UN Commission on Human Rights 54th session, March 1998

1 October 1999

Mr Chairman,

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mary Robinson, reminded us in her introductory remarks that the universal reaffirmation of the right to development was a highlight of the World Conference on Human Rights in Vienna five years ago. For many, that reaffirmation has not been realized in practice.

She continued and spoke of her responsibility to adopt and foster a rights based approach across the whole spectrum of political, civil, economic, social and cultural rights, to promote and protect the realization of the right to development and to include womens rights as human rights. She stated: "My approach must embrace all those who are vulnerable".

Indigenous and minority communities are particularly vulnerable groups. Minority Rights Group International recently published the World Directory of Minorities, which shows that many indigenous and minority communities are among the poorest of the poor. In the report of the second session of the Intergovernmental Group of Experts on the Right to Development, states are invited to adopt economic and social measures in order to avoid the exclusion of groups marginalized by extreme poverty, which directly denies the right to development. In addition, it underlines the need to protect the cultural identity of minorities and indigenous peoples as an essential element in eliminating patterns of discrimination against these groups.

The report also asks for an adequate and prompt response to the threat that the issue of development, or the lack thereof, poses to international or internal peace and security. It speaks of the implementation of the right to development as a preventative approach to safeguard international security and internal peace. If we are to prevent the violent conflicts and human rights abuses that often affect minorities, it is essential to see how development, development rights and minority rights interact together.

MRG is embarking on a challenging new programme to analyze the way in which minority rights and development rights interrelate, and thereby take a new approach towards conflict prevention. We would like to invite governments, intergovernmental bodies, including the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, and NGOs to join us in this venture.

The UN Declaration on Minorities, adopted in 1992, stipulates in Article 4.5 that states should consider appropriate measures so that persons belonging to minorities may participate fully in the economic progress and development in their country. Article 5 says that national policies and programmes, as well as programmes of cooperation and assistance among states, shall be planned and implemented with due regard for the legitimate interests of persons belonging to minorities.

A conference on Minorities and Development recently convened by MRG underlined the need to ensure that development projects give minorities the right to participate in the development, implementation and monitoring of those projects. Empowerment and ownership of projects will contribute to a greater involvement of minorities in the successful development of the state in which they live and, in the long run, this will reduce the prospects of internal conflict.

It is clear to MRG that there is already much evidence of poor as well as good practice in this area, from which lessons can be learnt. The experiences of those involved in government, in research institutions, in development agencies and in minority communities need to be drawn out, and we invite all those actors to give input to our project on Minorities and Development. We would particularly welcome the involvement of those concerned with issues of women and development, since women within minority communities can be doubly vulnerable.

Our initial research shows that more and more development agencies are adopting a rights-based approach to development. There are, however, still substantial gaps at the practical level. Traditionally the larger human rights agencies have focused on civil and political rights, while those involved with development work are often dominated by a narrower project focus, and are as yet only partially informed by a rights perspective.

The UN Secretary Generals ambition is that "the next century must be the age of prevention". We believe that in order to prevent violent conflicts and human rights abuses that often affect minorities, it is essential to see how development, development rights and minority rights interact. We invite all concerned about minorities and development to join us in this initiative to realize participatory and development rights for minorities.

In addition, we recommend that the commission establishes a constructive follow-up mechanism to ensure the implementation of the Declaration of the Right to Development and that this mechanism takes the situation of minorities into consideration.