Recognition of minorities facilitates the protection of minority rights. There is no right to recognition per se in international law. Recognition of minority groups by the State is not a necessary condition for claiming minority protection but it may help. The existence of minorities is a matter of fact, rather than a matter of law. According to the UN Human Rights Committee, such existence ‘does not depend upon a decision by that State party but [must] be established by objective criteria’.⁹

Even in the absence of legal recognition of minorities by the State, de facto recognition may assist States to acknowledge and respond to the problems faced by minorities. States will be able to better tackle inequality and reduce tensions within their societies if they acknowledge that ethnic, cultural, religious and linguistic diversity exists, and that groups may face discrimination and exclusion along these lines.

Recognition of minorities facilitates development: if minorities are not recognized, steps to ensure they benefit equally from development cannot be implemented easily or directly. Recognition facilitates peaceful coexistence: the failure to recognize minorities and the marginalisation they face can create inter-communal tensions and even conflict. Recognition facilitates democratic governance: participatory and multicultural States acknowledge the diversity of communities that constitute the polity.

Recognition also facilitates the protection of other minority rights. Recognition may enable:

• the collection of disaggregated data
• identification of discrimination based on ethnicity religion, language or descent
• participation in stakeholder consultations
• access to citizenship
• minority language education and media
• affirmative action in employment.
  

Recognition of minorities is instrumental for development interventions. Recognition aids in participation, data collection, monitoring and evaluation.

	Policy Responses on Recognition: Recognition of minorities can be made in constitutions, public policies, by legal registration of minority organizations, or indirectly in census data or other surveys. In Canada, for example, the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms (1982) recognizes the “multicultural heritage of Canadians”, two official languages (French and English), non-discrimination on the basis of “race, national or ethnic origin, colour, religion, sex, age or mental or physical disability” and specific protections regarding the rights of aboriginal peoples of Canada. Census taking can be reformed to include data collection enabling persons belonging to minorities to express their ethnic, religious or linguistic identity for census purposes. The World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank organized a series of conferences in Latin America entitled ‘Todos Contamos”(“Everyone Counts”) in order to support national governments and civil society to formulate better disaggregated data collection strategies. Policies in a range of areas can promote recognition of minority identities, including public support for broadcasting in minority languages, curriculum reform to raise awareness of diversity, or public recognition of multi-denominational religious holidays. Government authorities could engage minorities in dialogue on recognition and could provide technical support for drafting a legal and regulatory framework, thereby adopting positive measures for protection and promotion of minority identities. Government authorities could engage minorities in dialogue on recognition and could provide technical support for drafting a legal and regulatory framework, thereby adopting positive measures for protection and promotion of minority identities.