The HCNM has significant expertise, tools, and experience in monitoring situations of
potential and actual tension, to recognising the signs of escalation, and engaging
actors in governments and regional and international governmental and nongovernmental
organisations to take appropriate action.
Situations involving minorities (and majorities) require specific knowledge
and understanding to make sense of their complexity—not because they are more
complicated than other social conflicts, but because their dynamics are often different,
the drivers for escalation and de-escalation are different and interact differently, and
policy responses produce unintended and often unwanted consequences.
As a result, there is a clear need for a dedicated agency specialised in and
focused on minority issues. This is also the case because there is no shortage of
situations that require attention: from Abkhazia to Anatolia, from the Baltics to the
Balkans, from Corsica to Crimea, tensions involving national minorities and
majorities are frequent and have a tendency to escalate into violence if left
unattended.