2.1 WHO ARE MINORITIES?

No legal definition of the term ‘minority’ has been agreed in international law. Individual States recognize a wide range of groups domestically as minorities based on shared ethnic, cultural, religious and/or linguistic characteristics. Such groups are typically non-dominant vis-à-vis the majority(ies) in the spheres of economic, political, social and/or cultural life.

In the absence of a formal definition, the existence of a minority group can be assessed using objective and subjective criteria; these criteria have been elaborated by various UN independent experts drawing from international standards.1

  • Objective criteria focus on the shared characteristics of the group such as ethnicity, national origin, culture, language or religion. These categories derive from the only global standard on minorities, the UN Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities (UNDM) (see Annex 1) and article 27 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) concerning the rights of persons belonging to ethnic, religious and linguistic minorities.
  • The term ‘race’ is sometimes used alongside ‘ethnicity’ in legislation on non-discrimination; this is not considered an endorsement of the notion of distinct races but is recognition that practices of racism and racial discrimination nevertheless persist and need to be combated.
  • Subjective criteria focus on two key points: the principle of self-identification and the desire to preserve the group identity. According to the principle of self-identification, individuals belonging to minority groups have the right to self-identify as a minority or to not self-identify as a minority (see UNDM article 3.2). A minority community has the right to assert its status as a minority and thereby to claim minority rights. Individuals can claim their membership in a minority community on the basis of objective criteria, including shared ethnicity, culture, language and religion. The preservation of the minority group identity depends on the expressed will of the minority community.
Article 27 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR):

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.

A similar provision is found in article 30 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC).

Recognition of minority status in some countries is limited by the domestic legal framework and/or local social constructions. Many constitutions legally recognise certain groups as minorities but frequently apply restrictive definitions. For example, in parts of Europe, the Roma have historically been denied recognition as national minorities because they lacked a defined territorial homeland. In some countries, the concept of ‘minority’ is not socially or politically accepted. In some cases, the term ‘minority’ might not exist in local languages. In such cases, alternative terms like excluded groups, marginalised communities or vulnerable groups can be used provided that due attention is still given to the distinct ethnic, cultural, religious or linguistic identity of the minority group.

There are potential divergences between how countries define minorities, how international standards define minorities and how minorities define themselves. Groups that self-identify as minorities with a view to accessing minority protection offered at the international level may be confronted with difficulties when claiming rights as minorities per se domestically.

 

  • Access to power and vulnerability to exclusion are factors in assessing the need for protection of minority rights
  • Minority protection is required by non-dominant groups
  • Groups that are dominant economically, but not politically or socially, may also need protection


The principle of self-identification in selected international standards:

The UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD), General Recommendation VIII, states that unless there is justification to the contrary, identification of persons as members of a racial or ethnic group will be based on “self-identification by the individual concerned”. The UN Human Rights Committee (HRC) has said in General Comment 23, that for the application of ICCPR article 27 on minorities, the existence of a minority group must be determined by fact and not merely by a decision of the state. The OSCE Copenhagen Document (1990) states, “To belong to a national minority is a matter of a person’s individual choice and no disadvantage may arise from the exercise of such choice” (paragraph 32). In the case of indigenous peoples, the ILO Convention 169 Concerning Indigenous and Tribal Peoples states self-identification is the fundamental criterion for determining the groups to which the convention applies (article 1.2). Article 33.1 of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, refers to the rights of indigenous peoples, “to determine their own identity or membership in accordance with their customs and traditions”. See UNDG Guidelines on Indigenous Peoples’ Issues, p 8-9.

 

1 See, for example, the UN Human Rights Committee, General Comment No. 23: The Rights of Minorities (Article 27), CCPR/C/21/Rev.1/Add.5; the UN Working Group on Minorities, Commentary on the UN Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities, E/CN.4/Sub.2/AC.5/2005/2 (4 April 2005); and the UN Independent Expert on Minority Issues, Annual Report of the Independent Expert on Minority Issues, E/CN.4/2006/74 (6 January 2006).

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