Decisions and Recommendations of the UN Working Group on Minorities - 10th Session

15 March 2004

VII. DECISIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

1. On the basis of the discussions held during the tenth session, the Working Group agreed on its decisions and recommendations for future action, which are set out below. Minor changes were made to take account of comments made and suggestions raised and agreed to during the discussion.

A. Working Group on Minorities

a Promotion and realization of the Declaration

2. Decides to continue at the 11th session, the debate under sub-item 3 (a) as follows:

(a) First, to have a general debate on particularly important developments concerning minority situations around the world and to review and follow-up the minority situations raised at the previous session;

(b) Second, to cluster the issues concerning (i) Roma, (ii) Afro-descendants, (iii) nomads, pastoralists, hunter-gatherers and shifting cultivators, (iv) religious minorities, (v) linguistic minorities, (vi) displaced minorities and other situations affecting minorities;

(c) Third, to consider effective enforcement mechanisms and remedies;

3. Decides to concentrate the discussion under sub-item 3 (b) and (c) on the following themes:

(a) Minorities and development, including conflicts over development, and the action taken by Governments and international agencies for incorporating minority issues in activities to reach the Millennium Development Goals. The Working Group invites the Minority Rights Group to prepare a paper for the discussion on this issue;

(b) Elaboration of General Comments. The Working Group decides to endorse the Commentary prepared by its outgoing Chairperson, Mr Asbjorn Eide, as the Commentary of the Working Group on Minorities as a whole, to reissue it as such and to give it the widest possible distribution. The Working Group decides to elaborate more specific commentaries on particular issues and themes and will formulate suggestions for the preparation of a first general comment on the issue of the protection of minorities from forced assimilation. General comments should also be prepared in the future on the effective participation of minorities, protection of places of worship and sacred places, protection of the rights of minorities in the field of education, land deprivation, exclusion. A general comment should also be prepared on autonomy vis à vis self-determination based on suggestions contained in Mr Bengoa’s working paper E/CN.4/Sub.2/AC.5/2004/WP.1 and the discussions following the presentation of that paper.

4. Expresses its gratitude to the Finnish Government for the visit of the Working Group to Finland and decides to send a copy of the report on the visit to all Governments. The Working Group takes note of the standing invitation of Switzerland and will consider finding an appropriate time to accept this offer. The Working Group reiterates its availability for visits to countries when invited by the Government concerned, provided funding can be found;

5. Decides to encourage the holding of regional or subregional meetings/seminars/workshops, in cooperation with regional mechanisms wherever possible, and welcomes the suggestions that such seminars be held in African and Asian regions as well as in the Americas. In this connection, the Working Group envisages holding a seminar in Brazil on Afro-descendant issues. The Working Group recommends that a topic for discussion at such seminars should be the development of regional codes of conduct or guidelines based on universal norms and international minority rights standards;

6. Recommends the organization of a seminar on the Roma, in cooperation with the Council of Europe, to which Roma representatives from non-European countries should also be invited;

7. Decides to forward the statements made at the tenth session by minority representatives and non-governmental organizations to the Governments concerned and for their considered response to be shared with the Working Group on Minorities.

b. Promoting constructive dialogue between and among minorities and governments

8. Decides to invite non-governmental organizations and minorities to prepare their submissions, where possible prior to the next session, to be transmitted by the secretariat to the concerned government;

9. Invites the government concerned to respond, during the session of the Working Group, to the concerns raised by the minority organizations;

10. Invites the minority organizations to structure their submission in three parts (i) a description of the minority organization and its areas of concern, (ii) the identification of the main problems faced in meeting those concerns, and (iii) suggestions on how to address those concerns.

B. Sub-Commission on Promotion and Protection of Human Rights

11. Reemphasizes the importance of the establishment of a voluntary fund to support the participation of minority representatives, especially from developing countries, to participate in meetings of the Working Group. The Working Group recommends that the selection of participants funded under any such voluntary fund would be made by the secretariat in consultation with members of the Working Group*, in order to avoid the extra costs of establishing a board of trustees;

12. Reemphasizes the importance of the proclamation of an International Year for Minorities, with a Decade to follow;

13. Recommends the establishment of a special representative of the Secretary-General on minorities’ issues. If such a mandate were established it should have a particular focus on country fact finding missions and preventive diplomacy. Care should be taken to ensure there is no overlap of functions with the Working Group. The special representative should cooperate closely with the Working Group;

14. Recommends that the Sub-Commission entrust one of its members to prepare a working paper, without financial implications, on the advisability of drafting an additional protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights containing minority rights and remedies for violations thereof.

C. Governments

15. Invites Member States of regions where these do not yet exist to consider establishing regional mechanisms for the promotion and protection of the rights of persons belonging to minorities in conformity with international norms and standards;

16. Recommends that Governments also consider:

(a) Ratifying, if they have not done so, the international Covenants on human rights and other human rights conventions, as well as optional protocols to these treaties, and until this is realised, providing to the public information on any obstacles or difficulties in becoming a party to those treaties;

(b) Ratifying the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court;

(c) Formulating and adopting legislation under which terms State parties would be required to abide by views adopted under international human rights complaints procedures;

(d) Protecting the rights of all persons belonging to minorities residing within their jurisdiction irrespective of citizenship and to remove any discriminatory provisions in legislation affecting minorities;

*(a set up similar to that of the Trust Fund in support of the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues)

(e) Revising any programme for good governance to make sure that guidelines on civil society participation acknowledge explicitly that minority groups are a vital part of civil society, whose participation should actively be sought; any programme for good governance should address the issues of minority representation in the political, judicial and public institutions of the State;

(f) Providing adequate and easily accessible remedies to address violations of the rights of persons belonging to minorities. All courts or tribunals must be independent and due process guarantees must be afforded to victims of violations of minority rights. Courts or tribunals should include some members of minority communities. Provision should be made for effective legal representation of victims of violations of minority rights, including state legal aid;

(g) Refraining from granting amnesties to persons who have systematically committed gross violations of minority rights or actively instigated such violations;

(h) Prosecuting gross violations of minority rights as crimes against humanity and violations of international law;

(i) Establishing national human rights institutions comprising persons of independence and ability and enabling such institutions to investigate and grant appropriate relief for violations of minority rights by all State agencies, including the police, armed forces and paramilitary forces, and also by non-State actors, and establish, where appropriate, special institutions or ombudspersons for the protection of minority rights;

(j) Addressing the phenomenon of corruption which is a source of violations of minority rights, including socio-economic rights;

(k) Enacting appropriate legislation on the subject of citizenship that provides rational, objective and non-discriminatory criteria and ensuring its implementation in a transparent and non-discriminatory manner. The legislation should provide for periodic review of implementation and remedies for wrongful denial of citizenship;

(l) Ensuring freedom of expression for persons belonging to minorities and indigenous peoples, providing training for minority journalists, to permitting and providing support to media in minority languages, including community broadcasting institutions, and ensuring access by minorities to public media;

(m) Enacting appropriate legislation to prevent and proscribe hate speech and other forms of incitement to violence against minorities;

(n) Ensuring that the benefits of affirmative actions, programmes and policies reach the rightful beneficiaries, the poor, deprived and disadvantaged, providing substantial quotas for education, livelihood and other basic services and support to the needy and involving the civil society in implementation and monitoring;

(o) Providing access to all levels of education for minority children, ensuring that educational establishments and research institutions respect the cultures and histories of minorities, and reviewing educational curricula so that students learn and respect the values, histories, languages and cultures of minorities.

D. Regional mechanisms

17. Invites the inter governmental regional organizations to provide relevant information on their activities and documentation to the Working Group on Minorities, including the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights and its Working Group on Indigenous Peoples/Communities.

E. Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights

18. Recommends the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights to continue organizing training on universal and regional standards and mechanisms in order to strengthen minority representatives’ cooperation with human rights procedures. Recommends that the technical cooperation programme of OHCHR provide assistance for the sensitization and awareness raising of all sectors of the society in particular law enforcement agencies to the needs and rights of minorities;

19. Invites the High Commissioner/Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights to prepare pamphlets for inclusion in the United Nations Guide for Minorities on regional conflict-prevention initiatives and development matters, including with respect to the work of UNDP in integrating minority issues in its work;

20. Requests the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights to make provision for a member of the Working Group to participate in the Annual meeting of the special procedures of the Commission on Human Rights, and meetings of chairpersons of human rights treaty bodies, as an observer, and for members of the Working Group to participate in the annual meetings of the regional human rights meetings, with a view to strengthening cooperation with such mechanisms in dealing with minority situations or concerns, and to report back to the Working Group on progress made in furthering cooperation on minority issues;

21. Requests the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights to organize a meeting between the Working Group, representatives of international and bilateral development agencies and Minority Rights Group International to examine further the integration of minority issues in development programming;

22. Requests the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights to issue a press release prior to the session of the Working Group and to distribute it widely;

23. Requests the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights to seek support for the publishing of papers submitted to the Working Group over the last ten years.

F. International, regional and national development agencies, specialized agencies of the United Nations, the World Bank and regional development banks

24. Recommends that these organizations and agencies:

(a) Introduce training programmes on minority issues aimed at mainstreaming these issues in development programming, poverty reduction strategy papers and programmes for reaching the Millennium Development Goals;

(b) Ensure that all social and environmental costs have been fully assessed and incorporated into development plans which affect minorities. This should include the costs of resettlement and full compensation of displaced and affected populations, e.g. by dams or forest concessions. The costing should be done and made public before the decision is made about whether to proceed with the project;

(c) Ensure the effective participation of minorities in the formulation, implementation and evaluation of country strategies, development plans and programmes that affect them and build the capacity of minorities and multilateral actors to implement this participation;

(d) Initiate a dialogue with regional development banks and the World Bank on improving the way in which they encourage Governments to incorporate the rights of minorities into poverty reduction strategies and other development initiatives;

(e) With a view to strengthening the links and cooperation between the Working Group and agencies, the agencies are requested to consider supporting, including financially, the participation of minority representatives in the Working Group on Minorities.