Summary

At present the Commonwealth of Independent States comprises 12 countries which are former members of the Soviet Union. The Commonwealth also determines the ethnic-political situation of the sovereign states, as due to the internal migration processes, representatives of many nations have become minorities is some CIS states. The author examines what kind of protection is offered to these minorities by the CIS. The reader is provided with an overview of the CIS founding documents and the respective provisions of the CIS human rights and fundamental freedoms convention and the convention on the protection of the rights of persons belonging to national minorities of the CIS. The author argues that although these instruments provide for the main, internationally recognised rights of national minorities, the protection of human rights and national minorities in the CIS is, nevertheless, passive. The author also focuses on supervision of the system for the legal protection of national minorities and points out that the low efficiency of the system is the main deficiency in protecting the minorities in the CIS. In connection with this, the author proposes an increased role of the CIS economic courts in protecting the minorities. Finally, some of the court cases pertaining to the protection of national minorities are examined.