Global Minorities
Towards equal rights
for all
Declaration adopted by the Global Minorities Meet on March 9, 2008.
Excerpts:
In this sixtieth year of the Universal Declaration of
Human Rights: Reaffirming our faith in the sanctity of
human life and inherent dignity and inalienable rights of all members of
the human family;
Restating our commitment to secure equal right to life, freedom and
dignity of all human beings and the right to distinct identity of all
communities under law and in reality;
Recognising that within each country there are minorities
based on religion, language, ethnicity and nationality who are
disadvantaged because of their number and inadequate share in power in
realising their equal civil, political, social and economic rights and in
preserving their distinct identity;
Appreciating the worldwide concern for justices to
minorities, making them enjoy effective equality along with distinct
identity;
Noting the binding provisions of Article 27 of the
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights 1966 and those under
the unanimously adopted UN Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging
to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities 1992;
Regretting that owing to the majoritarian character of
states, their polities, electoral system and modes of governance,
minorities continue to face situations of varying nature and degrees of
neglect, discrimination and exclusion and threat of assimilation of their
linguistic, ethnic and religious identity;
Expressing shock, dismay and grave concern over the threat
to the existence of minorities in certain parts of the world, who have
been facing periodic violence against their life, property, dignity and
places of worship with the complicity of the state’s agencies, some of
which have been characterised as genocides;
Expressing further concern over the failure of such states
to enact effective laws, including on genocide and mass hate crimes and on
rights of victims, for the accountability of all state and non-state
actors whose acts and omissions have resulted in the loss of tens of
thousands of innocent lives, large-scale internal displacement and social
and educational dislocation and massive destruction of property, including
places of worship;
Recording that it is this climate of impunity which is the
major source of recurrence of violence against minorities in which the
judiciary has also failed to promptly come to the rescue of the victims;
Noting that such situations of exclusion, discrimination,
assimilation of minorities and their attempted extirpation have led to
violent conflicts, including insurgence, secessionism and terrorism, which
have caused immense suffering to a large number of innocent people by
enforced internal displacement, flow of refugees across borders, distress
of divided families and stateless persons;
Noting with concern that in the wake of the rise of global
terrorism certain communities are being treated as suspect whose innocent
members are tortured, detained and treated as guilty, including by the
media, though after prolonged incarceration they are acquitted by law
courts. Such violation of basic human rights in the name of
counterterrorism should be condemned. Also noting with concern the rise of
Islamophobia in the West in the wake of 9/11 and the demonisation of
Muslims in India by vested interests;
Acknowledging the worldwide recognition that durable peace
cannot be secured without justice to minorities and other vulnerable
groups and the consequent active engagement by governments and civil
society groups to prevent, resolve and transform conflicts by putting in
place firm institutional mechanisms of rule of law and dialogue and
conciliation;
We the delegates to the Global Minorities Meet held from
March 6 to 9, 2008 in New Delhi, India having reviewed the global minority
situations have arrived at the conclusion that the sources of denial of
effective equality, security, dignity, adequate public participation and
preservation of distinct identity of minorities lie in the following:
Ø
Inadequate protection of the rights of minorities under Constitutions and
laws and policies of states.
Ø In some countries, constitutional
provisions are discriminatory.
Ø In some others, there is no
constitutional safeguard for rights of minorities. In some countries which
have such provisions, certain religious communities have not been accorded
recognition under law.
Ø In countries where constitutional
provisions on rights to equality and to preservation of language and
culture and freedom of religion appear to be adequate, in practice denial
of these rights is rampant owing to majoritarian administration and
electoral calculations.
Ø
Poor state of rule of law and non-observance of human rights norms where
the law enforcement system is partisan and the justice system has given
rise to pervasive impunity.
Ø Even in democracies where periodic
elections are held under a multi-party system, the electoral systems are
unfriendly to minorities, making them unable to secure their due share in
legislatures and other elected bodies.
Ø Minorities are
grossly underrepresented in all spheres of national life and especially in
institutions of governance e.g. the police, armed and paramilitary forces,
the judiciary and the civil services in their respective countries.
Ø The culture, history and religion of
minorities do not get appropriate representation in educational materials
and in the media. On the contrary, they are marginalised, excluded or
distorted and negatively stereotyped.
Ø While condemning and strictly dealing
with all terrorist activity everywhere, it is equally significant to carry
out serious institutionalised research into the causes of terrorism and to
take pre-emptive measures so as to save our upcoming generations from this
scourge.
In view of the above, we recommend the following measures
to be adopted by the governments of each country:
Ø Adequate protection of the rights of
minorities to equality, non-discrimination, non-exclusion and
non-assimilation under Constitution, law, policies and programmes.
Ø I nstitutions
to ensure enjoyment of these rights by minorities in reality, providing
accessible mechanisms of prompt redressal.
Ø Enactment of a statutory commission to
address intergroup discrimination and disparities.
Ø Enactment of a social diversity of
institutions act, making employers accountable for persistent absence or
underrepresentation of minorities.
Ø
Polities to conform to the norms of inclusive democracy, ensuring due
share to minorities in legislatures and governance.
Ø Affirmative action programmes for
equalisation of opportunities for minorities, ensuring their due share in
public employment and in socio-economic development.
Ø Protection and promotion of pluralism
and multiculturalism. Giving adequate representation to minority language,
history, culture and religion in educational material and in the media
while enabling the minorities to acquire knowledge of the language,
history and culture of national life as a whole. Enactment of a
multiculturalism act for this purpose.
Ø Promotion of prevention and resolution
of intercommunity and minority versus state conflicts and disputes,
providing peaceful and just solutions.
Ø Collectively adopting regional human
rights conventions based on international human rights norms,
accommodating regional particularities, and instruments on the protection
of minorities and institutional mechanisms for monitoring and redressal of
grievances in those regions, like South Asia and West Asia, where such
regional arrangements do not exist.
Ø Under these instruments, adopting
multilateral/bilateral treaties on the treatment of non-citizens, like
numbers of divided families, migrant workers, refugees, asylum seekers,
prisoners and stateless persons.
Ø Enactment of anti-genocide laws in the
respective countries.
We recommend the following measures to be adopted by civil
society:
Ø
Undertake active promotion of these norms and principles, especially of
pluralism and multiculturalism and rule of law.
Ø
Undertake advocacy of their adoption by the government.
Ø
Promote intercommunity tolerance, mutual respect and accommodation.
Ø Organise effective intervention in
situations of denial of rights to minorities and their oppression.
We appeal to the security forces of the states and armed
opposition groups to strictly adhere to the ethical-legal humanitarian
norms on the conduct of hostilities as codified in the Geneva Convention
1949 which require protection of life, dignity and freedom of
non-combatant civilians, especially women, children, old and disabled
persons and worshippers.
We also appeal to religious leaders of all communities in
the region to evolve and endorse such ethical norms on the protection of
innocent civilians uninvolved in conflicts, including communal and
sectarian conflicts.
We the delegates to the Global Meet do hereby resolve to
constitute a Global Minorities Forum for Justice and Peace (GMFJAP)
whose aims and objectives will be the following:
a. Promoting equal human rights of all minorities.
b. Promoting adequate protection of rights of minorities
to equality and non-discrimination and to their distinct religious and
cultural and linguistic or national identities under the Constitution,
law, policy and programme of each country.
c. Promoting norms of gender justice in areas of cultural
autonomy of minorities, including community-based family laws.
d. Promoting adoption of regional human rights conventions
and commissions on rights of minorities and non-citizens.
e. Promoting intercommunity understanding, tolerance and
conciliation through dialogue and peaceful resolution of disputes.
f. Promoting strict observance of humanitarian norms
during armed conflicts.
g. The forum shall have country-wise chapters in countries
from where the delegates have participated in the Global Minorities Meet.
The Global Minorities Meet:
Ø Appeals to the Government of
Bangladesh:
a. To take necessary steps to establish a Minority
Rights Commission in Bangladesh for redressal of the minority
communities’ complaints.
b. Ensure the inclusion of all minorities in the voter
lists of the country.
c. For promoting and protecting minority groups, to repeal
or make amendments to all statutes which are threatening to minorities.
d. Ensure state protection to safeguard freedom of belief
and diversified religious practices.
Ø Appeals to the Government of the
Islamic Republic of Iran to ensure redressal of the grievances of the
Baha’i community in Iran.
Ø
Appeals to the Government of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan
to ensure safety of minorities and repeal all laws which have been
used to victimise the minorities in the country and create a statutory
National Commission for Minorities for safeguarding the interests of
the minorities in Pakistan.
Ø While welcoming the declaration of
Nepal as a secular state, appeals to the Government and political
parties of Nepal to give due consideration to safeguarding the
interests of minorities and Dalits in Nepal and ensure their safety of
life and property and safeguard freedom of belief of its citizens.
Ø While expressing grave concern on the
plight of the ethnic and religious minorities in Malaysia, appeals to the
Government of Malaysia to immediately redress the grievances of the
ethnic and religious minorities of the country.
Ø Appeals to the Government of India to
enact an Anti-Genocide Law and create an Equal Opportunities
Commission at the earliest.
(The Global Minorities Meet was held under the aegis of
the South Asian Council for Minorities in collaboration with the Institute
of Objective Studies at the Parliament House Annexe, New Delhi from March
6-9, 2008.)
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