to Disentangle the Dichotomy between a Socially Disadvantaged Group and a National Minority, Journal of the Institute for European Studies (IES), Bruxelles, Fall 2012.
• La “question rom” dans la perspective des droits des minorités, in Etudes Tsiganes, deuxième trimestre, 2011.
• Dismantling Segregating Education and the European Court of Human Rights. D.H. and Others vs. Czech Republic: Towards an Inclusive Education?, in European Yearbook on Minority Issues, 2007/08, Vol. 7.

Keywords

Minority Rights; Roma Rights; Human Rights; New Minorities; Accommodation of Diversity

Contact

Roberta.Medda@eurac.edu browse members list