Introduction

The objective of this World Directory is to provide an authoritative and concise reference book on the situation of minorities world-wide. Minorities and indigenous people have frequently captured the news in the 1990s, and there has been a spate of academic research on specific minorities and minority themes. MRG and others have published numerous books on individual minority groups. However, this Directory is unique. Its 700 entries covering more than 200 states and dependent territories cannot claim to be fully comprehensive either in their coverage of all minorities or in the coverage of each minority included. Yet the book does provide a coherent and wide-ranging introduction to the situation of most of the world's significant minority groups, complete with key bibliographical references and listings of active NGOs involved with minority issues. The Directory also features a substantial legal essay by Professor Patrick Thornberry, who has acted as mentor to us throughout this publication and appendices to place country entries within a broader global context of legal instruments for the protection of minorities.

The Directory aims to provide an insight into the conditions of minority communities throughout the world and to indicate the major areas of inter-community tension. It also seeks to reflect the reality of women's experience and changing roles in both traditional and modernizing societies. Relationships between communities do not, as a rule, change rapidly; they are usually deep-rooted within society and within states. Thus we hope that the book will remain a valuable reference work for a number of years to come. The previous edition of the Directory, published in 1990, was used, for example, in situations where it was necessary to establish a prima facie case on whether individuals might have a well-founded fear of persecution. This new edition - expanded to cover a wider range of countries and minorities than its predecessor - should therefore be of considerable use to refugee agencies and the like, as well as to scholars, educationalists, human rights bodies, media workers, government and UN officials and those working in development agencies.


Importance of minorities

Today, the large majority of violent conflicts in the world are conflicts within states, with groups polarised across ethnic and religious divides and not across borders. Furthermore, ethnic, religious and linguistic minorities are often among the poorest of the poor, are often discriminated against and are frequently the victims of human rights abuses. All these factors make the situation of minorities a matter of major concern and make it important that accurate, objective and up to date information about them is widely available.

It 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 more than 20% of the world's population belongs to 6,000 different minority communities. National statistics are often skewed for political reasons and there is no universally accepted definition of 'minorities'. The word has different interpretations in different societies throughout the world, while the UN General Assembly has not sought to reach a definition beyond that implied in the title of 'The UN Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities' passed in December 1992.

MRG focuses its work on non-dominant ethnic, religious and linguistic communities, whether or not they are numerical minorities. The concept thus relates to any self-identified community that is marginalised, without power, unable to take decisions over its destiny and often experiencing high levels of illiteracy, undereducation and overt or covert discrimination. The basic rights of such communities need protection and promotion.

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


Minorities, development and democracy

Frequently, minorities do not want to be assimilated through insensitive 'mono-ethnic' state policies, while states often fail to include in their programmes presented to aid donors, programmes which are sensitive to minority needs. 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, and it perpetuates violence.

The United Nations has now recognised that inter-community 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 are now high priority issues on the international agenda. 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, although the economists appear slow to interrelate the vast and growing costs of conflicts and the need for pre-emptive development action. OECD (DAC) assistance to the poorest countries fell by $5 billion between 1992 and 1994, a fall of 6% in real terms and 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 recognition that the marginalisation of minorities is a human rights issue irrespective of the conflict resolution perspective. The UN Declaration on the Rights of Minorities of 1992 recognises that developmental responses are essential. In article 5, it states: `National policies and programmes shall be planned and implemented with due regard for the legitimate interests of persons belonging to minorities' (5.1); and: `Programmes of cooperation and assistance among States should be planned and implemented with due regard for the legitimate interests of persons belonging to minorities' (5.2). These two basic rights should be axiomatic in any coherent development strategy.

It is crucial to ensure that, as a minimum, minorities are protected from ill-considered and sometimes hostile aid programmes. A multitude of programmes have been promoted in the name of development but, often unwittingly, have damaged vulnerable communities. Examples include such hydroelectric dam projects as the Sardar Sarovar in India and others in the Chittagong Hill Tracts of Bangladesh, in Sri Lanka and in Iraq; oil extraction projects in the Caucasus, in the delta coastal region of Nigeria, in Siberia and Ecuador; population transfers for development occurring in Tibet, Kurdish Iraq and Turkey, Kalimaltan, Western Papua, East Timor and Ethiopia; national parks projects affecting the Veddah (Wanniga Laeto) in Sri Lanka, the Masai in Kenya and Basarwa (San) in Botswana; and last but not least, logging and other forestry developments impacting severely on minorities in Brazil, Burma, Thailand and Malaysia, among other countries.

There is a danger in implying that poorly conceived development programmes and a lack of participation exclusively affect minorities. There is clearly not the case. Nevertheless, certain kinds of programmes are more likely than most to have an adverse effect on minorities in isolated communities. A broad development principle is clear: all communities affected by development programmes should be formally consulted at the design stage and should be involved throughout the programme as participants and evaluators. On the more positive side, development failures are increasingly recognised as such. The World Bank has a new approach towards indigenous peoples (though not yet towards all minorities), and donor governments are beginning to recognise the importance of minority-sensitive aid strategies, and to relate human rights policies to development practices.

This Directory can contribute to dialogues between donors, recipient governments, NGOs and others in their efforts to include minority concerns in aid strategies. The objective should be both to target some of the poorest and most vulnerable in society, while also contributing to long term conflict prevention. [These objectives are not necessarily mutually complementary. It would be possible to prevent violent conflicts by massive repression within states or by seeking political agreements between political elites; and some of the poorest, most vulnerable communities are unlikely to be involved in violent conflict]. Aid officials sometimes admit that they find it difficult to raise ethnicity as an issue during project identification and appraisal; it is often the great unmentionable. Research into, and documentation of the successes and failures of development projects with regards to minority communities are therefore a neglected area; this should be redressed to learn lessons from the past.

The notion, for example, that democracy is brought about by elections where the winner, the largest parliamentary party takes all is unacceptable from a minority rights perspective. On a number of occasions, such as in Angola, a winner-takes-all view of democracy has contributed to the beginning or renewal of  conflict. This contrasts with Zimbabwe, where power sharing between communities helped avoid an escalating civil war in the 1980s. 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 yet an essential part of creating pluralist democracies where people can be involved in creating their own future.

Strategies should seek to promote the identity of minorities, while also avoiding increasing areas of conflict arising from ethnic differences. These apparently contradictory objectives can only be achieved with experience, care and subtlety. When reviewing the situation of minorities, the minimum standards of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Minorities should act as a comparator. The following section gives a little more detail of how MRG believes that these rights should be implemented - issues that are more fully explored in MRG's thematic reports.


Implementing Minimum Standards for Minorities

Education
A state may query whether minorities should  have special educational rights at all. It may see the purpose of its education system as being the inculcation of a sense of national unity and identity and therefore,  when it makes declarations about the educational rights of all its citizens, these may not include the rights of minorities. This approach is often in conflict with the idea of special rights for minorities in respect of language, religion and curricula. Minorities see education as crucial, both for their future prospects and also for transmitting their values and culture. It is important to consider who defines minority groups. Is it the majority or the minorities themselves? Different educational provision may result from whose definition is used. At its most extreme, a state does not even need to consider any special provision for a minority which it does not define as officially existing - for example, the historic approach of Turkey towards its Kurdish community.

Language issues
One of the critical ways in which minorities define themselves is through language. Language is an essential part of an individual's identity, and for minority groups, it is a significant part of group identity. The minority language transmits cultural norms and values. In most states, however, minority language does not have equal status with the majority language. From the position of the state, language is one of the bonds that hold the state together. It can be argued that the cultural identity and political and social unity of a state will be promoted if everyone is educated in the same national language. In addition, the cost of providing minority language teaching can be prohibitive, especially in states with many languages. It is not in dispute that minority groups need to be taught the national language of the state in which they live so that they may participate fully in that society. However, there are also strong arguments for teaching minority languages, as well as the majority language. A childs first language is normally the best medium for learning, especially in the early stages of education. Minority language teaching is necessary for the development of a positive self-image and for children to know about their history and culture. In addition, mother tongue teaching, as well as being important in its own right, actually enhances second language learning rather than detracting from it. Teaching minority languages prevents language loss and helps prevent forced linguistic and cultural assimilation: cultural and linguistic pluralism can thus be seen as enriching society as a whole.

Religion and secularism
Religion and religious education are like language, a key area in the education of minorities. Since education is provided by the state, it belongs to the public domain, while religion in a secular state belongs to the private domain. However, for many minorities, if their religion remains in the private domain it may become invisible and low status - both in educational terms and to society at large. Another difficulty is that secular values may not satisfy the religious longings and needs of minorities, who may then argue for separate schools. There is often a real tension between the values of a secular society and the religious values that minorities may wish their children to learn. If religious minorities establish their own separate schools through disenchantment with state schooling, then mutual understanding between minority and majority is more difficult to achieve. The rise of fundamentalism in secular states may be a reflection of how those states have failed to provide a safe and secure framewor for different religious minorities.

Minorities and the curriculum
The school curriculum reflects the ideology of the state and may have in-built cultural assumptions which are irrelevant or opposed to minority groups' needs and views of the world. Educational materials are often deliberately politically manipulated. At their most oppressive, assimilationist curricula can be used to suppress religious and cultural identities, and the languages, knowledge and history of a particular minority group. Minorities' concerns with the curriculum vary; one group may stress the importance of learning in their own language, while another may be more concerned about appropriate religious education, while yet another minority may want primarily to reclaim its lost history.

Curricula and textbooks, along with teachers' attitudes, can also allow or actively promote negative stereotypes of particular groups which not only affect the sense of identity and self worth of the minority, but also ensure that the next generation of majority children retain these views. There are dangers - in challenging authoritarian educational systems - of replacing the victimisation of one minority with that of another, or even a majority. There is also a danger (in the type of multicultural education policies that have become common in the countries of the North) in focusing on minorities rather than looking at racism in the majority culture. A key issue for minorities is whether they have any part in developing education policy and the curriculum.

Employment
Throughout the world, direct and indirect discriminatory practices exist in employment. Sometimes these measures may be defended as special measures to redress inequalities and poverty among minority communities. More often than not, they reflect the prejudice within society and the lack of confidence of the majority group in employing member of minority communities. In the more extreme cases, there exists racial or religious discrimination, leading state or private employers to apply strict language tests, which are unnecessary for particular posts.

The UN committee monitoring the Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination and ILO officials reporting on the implementation of ILO III on non-discrimination in the workplace have produced numerous well-documented country reports, but this remains a crucial issue. It should not be forgotten that Boutros Boutros Ghali, a Copt, was never able to rise above the position of Deputy Foreign Minister in Egypt, and yet, became Secretary General of the United Nations.

Land rights and natural resources
Land is a key issue underlying minority claims for protection. Some minorities claim restoration of lands of which they were dispossessed long ago; others seek to avert further dispossession or demand genuine quality of rights with dominant majorities. For many minorities, the territory is synonymous with identity, way of life and the ability to survive as an entity. The best-known examples are those indigenous peoples for whom the relationship with land represents an entire way of life - history, ancestors, respect for the environment, community organisation and relationships with outsiders.

Important land and natural resources issues also arise for other minorities. The ways that water is used or diverted, for example, can have an immense impact on a rural society as has been clearly demonstrated by the redirecting of rivers and the draining of marshes in Iraq, which has had such a dramatic effect on the Marsh Arabs. Dam projects, mentioned earlier, have had devastating effects on millions of people within minorities, in the name of development. Related issues include fishing rights in rivers and coastal waters, pollution of water by outside industry and even the use of waterways for tourism.

Often the most contentious debates are about resources under the ground, where governments and investors see the opportunity for substantial returns and significant foreign exchange earning. Mining for minerals has devastated many areas, frequently through pollution and the construction of infrastructure. In recent years, the ownership of oil has been a flashpoint for violence in the Northern Caucasus and in the delta areas of Nigeria. Time and time again, the local minority community receives little benefit and many disadvantages from such `developments', while outsiders accrue enormous financial profits.

One of the most intractable land-and-minority issues has been redressing the problems of the past, particularly the repressive policies of  population movement into and out of  an area to strengthen the control of a state by central government. The experiences of the deported peoples of the former Soviet Union, including the Crimean Tatars and presence of Russians in the periphery of the former Soviet Union today both create animosity that provide opportunities for exploitation by politicians. Currently, too, Tibet is experiencing major movements of Chinese into the areas with drastic consequences for the demographic and cultural composition of the country.

Land rights have begun to receive considerable attention in the United Nations and its agencies and in national constitutions. The main focus has been on the rights of indigenous and tribal peoples. However, the 1992 UN Declaration on the Rights of Minorities makes no reference to land rights, and this is undoubtedly one of its major weaknesses. The strong recognition of indigenous land rights under international law and the absence of recognition of minorities' land rights, raise definitional issues because the question is so important to some non-indigenous minority communities.

Protection of indigenous peoples
The territorial claims of indigenous peoples may be rooted far back in history. They are underpinned by the notion of their special claims to the land, because their unique relationship with the environment is crucial to their survival, and their land and resource rights may never be ceded. The first international legal instrument to codify indigenous and tribal peoples' rights was the ILO Convention concerning the Protection and Integration of Indigenous and other Tribal and semi-Tribal Populations in Independent Countries, No.157 (1957). By the mid-1980s, this convention was out of tune with current realities and aspirations; the ILO adopted a new Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention in 1989 (No.169), emphasising recognition of such peoples' rights to control their own development. Land rights are also central to the Draft Declaration on Indigenous Rights issued by the UN Working Group on Indigenous Populations (established in 1982).

Demands for protection of indigenous and tribal land rights have influenced the policies of international financial institutions, whose past efforts have been criticised for their devastating impact on traditional land security. A 1991 World Bank operational directive requires an indigenous people's development plan to be adopted, with the informed participation of indigenous people, before project appraisal. New concepts thus arise beyond equality of treatment and access. States should recognise indigenous and tribal peoples' special relationship with, and prior ownership of, traditional lands; they should render this ownership effective and establish adequate claims and disputes procedures.


Programmes to counter disadvantage

In many situations, there is the need for special programmes to tackle the multiple needs of minorities: literacy and language disadvantages; concentration in the poorest regions and the worst slums, denial of land and resources and high levels of employment. To avoid ethnic polarisation, on occasions such activities may not be identified explicitly as ethnic minority programmes, but targeted at specific areas. These are crucial areas of minority rights which are touched upon in the Directory and elaborated on in MRG reports. Initiatives to counter disadvantage play a significant role in 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 for 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 interracial justice and equality and the empowerment of minority communities can play a crucial catalytic role, particularly at times of change. Educational and media programmes, can help promote attitudes of tolerance and mutual respect in multi-ethnic societies.

Supporting information and technical assistance to promote political development including 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 of the legal system and its sensitivity to minority communities, and the access of minorities to, and their participation in, governmental programmes and institutions. The application and monitoring of international standards and of equal opportunity policies in both the state and private sector - supported by contract compliance and the targeting of aid - are equally important.

Minority rights have to be achieved within states. Lasting responses have to be based on local and national initiatives. Local initiatives on their own can easily be isolated and marginalised and it is here that the synergy and solidarity of international partnerships and networks are crucial. These need to be real partnerships and not based on external actors dominating through funding or co-ordination locally. MRG's own project partners insist on a solid understanding of agreed international standards and understanding how they have been implemented in practice. This ensures that the 'minority rights' wheel does not have to be reinvented. Donor governments and international monitoring bodies can usefully learn much from NGO research and experience.


The World Directory of Minorities

Approximately, eighty writers and consultant readers, have contributed to this book - all of them acknowledged scholars and practitioners in the field of minorities. I would like to thank them and the project's legal consultant, Patrick Thornberry, alongside the MRG staff who have successfully brought this publication to completion for the Minority Rights Group.

The International Council of Minority Rights Group had the courage to initiate this project, like many other MRG projects, without being certain of where the funding would come from. It was confident that a major publication such as this was needed to fill a crucial information gap and that in due course, it would be able to convince donors of the merits of this. It is now evident that this confidence was well placed, because a range of donors have contributed to the project, without whose help, publication of this Directory would not have been possible. Substantial financial contributions have been made by the European Human Rights Foundation. The US Institute of Peace, the Norwegian Foreign Ministry and the UK Overseas Development Administration, to all of which bodies, we are pleased to express our gratitude. Nevertheless, responsibility for this publication and its contents rests exclusively with Minority Rights Group.

Alan Phillips
Director