Return to Main Page

This page hosted by   Get your own Free Home Page

                            Paper for Informal Experts Meeting  OECD (DAC)  5-6 February.
                            Development Cooperation and the promotion of Human Rights.

Why should this meeting consider minority rights a critical human rights issue when minorities are seen by governments as the root cause of most conflicts today ? The UN Charter does not mention minorities, while even the Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (1966) only has a limited reference .It is argued that minorities have been the cause of conflicts in South Africa, Burundi, Angola, Yugoslavia, Lebanon, Sri Lanka and Chechnya, while the Palestinians, Indigenous People of  the Chiapas,  Dahlits, Muslims and Scheduled Tribes of India,  Ogoni of Nigeria and many other minorities have been a constant source of difficulty for governments.

What are the solutions to these critical  problems  of  societal conflicts that are destroying the lives of so many and destroying decades of  development  ? Minority communities are often among the poorest  and most marginalized sectors within  a  state, what  responses  should be made to their needs ?  I  will come back to these  two questions .

I t is difficult to assess accurately what proportion of the world's population identify themselves as belonging to minority communities . Conservative estimates place this above 10% and some suggest that this is over 20% of the world's population.  National statistics are often skewed for political reasons, while there is no universally accepted definition of " Minorities". The word has different  interpretations in  different societies  throughout the world ,while the closest  the UN  General Assembly has reached in defining minorities is to refer  to " The UN Declaration on the Rights of persons belonging to National  or Ethnic , Religious and Linguistic  Minorities"  (December 1992 ).

The Minority Rights Group focuses on non-dominant ethnic, religious and linguistic communities, that are not necessarily numerical minorities. It is the concept of  a  self identified community that is marginalised ,without power , unable to take decision over their own lives ,often illiterate, under educated, and often  subject to discrimination.The basic rights of these communities need protecting and promoting.

There is  a danger of  generalising about minorities and forgetting the complexity of their social composition including vulnerable groups -the rural poor, urban migrants ,women and young children. These groups may be considered as doubly vulnerable. What makes their situation particularly problematic is that there is often  a deliberate political policy not to  give due regard to the legitimate interests of minorities, while members of minorities see their  identity as central  to their social and economics situation. They are often excluded from political power and decision making in the  development process, without equal opportunities  to promote a better quality of life.

Frequently minorities do not want to be  assimilated  through insensitive "mono-ethnic" State policies , while states often fail to include  programmes that are sensitive to minority needs in their programmes  presented to  aid donors. Conversely donors find these issues difficult to raise with  majoritarian ruled "emerging"democracies, despite the donor framework of "good governance conditionality". Often  the intergovernmental community  ignores minority rights and is insensitive to minority needs, until violence erupts  or there are development disasters. This has been  dangerous for stability  and short sighted for development .

UN and THE WORLD BANK

The  United Nations has now recognised that inter -communal tensions and conflicts
are serious threats to the peace and stability of a region and go beyond the exclusive concern of the State in which the community resides. Conflict resolution and Minority Rights ,which were hardly spoken of in the 1980s,are now high priority issues on the international agenda. Nevertheless, however much politicians and diplomats may prioritise 'solutions' to a single or even several  conflicts, they are not able to respond effectively to the magnitude of the issues worldwide.This is one area in which  long term donor strategies  are needed  to  enhance equitable development of  societies and  to prevent the escalation of tensions.

The continuing human cost of failure is immense , though  the economists seem slow to inter-relate the vast and growing costs of conflicts with the need for pre-emptive development action.Oxfam and Safer World have shown that the true cost of conflicts  *********************************
*******************************************************************************************
At the same time OECD (DAC) assistance to the poorest countries fell by $5 bn. between 1992 and 1994 , a  real fall of 6% and  this may be set to fall further . Ironically an investment in targeted aid to improve intercommunity relations and true democratisation processes would have safeguarded past aid investment and reduced the prospects and costs of conflicts.
 

There is also a recognition that the marginalisation of  minorities  is also a human rights issue irrespective of the Conflict resolution perspective. "The UN Declaration on ..... Minorities" passed by the General Assembly three years ago recognised that developmental responses were essential. In article 5, it states that:
 

5.1  National policies and programmes shall be planned and implemented with                          due regard for the legitimate interests of persons belonging to minorities.

5.2 Programmes of cooperation and assistance among States should be planned and  implemented with due regard for the legitimate interests of persons belonging to  minorities.

These two basic rights should be axiomatic in any coherent development strategy.
 

Before discussing some practical examples of how  disadvantaged and vulnerable minority groups may benefit from programmes of cooperation and assistance among states, it is crucial to ensure that, as a minimum, minorities are protected from  ill-considered and sometimes hostile aid programmes. It would be possible to describe a multitude of programmes which have been promoted in the name of development and, often unwittingly , have damaged vulnerable communities. These occur  for many groups.
 

I give some example of those affecting minority communities, for example:

Dam  projects: Sarder Sarovar in India,Chittagong Hill Tracts of Bangladesh,
                                    in Sri Lanka, in Iraq,

Extraction of  Oil:      in the Caucasus,in the coastal region of Nigeria, in Siberia

Population transfers  for development: in Tibet in Kurdish Iraq, in Kalimalitan, in                                          Western  Papua ,in East Timor, in Ethiopia

National parks:          destroying the traditional  lives of the Wanniga laeto in                          Sri Lanka, Masai in Kenya, the Baserwa in Botswana
Deforestation: Brazil, Burma, Thailand, and Malaysia

These are but a few of the well known examples,  while  Minority Rights Group reports document many  of such examples.

There is a danger in implying  that  the lack of  participation or poorly conceived development programmes exclusively affect minorities. Obviously they do not, nevertheless there are certain kinds of programmes that are much more likely to have an adverse effect on minorities in isolated communities . A broad development principle is clear, all communities that are affected by development programmes must be formally consulted in the design stage and they should be involved throughout  the programme as participants and evaluators.
 

On the more positive side, these failures are now being recognised as such, the World Bank has a new approach towards indigenous peoples, (though not yet towards all minorities),while a number of donor governments are beginning  to  recognise  the importance of minority  sensitive aid strategies , coherently trying to relate their human rights policies to development practices.
.
NEW DEVELOPMENT APPROACHES.

MRG has been funded by some aid programmes  including FINNIDA , NETHERLANDS , NORWAY , SIDA  AND ODA(UK) to  provide research and guidance on  ethnic minorities and indigenous peoples for  aid officials. A  seminar  was held at the end of 1995 by MRG on Minority Rights and Development funded by the ODA involving NGO Development Agencies, Minority Groups, Donors and experts from East Africa, South Asia and Eastern Europe .The participants applauded the transparency of the discussion with the governments, who were present,  and called for the  beginning of a new dialogue in this area.

This seminar recommended a new dialogue with donor and recipient  governments to consider  how minority concerns can be embraced in aid strategies . The objective would be both to target some of the poorest and most vulnerable in society, but also to play a role in long term conflict prevention .These objectives are not  necessarily mutually complementary. It  would be  quite possible to prevent violent conflicts by massive repression within states or to seek political agreements between political eletes, while some of the poorest,  most vulnerable communities are most unlikely to be involved in violent conflict. These objectives do become reinforcing when they are seen in the context of  the observance of all human rights in  a democratic , pluralist state.

The notion that democracy is brought about by elections whereby the largest parliamentary party takes all  is  an unacceptable developmental process and on a number of occasions such as in Angola only served to re-ignite passions and conflict. The contrast with Zimbabwe in avoiding an escalating civil war in the 1980's shows how slowly these lessons are learnt by some in conflict prevention and resolution.  Democracy should involve the  effective participation and cooperation of all communities at all levels .

The broadening and deepening of the democratisation process is crucial for minority rights , minority participation and stable development. The strengthening of civil society is a lengthy and complex process that is crucial for a vibrant pluralist democracy where people can be involved in creating their own future in a multiplicity of way. This has particular importance for minority community members with non state actors concerned about rights of the vulnerable and enabling them to express themselves through other non ethnic identities. The latter is only likely to be true for the better educated ,more mobile members of the community.

The MRG Seminar  recommended  consultations with the staff of international financial institutions such as the World Bank, and the International Monetary Fund, the UNDP and related agencies on the relationship between developmental assistance and minority protection. Research and documentation on the successes and failures of development projects upon minority communities is a neglected area ,this should be redressed to learn lessons from the past. I t has been pointed out to me by aid officials that often donor agencies find it very difficult to raise ethnicity as an issue during project identification and appraisal. It is often the great unmentionable.As a consequence of it not being discussed ,it is not recognised as an assumption in project design. Greater transparency and dialogue is essential .

These discussions should endeavour to establish  a set of operational guidelines for project funding which could  or should affect minorities, including the need to undertake minority ,impact assessment studies of development projects. These guidelines should try to ensure that development programmes equally benefit different groups. Where there is differential impact in a project , there should be an attempt to redistribute the gains and losses of economic development to compensate the groups affected. In general the guidelines should seek ways of ensuring that minorities can participate in the development process equitably and where necessary through programmes to meet the special needs of disadvantaged and marginalised groups.

The experience of  identifying the specific needs of  disadvantaged groups such as women has been vindicated in 1980s  even though much remains to be done .It has helped to target more closely those who are the most marginalised and also given some real understanding of why the poverty and powerlessness exists and how to target  donor responses more effectively.  Minorities often have different economic , cultural, linguistic and educational traditions ,they may often fail to benefit from development  assistance unless equivalent rather than identical provisions are made. An obvious example is that  literacy should be first promoted  through mother tongue education , while minorities will need to be able to use the majority language effectively if they are to participate in or negotiate with majority society.

It is often misleading to generalise about minorities ,furthermore  there  needs to be a sensitivity  to different identities within minority communities,  elderly,  children,  women and men ,as well as the social  , economic and political distinctions in all most societies. The diversity in the Tamil communities of Sri Lanka are an obvious example . Strategies should seek to promote the identity of minorities, while also avoiding  conflictual ethnic cleavages. These apparently contradictory  objectives  can only be achieved with experience, care and subtlety.

SPECIFIC DEVELOPMENTAL  RESPONSES

The actions in the areas of participatory development and  democratisation have already been emphasised, so too has coherence and co-ordination even within diplomatic, aid policy and aid implementation of Foreign ministries. The involvement of minorities in the rule of  law  , in public sector management  and the promotion of  Minority Rights as an aspect of Human Rights  may all be advanced by practical projects,some are identified below.

NGOs  can and do play a role in ensuring that development assistance is directed towards addressing the underlying causes of ethnic conflicts and discriminatory practices. These  include programmes of research into the economic, social and political environment of inter-ethnic relations, which need to be undertaken before any  programming or advocacy. .Support  to civil society institutions researching, documenting , reporting and informing on minority rights is essential , while practical experience shows that these are often the springboard for other  intercommunity actions , transcending ethnic identities. Education programmes on  inter-racial justice and equality and empowering minority communities can play a crucial catalytic role particularly at times of  change .Importance is often given to Programmes of support for educational and media programmes, which are intended to promote attitudes of tolerance and mutual respect in multi-ethnic societies.

Supporting  information and technical assistance to promote constitutional reform, the building of new institutions such as language commissions, minority commissions ,minority round tables, and the design of autonomy or devolutionary arrangements can make valuable contributions .Additionally there can be minority programmes to strengthen  the formal institutions of the state ,such as the composition and sensitivity of the legal system to minority communities, the access and participation  of minorities in governmental programmes and institutions. The application and monitoring of international standards and of  equal opportunity policies in the governmental and private sector- supported by contract compliance and the targeting of aid- are equally important.
\
Development programmes should  ensure that there are  impact assessment  on  proposals  to see how they effect minorities. However States, NGOs and  governmental donors need to be much more pro-active despite (and often because of ) the domestic government's political sensitivities. The UN Declaration on...minorities provides the international  legitimacy for doing so .

The D.A.C. Orientations on Participatory Development and Good Governance states that coherence is essential or the effectiveness and credibility of a donor country's stance in good governance and participatory development. Consequently these basic minority rights agreed by the United Nations must be incorporated into any coherent development programme.

It will be found that in many situations there is the need for special programmes to tackle the literacy and language needs of minorities , their concentration in the poorest regions and the worst slums, their denial of  land  and high levels of employment .To avoid ethnic polarisation ,on occasions these activities may not be labelled as ethnic minority programmes but targeted at specific areas.

Special programmes are legitimate within The International Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (I.C.E.R.D.) to which most states are party. It gives legitimacy to temporary measures of limited duration to redress previous discrimination .Care must be taken not to exclude the poorest sectors of  the dominant community from  similar, though not necessarily identical programmes, while the schemes should not permanently institutionalise "racially"(in contrast to linguistically) targeted programmes .

Minority rights have to be achieved  within States, lasting responses have to be based on local and national initiatives. These on their own can easily be isolated and inexperienced and it is here that the synergy and solidarity of international partnerships and networks are crucial.
These need to be real partnerships and not those based on external actors dominating through funding or co-ordinating locally. Our partners have insisted on a solid understanding of agreed international standards and understanding how they have been implemented in practice .This is to ensure that the "Minority Rights " wheel does not have to be reinvented. Donor governments and international monitoring bodies can learn from NGO research  and experience-being assisted by very early warnings of tensions and opportunities for very early development actions before frustrations lead to an intractable degeneration of relations.

EXAMPLES FROM MRG's OWN WORK.
 

I was asked to give some brief examples from MRGs own project activity .These projects are usually in partnership with others ,while it should go without saying that there are many other projects with which we are not directly associated.

Programmes of Research and  Reporting

Over 25 years MRG has published more than 200 different studies describing the historical, cultural, and political circumstances in particular countries , as well as the social  and economic situation of communities. The work is undertaken involving a rigorous and well tested methodology, that like this paper does not present anything that is remarkably new or newsworthy but will we believe contribute to constructive reponses. Today MRG involves local expert advice, where it is safe to do so ,and publications are often in partnership with local institutions in different languages. Good  examples are our present  reports on  The Roma, and the forthcoming reports on The Copts of Egypt  and on Sri Lanka ,the first edition of which was published almost 20 years ago warning of the dangers of  the  long civil war that has followed
.
Today these are much more than publications for sale in Western countries, they are ways of giving dignity to minorities, a vehicle for peaceful local and international advocacy and desired by  different groups to help share  experiences and promote solidarity.

More research and discussions are now being undertaken on the implementation of specific rights including land  and language rights as well as different forms of democratisation through devolution and autonomy. We and our partners share the view that solid research and analysis must be the bedrock for an effective understanding of the complex situation of intercommunal relations.
 

Media

In our work we disseminate our studies to the relevant media and on occasions hold international conferences, partly to stimulate media attention. The studies are short and targeted at practitioners, frequently used for reference over time rather than in headlines for news.
However in 1991 , a year of great change in the Soviet Union we held with the Leningrad academy of Scientists, what is now a famous conference in Leningrad on Minority Rights in Europe .It attracted major media attention not only in Leningrad area but also more widely in  the Soviet Union.
In 1994 we held a major conference with the Ibn Khaldoun Center for Development on the UN Declaration on .....Minorities  in the Arab world. It attracted massive press interest, much of it initially hostile, with very heavy press criticism in the media of Syria, Iraq, Sudan and Libya. There were strong attempts to stop the conference and it had to be moved from Cairo to Cyprus for security reasons. It attracted committed support from Palestinians, Kurds and Copts interalia who greatly welcomed the dialogue,as it has helped them in opening a discourse in their own country  that had not been possible before.
 
Education /Curriculum Reform

This sub-project aims to bring Roma culture back into closer contact with non-Roma children. Pilot educational materials prepared in cooperation with Roma participants will be tried out in history, literature, music and art classes in two school environments: one ethnically mixed and one ethnic Bulgarian only. The idea is not  only to reduce prejudice but also to give Roma children confidence, make school a more welcoming place for them and to encourage their families, especially their mothers, to participate fully in this social process.

Multi-cultural  Education
MRG is involved with a number of projects in Western Europe which may be perceived as development education work .They are to improve intercommunity relations ,particularly around refugees. In the UK there is a highly acclaimed Voices project  enabling the voices of refugee children from Africa to speak out ,in their mother  tongue and in English to describe their own experiences in a most moving way. This has been presented as a resource for the curriculum .More importantly perhaps is the process of involvement of refugee communities in this project giving them an ownership.

Strengthening institutions of the State

.MRG is  working across a number of countries in Eastern Europe, identifying  International and national standards  which refer to the constitutional rights of the Roma. How these rights are applied or not, will be part of the research, as will the mechanisms which have been set up to enable appeals against discrimination to be heard. Some case studies will be produced as part of the outcomes.

Participation of Minorities in Governmental  programmes and institutions.
Training of Trainers

Delivery of training to Romany people is critical at the moment. The target groups will be adults, with emphasis on young people and women. The training will be aimed at education and in particular communication, such as presentation, negotiating, but also basic principles of management and leadership. Awareness raising about the Roma culture, in society will be tackled. The methods endeavour to reduce prejudice and to develop strategies, which aim to empower the Roma , by actively involving them in all parts of the programme. Local governments and police will be included in the programme, which will help to shape municipal development.

Understanding International Standards and Practice.

To some extent MRG has worked in this area through the dissemination of  its studies widely through out the world including translations into different languages. Currently MRG is developing a workshop training programme around the new U N Declaration on ..minorities and the new UN Working Group on Minorities. This is to ensure that Human Rights organisations and minority communities are aware of the new standard, can learn from good practice and explore the possibilities of dialogue that the new mechanism offers. This follows many years of  work, advising and lobbying for these new arrangements.
Similarly a training workshop is being organised in South Asia to discuss tribal and indigenous peoples rights both in theory and in practice. The outcome cannot be predetermined but may lead to the involvement of these communities in the UN Working group of  Indigenous Peoples and in determining other key areas of joint initiatives including advocacy and local action research.

International  Network

MRG has established a good record in working co-operatively with partner groups and ensuring a good fit with other related initiatives. Additionally, there is a role of support which seeks to respond to the identified needs of partners, help disseminate the outcomes and describe ideas which would seem to merit further work.
The emphasis is on process as well as product with considerable time spent by MRG internationally in involving partners by working with them and their structures, while both  learning from each other in domestic and international environments. Minority Rights demands long term commitments based on local , autonomous NGO,s working  on  and operating in partnership with International NGOs interalia. Either one on their own is the weaker.

SOLUTIONS

What are the solutions to these critical problems of societal conflict? I have described some of the responses to this question that MRG is proposing both in theory and in practice. Ensuring the right to development and ensuring the right to participate is  a process over time and not a set of events. There are no simple "solutions " as social and political tensions are the essence of a vibrant society, the questions should be more about managing this dynamic in a constructive  rather than destructive manner. In addition some real impact can be made by ensuring that democratisation always involves a great sensitivity to minority concerns and by specific NGO projects to redress social injustices by empowering minorities to participate fully in the development of the State. Both  State and non-State actors have important complementary roles to play.
 
 

      ALAN PHILLIPS
      JANUARY 1996