The end of the Soviet period in Central and Eastern Europe and the Balkans has seen the open development of tensions in the region based on the presence of minority groups in states trying to reassert their individual identity. There has been a flurry of international activity by various organizations to establish minority rights standards and to ensure their implementation. It is the thesis of this article that the idea of minority rights in international law stems originally from the treatment of religious minorities, and subsequently minorities defined in other terms, in this region, and that modern mechanisms to guarantee minority rights can be seen to have developed from the perceived need to make minority rights a matter of international concern rather than one solely for the kin-state. The various mechanisms in use now directly build upon the perceived successes and failures of earlier systems.