Those who would break up the country are strong nationalists, not likely to treat minorities within their own borders well.
Europeans differ on the limits of free expression and how to treat minorities.
"The problem of how to treat minorities is the essential problem for all of us in Bosnia," he said.
When it comes to treating religious minorities equally, the American record is much more mixed - and remains so.
According to an EMI member writing in 2004, the church now treats sexual minorities with a degree of acceptance.
He opposes affirmative action and other policies that treat minorities as groups.
The way a country treats ethnic minorities and the quality of the relationship among them are important indicators of democratic maturity.
This is not for nothing: the credibility of a government is also based on how it treats minorities.
The essence of a democracy is how the majority treats minorities and I urge the House to remember that tradition.
He fell out with his colleagues over the way the state treated ethnic minorities, leading to problems with the authorities.