Minorities rights

1. IN THE SUBJECT OF HUMAN RIGHTS
TOPIC – RIGHTS OF MINORITIES UNDER
INTERNATIONAL LAW
PRESENTED BY
VAIBHAV TEOTIA / 18BALLBO3
SUBMITTED TO : MR. SHAHNAWAZ AHMAD MALIK

2. POINTS OF DISCUSSION
 WHO ARE MINORITIES ?
 WHY DO WE NEED MINORITY RIGHTS?
 DEVELOPMENT AND GROWTH OF MINORITY RIGHTS
 ARTICLE 27 OF ICCPR
 RIGHT TO PHYSICAL EXISTENCE
 RIGHT TO PROFESS AND PRACTICE RELIGION
 RIGHT TO USE OWN LANGUAGE
 CONCLUSION

3. WHO ARE MINORITIES ?
 There is no generally agreed definition of minorities in international law.
 First official attempt was made by PCIJ to define the minorities as the
group of people living in given country or locality, having race , religion
,language and tradition of their own , and united by the identity of such
factor in a sentiment of solardity with a view to preserve their tradition.
 DEFINITION OF FRANCESCO CAPOTORT – “ minority as a -
 Group numerically inferior to rest of population
 Members possessed ethinic, linguistic, religious characteristic differ from
others
 Who maintained a sense of salardity directed towards preserving their culture,
traditons, religion and language.

4. WHY DO WE NEED MINORITY RIGHTS ?
 In the multi ethnic societies the majority communities tend to enjoy
the inherently dominant socio-economic and political position.
 Minorities are excluded from the decision making process and power
centres endangering their collective identity and rights of their
members.
 To ensure that they also enjoy a consensus same rights and protection
as enjoyed by majority.
 To save minorities from oppression and forceful assimilation.

5. DEVELOPMENT OF MINORITY RIGHTS
 Protection of minorities under international law is relatively new.
 One of the early attempts at protecting minorities was the 1648 Treaty of
Westphalia, wherein state parties agreed to respect the rights of certain ( not
all) religious minorities within their jurisdiction.
 In addition, the first Bulgarian constitution of 1879 contained safeguards for
its Greek and Turkish minorities.
 The minority protection system developed by the League Of Nations through
peace treaties was thew first remarkable, systematic and comprehensive
attempt to offer legal protection to minorities at international level.
 It had significant limitations and weaknesses. Its scope embraced only the
states on which the peace treaties imposed obligations. Further the system
primarily directed at achieving peace rather affording protection to
minorities per se.

6.  The UN succeeded the League of Nations as a new world organization
immediately after the World War II. For a long time since its creation the UN
showed, if at all, little interest either to adopt the minority protection system
of the League or to develop a new system of its own for the protection of
minorities. The UN preferred to develop a universal system of protection of
human rights for all.
 The 1948 UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of
Genocide seemed to be the only exception of the post World War trend of
subsuming minority rights within the broader framework of human rights.
 The UN, however, later realised that further measures were needed in order to
better protect persons belonging to minorities from discrimination and to
promote their identity.
 United Nations Commission on Human Rights decided to establish a Sub-
Commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities.
 The major UN breakthrough, however, was the insertion of Article 27 in the
ICCPR. This is regarded as the first norm that has universalized the concept of
minority rights.

7.  Today, in international law Article 27 is the most widely acknowledged provision
affording protection to minorities which states:
 "In those States in which ethnic, religious or linguistic minorities exist, persons
belonging to such minorities shall not be denied the right in community with the
other members of their group,
 to enjoy their own culture,
 to profess and practice their own religion, or
 to use their own language".

8. CONTENTS OF MINORITY RIGHTS
1-RIGHT TO PHYSICAL EXISTENCE
 The right to existence of minorities was first recognised in the 1948 Genocide
Convention which prohibits the physical or biological destruction of national,
ethnic, religious or racial group.
 The right to existence here is viewed in terms of protection against genocide.
 The adoption of the 1992 UN Declaration on the rights of minorities was yet
another important development explicitly recognising the right to existence of
minorities.
 The Declaration obliges the States-
to protect the ‘existence’ and ‘identity’ of minorities within their respective
territories.
The linkage of ‘existence’ with ‘identity’ in the Declaration is considered a positive
development as it will expand the meaning of ‘existence’ also to include a ‘cultural
existence’.

9. 2-RIGHT TO ENJOY ONE’S OWN CULTURE
 The reference to cultural rights is found in almost all international human
rights instruments in at least some of their aspects. “Everyone has the right
freely to participate in the cultural life of the Community” states the UDHR.
 More specifically Article 27 of the ICCPR recognizes the rights of people
belonging to minorities to enjoy their own culture.
 The UN Minority Declaration proclaims more positive cultural right by obliging
states to ‘create favourable conditions’ for the development of minority
cultures.
 The cultural rights of minorities are not absolute and may not be legitimately
exercised in any manner or to an extent inconsistent with other human rights
recognised by the ICCPR.

10. 3-RIGHT TO PROFESS AND PRACTICE RELIGION
 Article 18 of UDHR recognises that, “ everyone shall have the right to
freedom of thought, conscience, religion.”
 Article 18 of ICCPR also guarantees the same rights listed in article 18 of
UDHR.
 Article 27 in the specific context of minorities protects their rights from being
denied the right to profess and practice their own religion.
 The religion interpretated in the broader sense as to encompass both theistic
and non theistic religion as well as rare and virtually unknown faiths.
 The UN declaration on the elimination of all forms of intolerance and
discrimination based on religion or belief provides comprehensive catalogue
of religious rights in ARTICLE 6

11. ARTICLE 6 of UN declaration on the elimination of
all forms of intolerance and discrimination based on
religion and belief.
 RIGHT TO HAVE A RELIGION OR BELIEF OF HIS CHOICE
 RIGHT TO MANIFEST SAME IN WORSHIP, OBSERVANCE , PRACTICE, AND
TEACHING
 RIGHT TO ASSEMBLE IN CONNECTION WITH A RELIGION
 RIGHT TO ESTABLISH & MAINTAIN PLACES FOR ABOVE PURPOSES.
 RIGHT TO CELEBRATE HOLIDAYS AND CEREMONIES IN ACCORDANCE
WITH PERCEPTS OF ONE’S RELIGION OR BELIEF.

12. 4-RIGHT TO USE ONE’S OWN LANGUAGE
 In many states minority speaks different language to that of majority often faced
difficulty in using their language.
 Article 27 of ICCPR, provides that individual belonging to a linguistic minority may
use their language and state must not seek to restrict their affairs because of their
status.
 For instance, minority are allowed to maintain their schools imparting instruction
in their language.
 ARTICE 4 of Declaration on the Rights of Persons belonging to National or Ethnic ,
Religious and Linguistic minorities obliges the states to create favourable
conditions to enable persons for express and development of their tradition ,
culture, language, customs.
 Clause 3 of article 4 of above said declaration provides that state should take
appropriate measures so that , linguistic minorities may have adequate
opportunity to learn their mother tongue or to have instruction in their mother
tongue

13. CONCLUSION
 Undoubtedly, there are various international legal instruments explicitly
recognising minority rights, nevertheless their efficacy and adequacy are often
doubted. The principles enunciated in various minority rights instruments are, for
the most part, not only very general but are also subject to multiple
interpretations.
 Implementation mechanisms are also veryweak. Minority rights provisions are
mostly couched in rather vague language, leaving state parties a considerable
amount of discretion in interpretation and implementation. The reluctance to
recognise minority groups as holders of rights further weaken the situation.
 The international community has made significant strides in articulating minority
rights. What is now required is to ensure that political and legal commitments
accepted by states for their minorities are effectively monitored and enforced in
good faith. This is also an essential condition for greater stability and peace within
and across State borders.