Hyderabad: December 18 is observed as Minorities Rights Day every year since 1992 across the world to create awareness on the rights of minorities. Worldwide, minorities’ rights day is celebrated for promoting the actual and legal rights of Minorities. Since every country has various linguistic, ethnic, cultural and religious minorities group, it becomes the duty of the country to provide all the facilities and rights to the minorities group irrespective of the size, religion and population.
By providing equal rights to the minorities no politicians are doing any favour to them it’s their actual rights. A country which does not discriminate between people based on caste, religion or community displays the actual spirit of democracy. There are several examples across the world when a specific minority group had to struggle and suffer because of political and policy discrimination.
In order to handle such state of affairs and to discontinue the occurrences of inequity and unfairness against the minorities, the United Nations adopted and publicized the Declaration of Minorities Rights Day which discourages the countries to discriminate amongst people basis religion, language, nationality or ethnicity.
HISTORY
Adopted by General Assembly resolution 47/135, the day is celebrated since 18th December 1992. The resolution aimed at reaffirming that one of the basic aims of the United Nations, as proclaimed in the Charter, is to promote and encourage respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms for all, without distinction as to race, sex, language or religion, reaffirming faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person, in the equal rights of men and women and of nations large and small.
UNO
The UN also declared that all countries and people in authoritative positions shall protect the existence of the linguistic, cultural, ethnic and national identity of minorities inside their respective provinces; they should also encourage and support situations and promote such identities. The declaration was a grand step in safeguarding the minorities group across the world.
IMPORTANCE OF MINORITY RIGHTS
Minorities are all national cultural, ethnic, religious and linguistic minorities whose minority status has been recognised by national legislation or by internationally binding declarations as well as minorities that define and organise themselves as such. Minority rights are based on the recognition that minorities are in a vulnerable situation in comparison to other groups in society, namely the majority population, and aim to protect members of a minority group from discrimination, assimilation, prosecution, hostility or violence, as a consequence of their status.
It should be highlighted that minority rights do not constitute privileges, but act to ensure equal respect for members of different communities. These rights serve to accommodate vulnerable groups and to bring all members of society to a minimum level of equality in the exercise of their human and fundamental rights.
ENSURING MINORITY RIGHTS
In other words, they aim to ensure that persons belonging to a national minority enjoy effectively equality with those persons belonging to the majority. It aims to promote equal opportunities at all levels for people belonging to a minority since it empowers communities and promotes the exercise of individual freedoms. Central to the rights of minorities in the promotion and protection of their identity. Promoting and protecting their identity prevents forced assimilation and the loss of cultures, religions and languages—the basis of the richness of the world and therefore part of its heritage.
When decisions are made by slim majorities, the outcome may seem unfair to the “near-majority” that was on the other side, but that principle of majority rule is essential both in ensuring that decisions can be made and that minorities could not prevent the majority from deciding an issue or, an election. Otherwise, a minority holding economic, social, and political power would use its power to dominate the majority of the citizens, thus instituting the antithesis of democracy: minority rule.
INTERNATIONAL PROTECTION OF MINORITY RIGHTS
The Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, adopted after World War II in 1948, is the most widely recognized international treaty governing the practice of nation-states. The UN's International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, adopted in 1966, defines not just individual rights but also minimum protections for minorities. Article 27 asserts: Persons belonging to [ethnic, religious, or linguistic] minorities shall not be denied the right in community with the other members of their group to enjoy their own culture, to profess and practice their religion, or to use their language.
The Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities, (issued in 1992 by the UN General Assembly) and the Convention No. 169 on Indigenous and Tribal Peoples (adopted by the International Labour Organization in 1989) further define protections for ethnic, religious, and cultural minorities to preserve their culture, languages, and beliefs and to protect themselves from discrimination. While these treaties establish clear international moral standards and have improved conditions for minorities in many places, the examples noted above make clear that the actual practice of the international community in protecting minorities from targeted repression is inconsistent, at best.
THE PERSISTENCE OF DISCRIMINATION
In Europe, minority Muslim communities from former colonies in northern Africa, the Middle East, and Southwest Asia have struggled against pervasive discrimination and the denial of equal opportunities in education, jobs, and housing (for example, France). Majority of indigenous groups in several other Latin American countries have long been treated as “the minority” for most of their countries' constitutional histories like Bolivia and Guatemala.
Indeed, the issues of minorities seeking greater freedom, equality, autonomy, and protection against discrimination and unequal treatment remain at the heart of politics, protest and conflict in many parts of the world. Usually, they are addressed through nonviolent means such as elections, protests, legislation, the courts, protection of native lands, education, and other efforts granting regional autonomy or specific rights and privileges. In some cases, minorities have taken up arms to achieve their goals, but this strategy is usually less successful.
Minority rights in general often pose a difficult political choice within a democracy: assimilation versus separation. While assimilation of a minority into the broader society offers a minority greater opportunities and political influence, it does so often at the expense of minority cultures, beliefs, and practices. On the other hand, preserving cultures, beliefs, and practices by insulating the minority reduces its influence within the majority political culture. Often, there is a spiralling effect as insular minority communities face discrimination and lack of economic opportunity, which reinforces a sense of social alienation, especially among the young. It is not an easy balance for an example, The Netherlands.
MINORITIES RIGHTS DAY IN INDIA
Minorities Rights Day in India is a very significant day to promote and preserve the rights of people belonging to linguistic, religion, castes and colour minority. In India, frequent disagreements and discussion on majority-minority issues creep up creating religious and political disharmony.
Even though the Indian Constitution has always advocated and provided equal and fair rights to all the communities including minorities, but certain issues concerning the rights of minorities keep creeping in. By celebrating Minorities Rights Day in India, each state focuses on issues related to minorities as well as ensures that the minorities’ rights are safe within their province.
HISTORY OF MINORITY RIGHTS DAY IN INDIA
India celebrates Minorities’ rights day on 18th of December every year, as introduced by the United Nations. The day is celebrated for promoting the actual and legal rights of Minority communities. It has been observed in our country that employment opportunities, educational upliftment and financial inclusion are the major areas wherein minorities are left behind. If they get appropriate guidance and support in these and other areas, people from minority communities may also play a significant role in the growth of the nation. Some leaders who support and work for the benefit of minorities feel that the agenda of India is not been set by the minorities, in fact, minorities are still struggling to save their lives and means to protect their religion and traditions. Since the most important agendas have been set by the leaders from the majority community, they primarily address their issues overlooking the issues faced by the minority community and hence both are at loss. This is a critical situation and getting more difficult for people of minority communities to overcome this situation.
SACHHAR COMMITTEE MAIN COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATIONS
• Set up an Equal Opportunity Commission to look into grievances of deprived groups like
minorities.
• Create a ‘nomination’ procedure to increase the participation of minorities in public bodies.
• Provide a legal mechanism to address complaints of discrimination against minorities in matters of employment, housing, schooling and obtaining bank loans.
• Establish a delimitation procedure that does not reserve constituencies with high minority
population for SCs.
• Initiate and institutionalise a process of evaluating contents of textbooks to purge them of explicit and implicit material that may impart inappropriate social values, especially religious intolerance.
• Create a National Data Bank (NDB) where all relevant data for various socio-religious categories are maintained.