Campaign Launched To Save UN Minorities Group
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Minority voices at UN in danger of being silenced, as Human Rights Council moves to drop key forum. Campaign launched for a better deal for minorities.
The voices of minorities at the UN are under threat. In a matter of weeks, the Geneva-based Human Rights Council (HRC) is widely expected to decide to dismantle the UN's expert group on minorities, with no guarantees on what - if anything - will replace it. For sixty years, virtually since its beginning, the United Nations has had a special forum for minority organisations - many of whom represent the world's most marginalized and impoverished communities. Minority Rights Group International (MRG) and the International Movement against All forms of Discrimination (IMADR) and Racism are launching a campaign today urging the HRC to take this opportunity to deliver a new, more effective platform for minorities at the UN - not marginalize them further. MRG's Director Mark Lattimer, says, "It is obvious that at a time when many minorities are facing extreme religious and ethnic persecution, member states should be trying to think of ways to strengthen minorities' access to the UN not close it down" "In Iraq some small religious minorities risk being eradicated and in other countries from Ethiopia to Sri Lanka ethnic and religious groups are under severe threat - these are critical issues that need a forum in the UN," he adds. In September, the year-old HRC is expected to vote to abolish all the expert working groups - including the Working Group on Minorities - set up under its widely discredited predecessor the Human Rights Commission. But with some governments on the 47-member Council strongly opposed to advancing minority rights, the fear is not just that the UN highest human rights body will not deliver a better deal to minorities, but that it may not deliver anything at all. Hideki Morihara, Secretary General of IMADR, says, "It is imperative that minorities must still have a platform, with open access, where they can present their views, meet with UN officials and hold discussions with their government representatives." Minorities make up to 20% of the worlds' population and exist in virtually every country in the world. MRG and IMADR point out that for the UN's work building a strong, peaceful global community to be effective, it needs to listen to minorities - not to take steps to push them further into the margins. The campaign titled 'Keep minority voices heard at the UN' can be accessed on www.minorityrights.org Notes 1. Click http://www.minorityrights.org/ to visit MRG's brand new website and read more about MRG and IMADR's campaign to save the UN Working Group on Minorities, 'Keep Minority Voices at the UN'. 2. Minority Rights Group International (MRG) is a non-governmental organisation working to secure the rights of ethnic, religious and linguistic minorities and indigenous peoples worldwide. 3. The International Movement Against All Forms of Discrimination and Racism (IMADR) is an international non-profit, non-governmental human rights organization devoted to eliminating discrimination and racism, forging international solidarity among discriminated minorities and advancing the international human rights system. |
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