Romani kris - Scandinavian non-state conflict resolution in light of minority rights

The Rom legal culture and applied normative orders vary between different Rom communities, and is often divided into two main practices, i.e. tribunals and private solutions. The main form of tribunals is the so called Kris, while the foremost private solution is feuds. Gypsy law can be seen at the same time as a lawmaking mechanism, a control mechanism and an adjudicating process, as a more or less complete legal system. It is often portrayed as an important identity marker, as a demarcation of the Rom culture and identity in opposition to mainstream society, and as a mean of preserving Rom community, identity and culture. Scholars have also highlighted over-control, alienation and discrimination of Roma, and the subsequent mistrust of mainstream society as a main reason for the strength of Gypsy law.
The Roma are an ethno-cultural minority in the Scandinavian countries, and protected as a national minority in Norway and Sweden under the ‘European framework convention for the protection of national minorities.’ The signatories of the convention have a responsibility to “respect the ethnic, cultural, linguistic and religious identity of each person belonging to a national minority” and to “create appropriate conditions enabling them to express, preserve and develop this identity.” The national minorities should further be guaranteed “the right of equality before the law and of equal protection of the law.“ Gypsy law is an inherent part of the Rom community and identity, and could hence be regarded as granted protection under the framework convention. A main question in this regard is how the state relates to this, and whether it can and should protected a non-state legal system and give it appropriate conditions to develop and to process cases. Another question is whether the right of equality before the law and equal protection of the law also should consider the role of Gypsy law. Could it for example be regarded as double punishment to receive a reaction from both legal systems? The aims of this project it to presents current research on Gypsy law in Scandinavia and on Gypsy laws possible relevance in state criminal courts, furthermore it is to discuss the relation between state legal system, the non-state Gypsy law and minority rights.