Sub-Commission should examine the right to development for minorities

6 August 2002

Agenda Item 4: Economic, social and cultural rights
Delivered by: Corinne Lennox

Chair,

Discrimination against minorities and indigenous peoples constitutes a violation of the right to development and will undermine the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals.

For the first time in 2001, the Commission on Human Rights recognised that “special attention” should be given to persons belonging to minorities and to indigenous people in the process of the realisation of the right to development (Resolution 2001/9, paragraph 16). Minority Rights Group International (MRG) commended the Commission for this statement. Regrettably, in the 58th Session of the Commission, the Resolution on the Right to Development makes no mention of minorities or indigenous peoples. This should be viewed as a step backwards . Recall the World Conference Against Racism Declaration, which states that:

“We emphasize that poverty, underdevelopment, marginalization, social exclusion and economic disparities are closely associated with racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance, and contribute to the persistence of racist attitudes and practices which in turn generate more poverty” (paragraph 18)

Chair, putting these words into action does mean paying “special attention” to minorities and indigenous peoples, who globally are the targets of racism and the victims of poverty. Explicitly naming minorities and indigenous peoples is essential, because it gives leverage to these groups to ensure that their rights in development – which require particular processes and outcomes in development – are recognised. This is fundamental to the realisation of the right to development.

Chair,

The Millennium Development Goals can be useful in this regard. It is possible, however, to achieve all of the Goals without impacting positively on the lives of minorities and indigenous peoples, and policy makers are not taking this into account.

States may divert resources to achieve the goals, enabling the more visible and politically influential majority groups to achieve the goals, whilst the situation of minorities and indigenous peoples is allowed to deteriorate further or is ignored. No safeguards have been built into the goals to prevent this from occurring. For example, there is no requirement to measure progress towards the goals through disaggregated data for minority or indigenous groups.

There is also no guidance on how to achieve the goals. Governments and development agencies could adopt policies that are not compatible with international human rights standards and the rights of minorities and indigenous peoples. For example, the goal of achieving ‘universal primary education’ by 2015 could be met, while minority and indigenous children find themselves disadvantaged by an education system that is not available in their mother tongue; that under-resources schools in their communities; or that perpetuates discriminatory attitudes towards them. Or the goal of universal primary education itself may not be reached if minorities and indigenous peoples feel that the educational prescription is not relevant to their values and lifestyles, choosing instead to boycott the formal educational process.*

States need to rethink urgently their strategies for achieving the Goals. While most, if not all, of the Millennium Development Goals could be met in the short term without including minorities or indigenous peoples, these achievements would not be sustainable. The persistent or increased inequality and exclusion of minorities and indigenous peoples could lead to local or widespread conflict. This conflict would undermine or destroy both the physical and social developments that have been secured through the Goals.

Chair,

The high levels of poverty amongst minorities and indigenous peoples will not be adequately addressed through the Millennium Development goals unless “special attention” is given to their situation, to their priorities, and most importantly, to their rights in development.

The Sub-Commission could make an important contribution to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals. There is a need to review these Goals from a human rights perspective and to offer guidance to States, international development and financial institutions, and the specialised agencies of the UN, on how to ensure that strategies put in place to achieve these Goals do not, in their haste to meet development targets, inadvertently violate the right to development.** MRG has attempted to highlight herein how this is a genuine risk where minorities and indigenous peoples are concerned, but similar analyses may apply to others.

Chair,

MRG strongly encourages the Sub-Commission to examine more carefully the Millennium Development Goals in all relevant Working Groups, reports, resolutions and in the Social Forum, with a view to ensuring that these Goals are a vehicle for realising the right to development for all. In particular, MRG recommends that the Sub-Commission invite States and the specialised agencies of the UN, to submit information on how their policies for achieving the Millennium Development Goals are impacting on the rights of minorities and indigenous peoples. In this regard, consideration should be given to the need to:

1) Acknowledge explicitly that discrimination against minorities and indigenous peoples is a key factor in the perpetuation of their exclusion from the benefits of development;
2) Ensure the participation of minorities and indigenous peoples in the articulation of policies and programmes to achieve the Millennium Development Goals;
3) Monitor the impact of policies to achieve the Millennium Development Goals on minorities and indigenous peoples, including through the collection of disaggregated data;
4) Undertake to strengthen the capacity of governmental authorities and minority and indigenous communities to engage with one another to improve development activities;
5) Respect the rights of minorities and indigenous peoples in all stages of the development process.

MRG also recommends that***:

1. The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and relevant UN agencies integrate the rights of minorities and indigenous peoples into their work programme for realising the right to development.
2. The Independent Expert on the Right to Development gives more consideration to minority and indigenous rights in future reports.
3. In the forthcoming study on Poverty by an ad hoc group of the Sub-Commission, indigenous peoples should be added as a special focus of the study, (noting that minorities are presently listed in UN Doc. E/CN.4/Sub.2/2002/15, pg 10), and the impact of discrimination on the basis of, inter alia , race, descent, caste, ethnicity or religion, should be examined as a barrier to effective poverty reduction.

Further recommendations on these points are detailed in the Working Paper prepared for the Working Group on Minorities by MRG for the May 2002 session. Thank you for your attention.

* Similarly, the goal for reducing maternal mortality rates may not succeed if minority women continue to be discriminated against in the provision of health services. Or a reduction by two-thirds of infant mortality could be achieved, with the remaining one-third of children being mostly from indigenous groups because no effort has been made to improve access to health care, clean water or adequate housing in their communities.
** Recall the World Conference Against Racism Programme of Action, which “Encourages financial and development institutions and the operational programmes and specialized agencies of the United Nations…To examine how their policies and practices affect victims of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance, and to ensure that these policies and practices contribute to the eradication of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance” (para. 190).
*** Please note that detailed recommendations of each of these points can be found in previous statements of MRG, which are available on the website www.minoirtyrights.org under ‘international statements’. Also see MRG Advocacy Brief on the International Development Goals (2001) and the Working Paper prepared for the Working Group on Minorities: “Minority Rights and Development: Overcoming Exclusion, Discrimination and Poverty”, (2002) UN Doc. E/CN.4/Sub.2/AC.5/2002/WP.6.