The Protection Of Minorities

We live in a world that not only sets standards for, but also professes its commitment to promoting and protecting ‘rights’. Since ours is an age of heightened public interest in auditing the actual realisation of such standards and commitment, the first major focus of this book is a critical account of international standards aimed at the protection of minorities. To that end, it concentrates on four key dimensions. Firstly, it addresses the issue of the identification of minorities as understood by international law. Secondly, it outlines a brief history on the development of international law towards improving the protection of minorities. Thirdly, it gives an overview of international instruments and mechanisms on minorities. Finally, it analyses the rights of minorities under international standards. All these dimensions point to the fact that international minority rights lag behind the development of other branches of rights. The second major focus of this book is to relate international standards on minority protection to South Asian regimes. Concentrating on India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, the Maldives, and Afghanistan, an endeavor is made to examine the state of minorities and their protection under the domestic regimes. It emerges that the normative commitments of these states are more or less compatible with international standards. Nevertheless, majority-minority syndrome persistently remains as one of the causes behind multidimensional deprivation and victimization of South Asian minorities. The present book also assesses the extent to which regional cooperation in South Asia has so far contributed to extending protection to minorities. This ends with an argument that SAARC (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation) has the potential to play a far greater role in this regard.

The issue of minority rights continues to occupy a sensitive position in international law. Historical as well as contemporary events show that the subject is also capable of engulfing the international community as a whole. The contention of the present study is that international law is in itself a difficult medium for providing adequate rights for minorities and for effectively safeguarding those rights. This volume analyses the weaknesses in the international protection of minority rights through a detailed examination of the practices and policies of Pakistan. Thought-provoking and original in its approach, this volume will prove to be of enormous value to international human rights lawyers and to scholars engaged in the study of minority rights in South-Asia and Pakistan.

This volume examines minority protection in international law. Its task is twofold: to examine existing methods of minority protection, and to analyse the underlying justifications of minority protection as reflected in international legal standards and discourse. Part I outlines the theoretical framework; Part II addresses minority protection and its justifications in the League of Nations, the Council of Europe, the OSCE and the United Nations. Finally, the author argues that it is possible to develop a working holistic approach to minority protection combining protection of peace, human dignity and culture.

From the dawn of modern international law, manifold treaties (especially peace treaties) have recognized the rights of specific minorities in specific territories. Today -- with Eastern Europe once more in turmoil and with minority groups all over the world clamouring for recognition -- there is a growing awareness that, irrespective of the observance of the fundamental freedoms of individuals, minority groups have their legitimate interests that must be appreciated and accommodated. This collection of essays grew out of an international legal colloquium, held at the Faculty of Law of Tel Aviv University in March 1990. Some of the papers have already been published in volume 20 of the Israel Yearbook on Human Rights, but others are printed here for the first time. The authors come from different parts of the world and represent different legal backgrounds. They are by no means at one in their analysis of the human rights of minority groups, but they all share the sense that problems of minorities cannot be brushed aside or glossed over. It is not too hazardous to forecast that these problems will actually intensify in the 21st century. Whereas they cannot be solved through exclusively legal means, international and constitutional lawyers must do their utmost to identify flash points and to offer at least some prescriptive guidelines. This is the principal purpose of the present volume.

2 Article 16 ECHR.

"The present guide offers information related to norms and mechanisms developed to protect the rights of persons belonging to national, ethnic, religious or linguistic minorities. It includes detailed information about procedures and forums in which minority issues may be raised to minorities and by also covering selected specialized agencies and regional mechanisms, the present Guide complements information contained in Working with the United Nations Human Rights Programme: A Handbook for Civil Society"--Introduction.

This publication aims to make the Venice Commission's work in the field of protection of minorities more available to the public. It includes, on the one hand, the Proposal for a European Convention on the protection of minorities, as a reply to the heartfelt need for protection of minorities at the European level. The proposal and its explanatory report appear in the first chapter of the publication. This publication includes, in addition, firstly the report on the protection of minorities at domestic law level which was drawn up within the framework of the Venice Commission and secondly the report concerning the special protection of which minorities can take advantage in States with a Federal or Regional structure. The report in question was established on the basis of replies provided by representatives of several European and non-European States to a questionnaire drawn up by the Commission; the questionnaire, together with the replies, appears in an Appendix to the report. Perusal of the replies given by representatives of different States to the same question allows for a rapid appraisal of the solutions adopted in national laws to identical problems of protection of minorities. The European Commission for Democracy through Law considers the question of the protection of minorities to be one of the most important fields of its activity. (Adapted from.

Minority protection is integral to a civilised standard of internal good governance. The goal of promoting friendly inter-group relations within states highlights the linkages between constitutionalism and the extending reach of international law in shaping domestic governance and structuring relations between the state, non-state communities and individuals. While law per se cannot guarantee the security and integrity of minority groups, law and legal institutions play a role in promoting a tolerant and pluralistic environment and a multicultural ethos that appreciates, rather than resents, ethno-cultural diversity. This book is a comprehensive, modern study of the important field of international protection of minority rights, focusing on 20th century developments. Minority rights regimes, which address the issue of group identity and autonomy, have essentially been a stabilising force, buttressing state survivability in the face of claims to self-determination or secession. These serve to promote the peaceful co-existence of distinct ethno-cultural groups, captured by the metaphor of ‘Babel’, within existing states. Despite overlaps, the content of minority protection is more modest than the claim of indigenous groups for collective rights or peoples’ rights to self-determination. As part of the contemporary corpus of human rights norms, minority protection may be appreciated as an aspect of the evolving content of the ‘internal’ dimension of the right to self-determination. Chapter 1 introduces some key definitional and conceptual problems in the field of minority protection and presents a brief historical review of international approaches up to 1919. Chapter 2 discusses the League of Nations era. Chapter 3 examines approaches towards minority protection after World War Two as reflected in the drafting of the United Nations Charter and efforts to protect minorities outside the UN regime. In this period, discussed in Chapters 4 and 5, minorities' issues remained largely submerged within the UN project of promoting universal individual human rights. Chapter 6 addresses the post-1989 revival in minorities' issues within the UN; Chapter 7 offers a succinct overview of what might be considered a parallel history with respect to the development of regional human rights schemes and what these afford to minority protection, closing with concluding observations. Meticulously researched, this volume offers a valuable synthesis of this important but often heart-breaking field.