Minority Rights
Minority rights refer to the protection and promotion of the rights of individuals or groups who are in a numerical minority within a society. These rights aim to ensure equal treatment, non-discrimination, and the ability to participate fully in political, social, and cultural life. They often encompass issues such as language rights, religious freedom, and representation in decision-making processes.
4 Key excerpts on "Minority Rights"
eBook - ePubMinority Rights Protection in International Law
The Roma of Europe
- Helen O'Nions(Author)
- 2016(Publication Date)
- Routledge(Publisher)
...Chapter 6 The Protection of Minorities in International Human Rights Law Introduction The importance of international human rights law in the protection of the rights of minorities has not been universally accepted. 1 As a result, such protection has, in the past, been patchy and inadequate. Recent history has shown the world that Minority Rights cannot be ignored and that rather than increasing irredentist tendencies they may be a prerequisite for the peaceful stable societies which benefit us all. In a detailed study on the rights of minorities, Special Rapporteur Eide identified three crucial components in the protection of minorities: respect for the equality of all human beings; group diversity when required to ensure the dignity and identity of all; and an approach which aimed to advance stability and peace, both domestically and internationally. 2 The first of these complimentary 3 issues has been dealt with in Chapter 3 which raised serious questions over the ability of international law to protect minorities when grounded in a purely individualist foundation. This chapter will focus on the promotion of group diversity under international law. It will aim to clarify the types of groups protected and the extent of that protection while critically evaluating its effectiveness with reference to Eide’s third point. Minority Rights and non-discrimination can be viewed as two sides of the same coin. The United Nations Sub-Commission on the Prevention of Discrimination and the Protection of Minorities distinguished them as follows: 1. Prevention of discrimination is the prevention of any action which denies to individuals or groups of people equality of treatment which they may wish. 2...
eBook - ePubThe Kurdish Question and Turkey
An Example of a Trans-state Ethnic Conflict
- Kemal Kirisci, Gareth M. Winrow(Authors)
- 2013(Publication Date)
- Routledge(Publisher)
...Limited cultural rights could be granted in such instances which would not seem to threaten state cohesion in the manner that the recognition of ethnic or national minorities might. The problem here, of course, is the case of an ethnic group which shares the same religion as the dominant ethnic group/nation within a state. This group could not be officially classified as a religious minority. And members of this ethnic group may be seeking to obtain the so-called rights of an ethnic or national minority. What Are the Rights of a Minority? One commentator has referred to Minority Rights as ‘the rights of minorities to receive equal treatment, to practise their culture, religion and language, and to participate fully in the political and economic life of the state’. 6 It would seem that these rights would be compatible with a state based on genuine civic, democratic pluralism, i.e., a political community. If Minority Rights are not granted, a ‘minority group’ could in certain cases be threatened with total assimilation and thus the leaders of this endangered group might attempt to secede. This depiction of Minority Rights is a description rather than a strict definition which could have legal and political meaning. In addition to the problem of identifying a minority group, one also must be clear what Minority Rights are and how they may be respected and enforced. The League of Nations did attempt to establish a form of minority-rights protection system for newly created states or for those states defeated in the First World War. These states in eastern and central Europe were compelled to conclude Minorities Treaties which would be ‘guaranteed’ by the League. By these treaties minorities within these states were accorded, inter alia, rights to establish their own schools, use their own language, practise their religion and enjoy equality before the law. However, they were not granted the right to autonomy, for instance...
eBook - ePubLanguage and Minority Rights
Ethnicity, Nationalism and the Politics of Language
- Stephen May(Author)
- 2013(Publication Date)
- Routledge(Publisher)
...The value of such differences and the right to value such differences have not yet generally been recognised by the modern Western sense of justice …(1991: 72) Nonetheless, there is a nascent consensus emerging within international law on the validity of minority language and education rights. This is predicated on the basis that the protection of minority languages does fall within generalist principles of human rights (May, 2011b; cf. Kymlicka, 2001, 2007). Following from this, there is a growing acceptance of differentiated linguistic and educational provision for minority groups, along with the degree of institutional autonomy that such developments necessarily entail. Accordingly, ongoing disputes are increasingly concerned with the degree to which these activities should be state funded, not whether they should exist at all. The current debates over minority language and education rights within international law can be traced back to approaches adopted toward minority groups in previous centuries. As discussed briefly in Chapter 3, treaties were often employed in the nineteenth century for the protection of minority groups, initially on the basis of religion and later on the grounds of nationality. These practices culminated in the endorsement by the League of Nations of the Minority Protection Scheme (MPS) – a range of bilateral treaties aimed at securing special political status for minority groups within Europe. The MPS-overseen by the League's Permanent Court of International Justice (PCIJ)-was primarily concerned with the protection of ‘displaced’ minorities in other nation-states, the result in turn of the reorganization of European state boundaries after the First World War...
eBook - ePubMinorities' Claims: From Autonomy to Secession
International Law and State Practice
- Gnanapala Welhengama(Author)
- 2017(Publication Date)
- Routledge(Publisher)
...Uncertainty about the precise definition has created confusion and ambiguity, and the concept of minority has become a controversial subject amongst international jurists and States. Without knowing who minorities are it is difficult to accommodate specific rights (Packer, 1993:26) because Minority Rights are different from general human rights. Consequently the rights and claims of minorities may be obstructed when they try to assert legal claims based on group identity before international tribunals. It is not necessary to emphasise that the identity of a person with a group is associated with his or her rights. How international law has so far failed to identify and define a minority in specific legal terms and why States have been reluctant to do so is the focus of this chapter. NonP recognition of Minority Rights has also been instrumental in the escalation of tension between minorities and States. 2.1 The Dilemma of Defining ‘a Minority’: “Controversial and, as yet, Unfruitful” States generally seem to be reluctant to agree a precise definition of minorities. Special Rapporteur Capotorti reported (1979: 95): When it comes to determining what groups constitute minorities, all kinds of difficulties arise. We have seen that, religious minorities apart, relatively few States expressly recognize the existence in their populations of groups described as ‘ethnic or linguistic minorities’ and that, while a considerable number of States have introduced measures granting special rights to various ethnic and linguistic groups, the majority prefer not to apply the term ‘minority’ to them. Eddison (1993:3) referred to the difficulties which States face in the search for an internationally acceptable definition of minority, as “a fundamental paradox of human rights discourses”, “definitional vacuum”, and “conceptual imprecision”. She says that such attempts “have been notably controversial and, as yet, unfruitful” (Eddison, 1993:3)...
