This site has been created to enable you to have access to some papers that the Director of Minority Rights Group International (Alan Phillips) has written and presented in the last 18 months to various audiences. They give some indication of key civil, political, social, economic and cultural issues that affect minority communities world wide and were prepared for specific audiences. These audiences range from a seminar in the Finnish Parliament to a presentation to the UN Working Group on Minorities. Each paper was prepared with an advocacy objective in mind, supporting the objectives of Minority Rights Group.
The Minority Rights Groups is an international advocacy organisation and its objectives are, in summary, to promote the rights of minorities and co-operation between communities. This is being achieved through a range of initiatives with governments and inter governmental bodies on the one hand to enhancing the ability of minority communities to present their case and through constructive dialogue and examples of good practice advance their rights and enable communities to peacefully co-operate together.
1. The first paper on Minority Rights in Europe is the longest and was written in 1995 for a conference held at the Centre for Research in Ethnic Relations at Warwick University. In 1997, it remains valid though there are some new developments in the implementation of the Council of Europe Framework Convention on National Minorities.
2. The Vienna encounter was a seminar convened by the Austrian Foreign ministry to discuss minority issues between government officials, representatives of international organisations as well as minorities themselves within Austria.
2. The paper on the Implementation of the Council of Europe Framework Convention on National Minorities was written for the Human Rights sub-Committee of the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly and was presented in April 1996 to a special meeting convened in Paris. The recommendations were well received by the Sub-Committee and by the parliament itself.
3. The paper on Minority Rights and Development was presented to an O.E.C.D. / D.A.C. Seminar in Paris in 1996 to discuss Human Rights, good governance and Development. It engendered a lively debate especially on indigenous issues and was well supported by an number of government representatives.
4. The introduction to the Minority Rights Group publication the World Directory of Minorities is an introduction to an 840 page directory published in April 1997 by Minority Rights Group .The Directory covers over 1000 different minorities in 200 states and dependent territories, this introduction raising a set of contemporary policy issues.
5. The Policy of a Country like Finland was written and presented at a conference convened by the Finnish Foreign minister in Helsinki in September 1996. The Minister, Mrs Hanonen, had asked for this paper to be written to help in Finnish Foreign policy deliberations.
6. The role of International NGOs in promoting the rights of minorities was written at the request of the UN Working Group on Minorities and was presented to its meeting in May 1996 in Geneva. MRG plays an active role in this particular UN forum that is open to minority communities, relevant NGOs, experts as well as governments.
7. The presentation on item 17 of the UN Sub-Commission on the Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities was an oral intervention given during the meeting in August 1996. It reflects on the role of the UN Working Group on Minorities, which is a working group of the Sub-Commission.
8. The substantial paper on Minorities in Central and Eastern Europe is an edited version of research undertaken by MRG and edited by MRG commissioned by the Netherlands Foreign Ministry Human Rights Advisory Committee. It was written by a team of people for MRG. The Director presented this at a 3 hour meeting of the Advisory Committee that was devoted to the subject. The paper was praised by the Committee and the evidence and analysis were widely drawn upon by the Committee in its final report.
For further information on the work of Minority Rights Group International and its many publications on minorities world wide, contact MRG I at:
379 Brixton High Street,
Brixton,
London SW9 7DE,
United Kingdom.
MRG will be opening a significant Web site later this year and when it does a link will be established with this page.
Page Last updated 14th August 1997
Created by SimpleSi
