Thank you Mr Chairperson,

Minority Rights Group International is concerned at the absence of any consideration to date as to the rights of minorities and indigenous peoples in the six reports of the Independent Expert and in the deliberations of this Working Group.

Without the full integration of the standards in place to secure the rights of minorities and indigenous peoples in development processes, development is unlikely to meet the needs of these marginalised groups. Without the integration of their rights, they are unlikely to benefit from development, including in ways that are meaningful to them, and it raises the possibility that development will in fact harm them.

Minority Rights Group International has recently published a report on the intersection between the right to development and the rights of minorities and of indigenous peoples. It charts the obligations of states, acting nationally and internationally, to ensure that, for example, rights to non-discrimination and to participation including in decisions that affect minorities and the areas in which they live and in the economic process and development of their countries,1 are respected; and that rights linked to the preservation of cultural identity and to lands, territories, resources and traditional knowledge of indigenous peoples2 are respected in the processes and outcomes of development.3 These rights are also reflected in the Declaration on the Right to Development which speaks of ' ... process[es] aimed at the constant improvement and well-being of all individuals, based on their active, free and meaningful participation in development and in the fair distribution of benefits resulting therefrom ...'.4

Reflecting on the otherwise valuable 5th and 6th reports of the Independent Expert, the omission of any significant reference to minorities and indigenous peoples is evident. For example, on financing NEPAD the Independent Expert refers to earmarked funds for financing peacekeeping and conflict prevention, yet no mention is made of the potential for conflict prevention by including minority and indigenous peoples meaningfully in development. While the Independent Expert notes that NEPAD does not address the means by which a rights-based approach to development can be implemented and remarks that it insufficiently integrates principles and objectives of human rights, he makes no mention of the importance of also integrating the rights of minorities and indigenous peoples into NEPAD.

Similarly, there is no mention of the rights of minorities and indigenous peoples and the need to include their rights in order to ensure existing frameworks for development cooperation are compatible with the right to development. This is despite the fact that the Independent Expert's overall conclusion is that: 'The basic difference between RTD and other development frameworks is ... the centrality of human rights in the RTD approach, where all the objectives of policy, different indices of social development or economic growth, have to be seen as human rights and have to be achieved in a manner satisfying human rights norms'. In his 5th report the IE refers to the failure of PRSPs to adequately address the issue of non-discrimination, and while briefly referring to 'women and other vulnerable groups and indigenous people' - this is not at all elaborated and further, he fails even to mention the word minority, despite their common experience of discrimination.

References in the 6th report of the need to eradicate poverty, illiteracy, malnutrition and ill-health through economic growth with equity and justice, while of critical import does not address indicators that would reflect a rights-based development for minorities or indigenous peoples. There is no mention of, for example, the need for disaggregated data, indicators related to the expropriation of resources, or indicators that would determine who is being excluded from development processes.

A process of development that integrates the rights-based approach would nonetheless fail to meet the standards required for fulfilling the right to development if the rights of minorities and indigenous peoples are not also explicitly factored into programmes and policies. The time has come for this to be stated clearly in the work of the Independent Expert and for the link between the rights of minorities and of indigenous peoples within the realisation of the right to development to be examined by him in a forthcoming report prepared for this Working Group. Such a report would complement his existing work, further the objectives of the Working Group and most significantly, contribute to more sustainable, peaceful and just forms of development.

Specifically, this report could:

1. Share best practice from developed and developing countries on how to protect the rights of minorities and indigenous peoples in development;

2. Give practical guidance on how governments can ensure the participation of minorities and indigenous peoples in development processes and outcomes;

3. Examine how the rights of minorities and indigenous peoples intersect with the right to development;

4. Link these rights to current development goals and practice such as the Millennium Development Goals and the Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers.

We trust that the Working Group will give careful consideration to this proposal as a demonstration of its commitment to the equality and dignity of all in the realisation of the right to development.

Thank you for your kind attention.

Delivered by Margot Salomon

1. As articulated, for example, in the Minorities Declaration and by the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) in General Recommendations on Discrimination against Roma and Descent-Based Discrimination.
2. As articulated, for example, in ILO Convention 169 on Indigenous and Tribal Peoples and in the jurisprudence of CERD and in its General Recommendation on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, as well as by the Human Rights Committee with regard to Article 27 of the ICCPR on the rights of persons belonging to minorities.
3. Putting in place a particular process aimed at implementing the right to development, such as one that incorporates the rights of minorities and indigenous peoples, suggests that requirements are not simply linked to the results of development processes but also, and significantly, to the conduct - or steps taken by states - to fulfil those results. In rights that are achieved progressively, obligations of conduct are related to the policies and programmes aimed at development. The value of applying obligations of conduct has been noted by the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (General Comment 3 on the nature of states' parties obligations under the Covenant) and recently by the International Law Commission (UN Doc. A/55/10 para. 152, 1999).
4. DRD, 2nd Preambular paragraph