The concept of minority rights is not widely accepted in Arab States although ethnic and religious pluralism has long been a feature of this region. This is most evident in the concept of dhimmi, a ‘protected minority’, found in Shari’a law, which recognizes the responsibility to give protection to some non-Muslim groups living under Islamic rule.

Among the key minority (and/or indigenous) groups across the region are the Kurds in Iraq and Syria, Amazighen in Morocco and Algeria, Dinka in Sudan, Bidouns in Kuwait, Baha’is in Iran, Turkomen in Iraq, Palestinians (who constitute minorities in several States), numerous religious groups, and migrant workers, principally from South Asia. There are also some groups that constitute a numerical majority but remain among the most marginalised. Forms of caste-based discrimination reportedly are practiced against the Al-Akhdam community in Yemen.⁸⁵

Minorities in some cases experience discrimination, in particular in access to employment in the public services. Religious minorities are sometimes restricted in their freedom of religion. Some minority groups (particularly religious minorities) have successfully exercised their rights to establish their own educational institutions. Many groups struggle to maintain their cultural traditions in the face of the overwhelming influence of the majority group(s); the government of Morocco, for example, has included schooling in the Tamazight language and teacher training to help remedy this problem. Many marginalised minority groups remain excluded from public participation, while in other cases individuals from minority groups have held positions of high political office. Several inter-communal conflicts have also occurred in the region. Disputes over territory and autonomy of minorities have sometimes been the source of these conflicts, including in Kurdish inhabited areas and in the Western Sahara inhabited by the indigenous Saharawis people.