Transcript Document

Minority rights
Social Equality Law
Helena Pereira de Melo
Antanas Urbonas
2012
Definition of minority

‘Minorities are disadvantaged ethnic,
national, religious, linguistic or cultural
groups who are smaller in number than
the rest of the population and who may
wish to maintain and develop their
identity.’
from http://www.minorityrights.org
What are minority rights?

The term “Minority rights" embodies two
separate concepts: first, normal
individual rights as applied to members of
racial, ethnic, class, religious, linguistic or
sexual minorities, and second, collective
rights accorded to minority groups. The term
may also apply simply to individual rights of
anyone who is not part of a majority decision.
Types of minority groups (1)

Groups who are classified
according to obvious
physical characteristics, e.g.
skin color (for example, US
Racial Minority Groups are
Blacks, American Indian,
Asian Americans,
Hawaiians)
Types of minority groups (2)

Ethnic (nationalities)
minorities:
Groups who are
differentiated on the
basis of culture such as
language, food.
(for example swiss
people would be ethnic
minority in German, but
not racial,
afroamericans would be
both, racial and ethnic)
Types of minority groups (2)

Gender minority:
Males are a social
majority
Types of minority groups (3)

Religion minority:
Groups who have a
religion other than
the dominant faith.
Types of minority groups (4)

Age minority: older
people are social
minority comparing
to middle-age
people;
Types of minority groups (5)

Disabled people
minorities
Types of minority groups (6)
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Sexual orientation
minorities
Defense of minority rights in
in International Law (1)
International Covenant on Civil and
Political Rights (1966):
PART II Article 2 part 1
‘Each State Party to the present Covenant
undertakes to respect and to ensure to all
individuals within its territory and subject to
its jurisdiction the rights recognized in the
present Covenant, without distinction of any
kind, such as race, colour, sex, language,
religion, political or other opinion, national or
social origin, property, birth or other status.’

Defense of minority rights in
in International Law (2)
The Universal Declaration of Human
Rights (1948):
Article 1.
‘All human beings are born free and equal
in dignity and rights. They are endowed
with reason and conscience and should
act towards one another in a spirit of
brotherhood.’
Defense of minority rights in
in International Law (3)
Convention for the Protection
of Human Rights
and Fundamental Freedoms (1950):
ARTICLE 14
‘Prohibition of discrimination
The enjoyment of the rights and freedoms set forth in this
Convention shall be secured without discrimination on any
ground such as
sex, race, colour, language, religion, political or other
opinion,
national or social origin, association with a national minority,
property, birth or other status.’
Defense of minority rights in
in International Law (4)
Protocol No. 12 to the Convention for the
Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental
Freedoms (2000):
ARTICLE 1
General prohibition of discrimination
‘1. The enjoyment of any right set forth by law shall be secured
without discrimination on any ground such as sex, race, colour,
language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social
origin,
association with a national minority, property, birth or other
status.
2. No one shall be discriminated against by any public authority
on any ground such as those mentioned in paragraph 1.’

Defense of minority rights in in
International Law (5)
International Convention on the Elimination of All
Forms of Racial Discrimination(signed 1965, valid from
1969):
Article 7
‘States Parties undertake to adopt immediate and effective
measures, particularly in the fields of teaching, education,
culture and information, with a view to combating prejudices
which lead to racial discrimination and to promoting
understanding, tolerance and friendship among nations and
racial or ethnical groups, as well as to propagating the
purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations,
the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the United
Nations Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial
Discrimination, and this Convention.’

Defense of minority rights in in
International Law (6)

CONVENTION ON THE ELIMINATION OF ALL
FORMS OF DISCRIMINATION AGAINST
WOMEN (1979)(1)
Article 5: ’States Parties shall take all appropriate measures:
(a) To modify the social and cultural patterns of conduct of
men and women, with a view to achieving the elimination of
prejudices and customary and all other practices which are
based on the idea of the inferiority or the superiority of either
of the sexes or on stereotyped roles for men and women’;
CONVENTION ON THE ELIMINATION OF
ALL FORMS OF DISCRIMINATION
AGAINST WOMEN (1979)(2)

‘(b) To ensure that family education
includes a proper understanding of
maternity as a social function and the
recognition of the common
responsibility of men and women in the
upbringing and development of their
children, it being understood that the
interest of the children is the primordial
consideration in all cases.’
cases
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Ethnic minorities in other countries:
Macedonians in Greece;
Pole people in Lithuania;
Romani (gipsies) in all countries;
Russians in Estonia and Latvia.
The case of Estonia (1)

Approximately one-third of Estonian residents are not
ethnic Estonians, and an overwhelming majority of
that proportion of the population are Russianspeakers. Probably the most telling fact about
Estonia's ethnic minorities is that only 38 percent of
them hold Estonian citizenship, despite of having
been residents for decades. The remaining are either
stateless persons or citizens of the Russian
Federation. Since 1998, the government has made
efforts to encourage these residents to apply for
Estonian citizenship. The major obstacle to obtaining
the blue Estonian passport for many is passing the
Estonian language proficiency examination.
The case of Estonia (2)

One of the difficulties arising from the fact that the
majority of Russian-speakers are still not fluent in the
official language is that there is very little
communicative space that the titular nation and the
minority share. The integration policies, including
those related to mass media and other information
distribution channels, are based on the assumption
that, since the Estonian language dominates the
public sphere, anyone who wishes to be informed
and participate in the public sphere should first learn
Estonian. Thus, the government's efforts have been
directed mainly at facilitating Estonian language
education.
The case of Estonia (3)

Russian-speakers do not always have equal
access to institutions of higher education,
since one of the requirements for enrollment
exams is writing an essay in Estonian. This
requirement is particularly difficult for
students from the north-eastern part of the
country, who cannot be expected to have
achieved a level of fluency in Estonian
comparable to that of ethnic Estonian highschool graduates.
Questions:

Historical view: Can we call a group of
people ‘Minority’, when this group is
bigger than others, but still is
discriminated? (For example Aborigines
in XVIII century in Australia, slaves in in
States, South Africa indigenous people
in XIX century)
Indigenous people
Indigenous peoples are descendants of the peoples
who inhabited the land or territory prior to
colonization or the establishment of State borders;
they possess distinct social, economic and political
systems, languages, cultures and beliefs, and are
determined to maintain and develop this distinct
identity; they exhibit strong attachment to their
ancestral lands and the natural resources contained
therein; and/or they belong to the non-dominant
groups of a society and identify themselves as
indigenous peoples.
Brazil's Xingu
Indigenous people vs.
minorities (1)
Indigenous peoples can claim minority rights under
international law, and there are United Nations mandates
and mechanisms dedicated specially to protecting their
rights. In its work, the United Nations has applied the 4
principle of self-identification with regard to indigenous
peoples and minorities. In practical terms, a number of
connections and commonalities exist between indigenous
peoples and national, ethnic, linguistic and religious
minorities. Both groups are usually in a non-dominant
position in the society in which they live and their cultures,
languages or religious beliefs may be different from the
majority or the dominant groups.
Indigenous people vs.
minorities (2)
Both indigenous peoples and minorities
commonly wish to retain and promote their
identity. Situations can be found on the
ground where an indigenous group could ind
itself in a minority-like situation and, equally,
some minorities have strong and longstanding attachments to their lands and
territories as do indigenous peoples.
Minorities, however, do not necessarily have
the long ancestral, traditional and spiritual
attachment and connections to their lands
and territories that are usually associated
with self-identiication as indigenous peoples.
Indigenous people vs.
minorities (3)
In terms of rights, minorities have
traditionally highlighted their rights to have
their existence as a group protected, their
identity recognized and their effective
participation in public life and respect for their
cultural, religious and linguistic pluralism
safeguarded. Indigenous peoples, while also
highlighting such rights, have also
traditionally advocated recognition of their
rights over land and resources, selfdetermination and being part of decisionmaking in matters that affect them.
Indigenous people vs.
minorities (4)
For example, there are The United Nations
Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous
Peoples requires States to consult and
cooperate with indigenous peoples to obtain
their free, prior and informed consent before
undertaking development activities that might
have an impact on them, whereas the United
Nations Minorities Declaration contains a
more general right to participate in decisionmaking and requires that the legitimate
interests of persons belonging to minorities
should be taken into account in national
planning and programming.
Thanks for your attention