World more violent and unstable because of inaction in protecting rights of minorities, UN expert warns

NEW YORK (21 October 2022) – The United Nations and the international community must show leadership to address inaction and negligence in the protection of minority rights, a UN expert told the General Assembly, warning that the lack of progress in recent decades has led to massive violations and growing global instability, humanitarian crises and conflicts.

“As UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres recognised recently at a high-level event in the General Assembly, the protection of the rights of minorities in the institutions, structures and initiatives of the United Nations has fallen short since the adoption in 1992 of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Minorities,” said Fernand de Varennes, UN Special Rapporteur on minority issues.

“There is a near complete failure to mainstream and integrate the rights of minorities at the UN, despite a 2013 Guidance Note. Minorities are facing on a massive scale as never before threats of exclusion, discrimination, and even calls to genocide and crimes against humanity. It is not an exaggeration to say that there has been a regression in the level of recognition and protection of the human rights of minorities”.

He made the comments yesterday in presenting his report assessing the protection of the rights of minorities at the UN and pointing out that there have been no major institutional initiatives to ensure their rights.

“We can see alongside this outright institutional neglect in addressing and tackling the human rights of minorities, and even reluctance in acknowledging that minorities are specifically and disproportionally targeted, increased levels of hate speech, incitement to violence, scapegoating and bigotry has led to a more unstable and unjust world,” said de Varennes.

Minorities represent more than three-quarters of the world’s stateless and are usually the main targets of hate speech in social media. They are among the world’s most educationally disadvantaged and are more likely to be excluded or disadvantaged in areas such as political participation, the expert said. “Their grievances are also often at the root of, or instrumentalised in, most violent internal conflicts, with the number of these conflicts now near their highest levels in the last 30 years.”

The Special Rapporteur called for an action plan to strengthen the protection of minority rights and operationalise the 2013 UN Secretary-General’s call on mainstreaming and integrating minority rights across all UN pillars and activities, especially the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and the UN Development Programme. He also urged the integration of minority rights into the work of the UN system at global, regional and country levels.

A treaty should be drafted for international cooperation in a climate where minorities are facing massive violations of their rights in regard to the enjoyment of their cultures, the use of their languages, including especially in education, and the practice of their religions or beliefs.

The Special Rapporteur also recommended the adoption at the General Assembly of a UN International Year or Decade of Minorities, for the creation of a UN voluntary fund to financially support minority-related activities at the United Nations, as well as regional-level minority forums complementary to the annual UN Forum on Minority Issues be formalised institutionally until the establishment of a permanent forum.