During the last fifteen to twenty years, several new instruments and monitoring and dialogue institutions and procedures have been added to the international minority protection regime. It now amounts to more than fifty instruments and some dozen monitoring and dialogue institutions with minority-specific provisions. In addition, members of minorities are entitled to the equal enjoyment of all human rights and equal access to all implementation and monitoring procedures designed for human rights in general. Indeed, there has been a steady increase in the application of general human rights instruments for the protection of members of minority groups, and an increasing sensitivity to the needs of such persons. Hence, the reference to a minority protection regime rather than merely minority rights is most appropriate.

The expansion of the minority protection regime has occurred relatively quickly, but it has been uneven and unorganised, with a variety of motivations behind the steps taken and with the involvement of several international organisations. Imposing minority rights on third states is distinctly easier than committing to them internally. Double standards appear in the foreign policies of states and these may also impact on international responses. Much of the recent attention has been security-oriented, with a focus on the prevention of violent conflict in the short term, but the interest of states in minority rights tends to drop as soon as the threat of serious violence recedes, even when discriminatory patterns and practices persist.