Minority Secretariat

In 2005 the Minority Secretariat in Berlin was established for the associations of the national minorities in Germany.

The Minority Secretariat has the following tasks and functions:

• Being the liaison office for the associations of the recognised minorities with the federal institutions, in particular the Federal Parliament, Federal Government and Federal Council. Observing and monitoring the parliamentary work in the Federal Republic of Germany and its committees in view of minority-related interests and issues,
• Keeping in contact with and representing the positions of the four recognised minorities vis-à-vis parliamentary committees, members of parliament, parliamentary groups and the government and the ministries,
• Looking after the interests of the four recognised minorities in relation to implementing provisions of legal acts and in relation to grant decisions,
• Elaborating joint statements and expert reports on behalf of the minority organisations,
• Public relations work about those subjects that affect minority policy and the interests of the minorities, their language and culture; providing information about the national minorities and minority policy in Germany,
• Representing the minority associations in national and international bodies, e.g.
  • Substitute member of the advisory council to the German Federal Anti-Discrimination Agency (ADS)
  • Representative of the minority organisations at the “OSCE Human Dimension Implementation Meeting”
• Contact partner for the minority-related monitoring bodies of the Council of Europe
• Functioning as the Secretariat for the Minority Council of the four recognised autochthonous national minorities in Germany

The current head of the Minority Secretariat in Germany is Gösta Nissen.

The Minority Secretariat is located at Bundesallee 216-218 in Berlin. The Secretariat is supported by the German Federal Ministry of the Interrior and funded from the budget of the Federal Republic of Germany.