40 years of protecting minorities: Minority Rights Group International from 1969 to 2009
11 February 2010
MRG was founded on the belief that minorities should be represented equally in society, and that violations against their rights should be exposed. In the 40 years since, the international organisation has highlighted the plight of people displaced by conflict, barred from development and discriminated against in access to education, employment and participation in public life.
Today, MRG continues to expose violations of minority rights and is recognised and respected by decision makers, opinion formers and grass roots campaigners as an authority on how to implement minority rights to build a better world.
From the plight of Iraq's beleaguered minority communities, to the lack of implementation of Roma peoples' rights in the EU, MRG's work calls global attention to minority voices that might otherwise remain unheard.
'In four decades,' MRG's Director Mark Lattimer says, 'MRG has gone from being a think tank to an organisation that works in over 50 countries with 150 partner organisations. We believe that it is this partnership with communities on the ground that can lead to the greatest advances in minority rights in the years to come.'