Minority rights are the normal individual rights as applied to members of racial, ethnic, class, religious, linguistic or gender and sexual minorities, and also the collective rights accorded to any

minority group The term 'minority group' has different usages depending on the context. According to its common usage, a minority group can simply be understood in terms of demographic sizes within a population: i.e. a group in society with the least number o ...

. Civil-rights movements often seek to ensure that individual rights are not denied on the basis of membership in a minority group. Such civil-rights advocates include the global women's-rights and global LGBT-rights movements, and various racial-minority rights movements around the world (such as the

Civil Rights Movement The civil rights movement was a nonviolent social and political movement and campaign from 1954 to 1968 in the United States to abolish legalized institutional Racial segregation in the United States, racial segregation, Racial discrimination ...

in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

). Issues of minority rights may intersect with debates over historical redress or over positive discrimination.

History

Prior to the Paris Peace Conference (1919–1920), the term "minority" primarily referred to political parties in national legislatures, not ethnic, national, linguistic or religious groups. The Paris Conference has been attributed with coining the concept of minority rights and bringing prominence to it. The issue of minority rights was first raised in 1814, at the

Congress of Vienna The Congress of Vienna (, ) of 1814–1815 was a series of international diplomatic meetings to discuss and agree upon a possible new layout of the European political and constitutional order after the downfall of the French Emperor Napoleon B ...

, which discussed the fate of German Jews and especially of the Poles who were once again partitioned up. The Congress expressed hope that

Prussia Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an ...

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eigh ...

, and

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

would grant tolerance and protection to their minorities, which ultimately they disregarded, engaging in organized discrimination. The 1856 Congress of Paris paid special attention to the status of Jews and

Christians Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...

in the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...

. In Britain,

William Gladstone William Ewart Gladstone ( ; 29 December 1809 – 19 May 1898) was a British statesman and Liberal politician. In a career lasting over 60 years, he served for 12 years as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, spread over four non-conse ...

made the massacres of

Bulgarians Bulgarians ( bg, българи, Bǎlgari, ) are a nation and South Slavs, South Slavic ethnic group native to Bulgaria and the rest of Southeast Europe. Etymology Bulgarians derive their ethnonym from the Bulgars. Their name is not complete ...

by the Ottoman Empire a major campaign issue and demanded international attention. The

Congress of Berlin The Congress of Berlin (13 June – 13 July 1878) was a diplomatic conference to reorganise the states in the Balkan Peninsula after the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–78, which had been won by Russia against the Ottoman Empire. Represented at ...

in 1878 dealt with the status of Jews in

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Moldova to the east, a ...

, especially, and also

Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin and the Balkans. It shares land borders with Hung ...

, and

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Mac ...

. On the whole, the 19th-century congresses failed to impose significant reforms. The first minority rights were proclaimed and enacted by the revolutionary Parliament of Hungary in July 1849. Minority rights were codified in Austrian law in 1867. Russia was especially active in protecting Orthodox Christians and Slavic peoples under the control of the Ottoman Empire. However the Russian government tolerated vicious pogroms against Jews in its villages. Russia was widely attacked for this policy. By contrast there was little or no international outrage regarding the treatment of other minorities, such as black people in the

southern United States The Southern United States (sometimes Dixie, also referred to as the Southern States, the American South, the Southland, or simply the South) is a geographic and cultural region of the United States of America. It is between the Atlantic Ocean ...

before the 1950s when African colonies became independent. Before the

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

, only three European countries declared ethnic minority rights, and enacted minority-protecting laws: the first was Hungary (1849 and 1868), the second was Austria (1867), and the third was Belgium (1898). In the pre-WW1 era, the legal systems of other European countries did not allow the use of European minority languages in primary schools, in cultural institutions, in offices of public administration and at the legal courts.

Minority rights at the Paris Peace Conference of 1919

At the Versailles Peace Conference the Supreme Council established 'The Committee on New States and for The Protection of Minorities'. All the new successor states were compelled to sign minority rights treaties as a precondition of diplomatic recognition. It was agreed that although the new states had been recognized, they had not been 'created' before the signatures of the final peace treaties. The issue of German and Polish rights was a point of dispute as Polish rights in Germany remained unprotected, unlike the German minority in

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, , is a country in Central Europe. Poland is divided into Voivodeships of Poland, sixteen voivodeships and is the fifth most populous member state of the European Union (EU), with over 38 mill ...

. Like other principles adopted by the League, the Minorities Treaties were a part of the Wilsonian idealist approach to international relations; like the League itself, the Minority Treaties were increasingly ignored by the respective governments, with the entire system mostly collapsing in the late 1930s. Despite the political failure, they remained the basis of international law. After

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, the legal principles were incorporated in the UN Charter and a host of international human rights treaties.

International law

Minority rights, as applying to ethnic, religious or linguistic minorities and indigenous peoples, are an integral part of international human rights law. Like

children's rights Children's rights are a subset of human rights with particular attention to the rights of special protection and care afforded to minors.

women's rights Women's rights are the rights and entitlements claimed for women and girls worldwide. They formed the basis for the women's rights movement in the 19th century and the feminist movements during the 20th and 21st centuries. In some countr ...

and

refugee A refugee, conventionally speaking, is a displaced person who has crossed national borders and who cannot or is unwilling to return home due to well-founded fear of persecution.

rights, minority rights are a legal framework designed to ensure that a specific group which is in a

vulnerable Vulnerable may refer to: General * Vulnerability * Vulnerability (computing) * Vulnerable adult * Vulnerable species Music Albums * ''Vulnerable'' (Marvin Gaye album), 1997 * ''Vulnerable'' (Tricky album), 2003 * ''Vulnerable'' (The Used album) ...

, disadvantaged or marginalized position in society, is able to achieve equality and is protected from persecution. The first postwar international treaty to protect minorities, designed to protect them from the greatest threat to their existence, was the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. Subsequent

human rights Human rights are moral principles or normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for certain standards of hu ...

standards that codify minority rights include the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (Article 27), the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmonizi ...

Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities, two Council of Europe treaties (the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities and the

European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages The European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages (ECRML) is a European treaty (CETS 148) adopted in 1992 under the auspices of the Council of Europe to protect and promote historical regional and minority languages in Europe. However, ...

), and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Copenhagen Document of 1990. Minority rights cover protection of existence, protection from discrimination and persecution, protection and promotion of identity, and participation in political life. For the rights of LGBT people, the Yogyakarta Principles have been approved by the United Nations Human Rights Council. For the rights of persons with disabilities, the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities has been adopted by United Nations General Assembly. To protect minority rights, many countries have specific laws and/or commissions or ombudsman institutions (for example the Hungarian Parliamentary Commissioner for National and Ethnic Minorities Rights). While initially, the United Nations treated

indigenous peoples Indigenous peoples are culturally distinct ethnic groups whose members are directly descended from the earliest known inhabitants of a particular geographic region and, to some extent, maintain the language and culture of those original people ...

as a sub-category of minorities, there is an expanding body of international law specifically devoted to them, in particular Convention 169 of the

International Labour Organization The International Labour Organization (ILO) is a United Nations agency whose mandate is to advance social and economic justice by setting international labour standards. Founded in October 1919 under the League of Nations, it is the first and o ...

and the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (adopted 14 September 2007). In 2008, a declaration on LGBT rights was presented in the UN General Assembly, and in 2011, an LGBT rights resolution was passed in the United Nations Human Rights Council (''See

LGBT rights at the United Nations Discussions of LGBT rights at the United Nations have included resolutions and joint statements in the United Nations General Assembly and the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC), attention to the expert-led human rights mechanisms (suc ...

''). There are many political bodies which also feature minority group rights, which might be seen in affirmative action quotas or in guaranteed minority representation in a

consociational state Consociationalism ( ) is a form of democratic power sharing. Political science, Political scientists define a consociational State (polity), state as one which has major internal divisions along ethnic, religious, or linguistic lines, but which r ...

National minorities in the law of the EC/EU

The direct role of the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been ...

(and also the law of the EU/EC) in the area of protection of national minorities is still very limited (likewise the general protection of human rights). The EU has relied on general

international law International law (also known as public international law and the law of nations) is the set of rules, norms, and standards generally recognized as binding between states. It establishes normative guidelines and a common conceptual framework for ...

and a European regional system of international law (based on the Council of Europe, Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, etc.) and in a case of necessity accepted their norms. But the "de-economisation of European integration", which started in the 1990s, is changing this situation. The political relevance of national minorities' protection is very high. Now (2009), although protection of the national minorities has not become a generally accepted legally binding principle of the EU, in several legal acts issues of national minorities are mentioned. In external relations protection of national minorities became one of the main criteria for cooperation with the EU or accession. Daniel Šmihula (2008). ''National Minorities in the Law of the EC/EU'' in Romanian Journal of European Affairs, Vol. 8 no. 3, Sep. 2008, pp.51-81.

References

Bibliography

* Azcarate, P. de. ''League of Nations and National Minorities'' (1945
online
* Barzilai, G. 2003. ''Communities and Law: Politics and Cultures of Legal Identities''. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press. * Fink, Carole. 2006. ''Defending the Rights of Others: The Great Powers, the Jews, and International Minority Protection, 1878-1938''
excerpt and text search
* Henrard, K. 2000. ''Devising an Adequate System of Minority Protection: Individual Human Rights, Minority Rights, and the Right to Self-Determination'' Leiden: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers * Jackson Preece, J. 2005. ''Minority Rights: Between Diversity and Community'' Cambridge: Polity Press * Malloy, T.H. 2005. ''National Minority Rights in Europe'' Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press. * Pentassuglia, G. 2002. ''Minorities in international law: an introductory study'' Strasbourg: Council of Europe Publications * Šmihula, D. 2008. "National Minorities in the Law of the EC/EU", ''Romanian Journal of European Affairs,'' Vol. 8 no. 3, pp. 2008, pp. 51–81
online
* Thornberry, P. 1991. ''International Law and the Rights of Minorities.'' Oxford: Clarendon Press * Weller, M. (ed.) 2006. ''The Rights of Minorities in Europe: A Commentary on the European Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities.'' Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press. * Weller, M., Denika Blacklock and Katherine Nobbs (eds.) 2008. ''The Protection of Minorities in the Wider Europe'' Basingstoke and New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

Links

* Gabriel N. Toggenburg
Minority Protection and the European Union
OSI, Budapest 2004 * Gabriel N. Toggenburg / Günther Rautz
Das ABC des Minderheitenschutz in Europa
Böhlau, Wien 2010 * Gabriel N. Toggenburg
The Union's role vis-a-vis its minorities after the enlargement decade: a remaining share or a new part?
European University Institute, Florence 2006

External links

Commentary to the Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities
United Nations Working Group on Minorities
its recommendationsU.N. Special Adviser on the Prevention of GenocideMinority Rights Group InternationalMinority rights implemented at grassroot levelOSCE Copenhagen Document 1990
* Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europebr>Hague recommendations regarding the education rights of national minorities & explanatory note
* Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europebr>Oslo recommendation regarding the linguistic rights of national minorities
* Congress of the Council of Europe Recommendation 222 (2007
Language Education in Regional or Minority LanguagesCompilation of reports and opinions concerning the protection of national minorities
Venice Commission
Documents submitted to the Working Group on Minorities
that was replaced by the Forum on Minority Issues, established by Human Rights Council resolution 6/15 * {{Authority control Affirmative action Majority–minority relations