UN Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights, 53rd Session, 2001

8 August 2001

Mr. Chairperson,

Minority Rights Group International would like to highlight discrimination against minorities and indigenous peoples in the realization of the right to development, a discrimination that threatens to undermine the achievement of the International Development Goals.

In ECOSOC Decision 2000/269, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights was asked to organize an international seminar on the topic of “Cooperation for the Better Protection of Minorities”. This seminar will be held in Durban on the 1, 2 and 5 of September. A preparatory meeting for this seminar was organized by Minority Rights Group International with the support of the UN Working Group on Minorities and the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights on 26 – 27 July, 2001.

The focus of this preparatory meeting was “Tackling Poverty and Discrimination: Mainstreaming Minority Rights in Development Assistance”. The participants of the meeting, including individuals from UN bodies, multilateral and bilateral development agencies, minority and indigenous organizations and international non-governmental organizations, drafted numerous excellent recommendations that will be brought forward to the Durban International Seminar. Minority Rights Group International would like to bring to your attention today one particular recommendation that addresses the implementation of the International Development Goals.

The agreement of the International Development Goals is one of the most important steps made in recent years towards the realization of the right to development. These seven goals have been widely endorsed by the international community and form a central part of development cooperation strategies to the year 2015. Although not expressed in human rights terms, the goals can be easily correlated to existing human rights provisions. The goal of halving extreme poverty by the year 2015, for example, can be considered in light of the human right to an adequate standard of living. Similarly, the goal for universal education can be linked to the human right to education, and the efforts to reduce infant and maternal mortality can be linked to the human right to health. The International Development Goals even recognize that gender discrimination can be a barrier to development.

The International Development Goals, however, fail to make any reference to minorities and indigenous peoples. This is in spite of the evidence that minorities and indigenous peoples are often among the poorest members of society. The root cause of their poverty is persistent discrimination and social and economic exclusion. Membership in a particular ethnic, religious, linguistic or cultural community can lessen one’s prospects for decent work, good health, full education, adequate housing, financial credit or political participation, all because of discrimination.

General strategies for achieving the International Development Goals will be ineffective in overcoming this discrimination without the adoption of special measures to ensure that minorities and indigenous peoples are benefiting equally, and on their own terms, in the development process. Without special measures there is a risk that the International Development Goals could be achieved without having impacted positively on minorities and indigenous peoples, and perhaps even furthering their impoverishment through the diversion of resources to majority groups.

Cognizant of these challenges, the participants of the Preparatory Meeting recommended that governments, multilateral and bilateral development agencies:

a) recognise explicitly that there may be minorities and indigenous peoples who suffer discrimination and socio-economic exclusion;

b) implement qualitative and quantitative data collection and analysis to measure and improve knowledge and understanding of the nature, extent and dynamics of discrimination and exclusion;

c) design, implement and evaluate country strategies and development programmes that target minorities and indigenous peoples, to promote equal and equitable progress towards the International Development Goals.

Mr. Chairperson,

The International Development Goals and the right to development can be realized better if minorities and indigenous peoples are included at the centre of poverty reduction strategies. Ensuring that programmes address the particular inequalities faced by minorities and indigenous peoples will yield valuable results, including more effective development projects, fewer barriers to economic participation, a stronger voice for minority and indigenous communities and good conditions for conflict prevention

Minority Rights Group International therefore recommends that:

1. Governments and multilateral and bilateral development agencies immediately review their policies for the International Development Goals to ensure that the rights of persons belonging to minorities and the rights of indigenous peoples are taken into consideration fully;

2. The right to participation of indigenous peoples and minorities in the formulation, implementation and evaluation of country strategies and development programmes that affect them should be secured. This participation must be comprehensive and transparent through all stages of the project cycle. Mechanisms to ensure this participation and to monitor its effectiveness should be developed.

3. The indicators ( note1 ) for measuring progress towards the International Development Goals should be revised to include disaggregated data for ethnic, religious, and linguistic minorities and indigenous peoples. This data should inform the design and evaluation of all programmes related to the International Development Goals.

4. The impact of development programmes on minorities and indigenous peoples should be monitored. Where programmes are found to impact negatively on these groups, appropriate remedial measures should be taken in consultation with the affected minority and indigenous communities.

5. Any future studies undertaken by the Sub-Commission on the subject of economic, social and cultural rights and the right to development should pay particular attention to examining the situation of minorities and indigenous peoples.

Thank you Mr. Chairperson.

Note:

1. The proposed indicators can be found at http://www.developmentgoals.org