Global Advocacy Programme
MRG’s Global Advocacy Programme (GAP) offers an online and practical training as well as direct advocacy opportunities and exchanges to minority activists from all across Africa, Asia and Europe. GAP helps minority representatives to use international and regional mechanisms effectively to demand for an improvement of the lives of their communities.
As shown in this video, the UN Forum on Minority Issues (launched 2008) is a key mechanism for minorities to draw attention to their issues. To do this effectively, GAP offers a UN training around the event and facilitates the attendance of community representatives. Having participated in the comprehensive online training course on human rights as well as minority rights, the UN human rights system and advocacy campaigns, activists can implement their knowledge to advocate on behalf of their community.
While international and regional mechanisms for the protection of minority rights such as the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights or the UN Forum on Minority Issues exist, minority communities - and the organizations representing them - have still too little knowledge of their existence and how to access them. Since 2009, GAP has become instrumental in supporting minority activists from all over the world to acquire the necessary knowledge of international and regional mechanisms. We focus on key regional mechanisms for the protection of minority rights: the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights and the Council of Europe Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities.
Partners and programme countries
Strong regional networks, where members can coordinate their activities as well as share experiences, can increase their impact. Therefore, we pay specific attention to facilitate exchanges between participants and the creation of regional networks to support the work of in-country activists. Here is a non-exhaustive list of countries where the programme is active: Azerbaijan, Georgia in the Caucasus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan in Central Asia, Moldova, Ukraine in Eastern Europe, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia, Montenegro in Southeastern Europe, Turkey on the border of Europe and Asia, Botswana, Cameroon, Kenya, Lesotho, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda in Africa and Cambodia and India in Asia. To highlight just a few:
Minority groups in Kyrgyzstan include Uzbeks and Russians (the two largest in number) as well as Dungans, Kazakhs, Tajiks, Uighurs, etc. The 2004 language law, which increased the prominence of the Kyrgyz language and granting only Russian a sort of official status, reduced opportunities for non-Kyrgyz speakers in terms of employment and education. The instability which followed the overthrow of President Bakiyev in 2010 saw a rise in interethnic tension in Chuy province, with anti-government protests escalating into attacks against ethnic Uighur and Dungan businesses. Interethnic violence erupted once again in June 2010 in the south of the country, as clashes took place between ethnic Kyrgyz and Uzbeks in Osh and Jalalabad. Our Kyrgyz partner, Centre for Multicultural and Multilingual Education says violence against ethnic Uzbeks led to 450 death casualties, while 700 000 people were internally displaced and 80 000 people migrated to Russia. Destruction of property overwhelmingly, though not exclusively, targeted ethnic Uzbek areas and Uzbek-owned establishments.
In India, minority rights of the Kuki people, an indigenous group in the north-east of India which have claimed to be Jewish, have not been respected, and they face a continuous threat of assimilation. Development did not benefit this people. Kukis do not have access to safe drinking water, sanitation, housing, health care and electricity. They are losing control over natural resources and land, and development projects are imposed on them without their consent. Our partner, the Indo-Myanmar Tribal Development Association seeks international help to amend special provisions for the protection of this indigenous community.
See these videos of minorities speaking at the UN in Kyrgyzstan and India.
Modules in GAP
GAP is a 12-week course which offers participants an introduction to minority rights, regional human rights mechanisms and minority rights advocacy. The 12 topics we touch upon include:
- Basic concepts in human and minority rights
- Introduction to the human rights system
- UN legal instruments protecting minorities
- UN political mechanisms for protecting minorities
- Regional instruments and mechanisms
- State reporting and shadow reports
- Participation in international meetings
- Taking up individual cases
- Thematic focus: Multiple form of discrimination
- Guide to advocacy campaigns I-II
- Regional instruments and mechanisms elsewhere