The Rights of Ethnic and Racial Minorities Rights at Stake The rights of ethnic and racial minorities are protected in international human rights law are as follows: *The right to be protected from racial discrimination, hatred and violence International human rights law requires states not to engage in acts of racial discrimination and to carry out a variety of measures to prevent racial discrimination by public institutions, organisations and individuals. *The nature of the measures required varies from treaty to treaty but can include: an obligation to review laws and policies to ensure they are not discriminatory; the eradication of racial segregation and apartheid; outlawing of propaganda espousing racial superiority; and banning of organisations promoting racial discrimination and hatred. *Right to equal protection before the law irrespective of racial or ethnic origin Racial and ethnic minorities have equal rights and the law should be equally applied of various civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights to these groups. Most human rights treaties (even those not specifically dealing with issues of race and ethnicity) specifically contain non-discriminatory provisions requiring states to apply principles of human rights law equally to all peoples irrespective of race, religion, social origin, etc. *Unequal treatment in the criminal justice system has been a particular area of concern in a number of countries with practices such as racial profiling (stop and search of suspects on the basis of racial origin) or uneven treatment in the arrest, prosecution and sentencing of offenders. Inequalities in health care provision, housing, education and employment for racial and ethnic minorities are common areas of concern. *The right of racial and ethnic groups to enjoy their own culture, practice their own religion and use their own language This right appears in a several international human rights treaties and is an acknowledgement that racial and ethnic groups are free to act in accordance with their cultural heritage. There can sometimes be a conflict between the cultural, religious and linguistic practices and values of the state and the practices of minority groups. Some states have responded by insisting on a certain level of knowledge of the dominant culture and language. *Right to benefit from positive steps taken by the state to promote racial harmony and the rights of racial minorities Governments are obliged to take special measures to ensure the adequate development and protection of racial groups. This includes affirmative action programmes. States are also required to promote racial understanding through the education system. *Right to seek asylum for reasons of a well-founded fear of persecution on the grounds of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion This provision in international refugee law allows individuals to seek asylum in another state if the country of their nationality is unable to protect them from persecution on inter alia racial grounds. This is one of the few cases where the failure of a state to uphold human rights law creates the right for its individuals to seek the protection of another state. Moreover, states are required to apply the provisions of international refugee law in such a way that it does not discriminate on the grounds of race. *The right to remedies Governments must ensure that effective protection and remedies are provided through competent national tribunals and other state institutions. Individuals also have the right to seek just and adequate reparation from such tribunals for damage done. This article may hold true for individual cases but is highly controversial when it comes to reparations for entire groups of people. The question of remedies was the main sticking point at the 2001 World Conference Against Racism with some countries insisting on a right to reparation, both financial and other, and some Western governments (former colonial powers and the USA) resisting any obligation to remedy past abuses. This debate is similar to the one surrounding issues of reparation to former slaves. hrea.org/index.php?base_id=142
Posted on: Mon, 01 Dec 2014 08:55:24 +0000
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