Right to political participation It is generally recognized that minorities’ and indigenous peoples’ rights are better protected when these groups enjoy an effective right to political participation. This right may take different forms, including, in particular, the right to direct representation at the institutional level and the right to participate in those decision-making processes that may affect them. In international human rights law, three types of instruments are of relevance in this context: those setting forth general human rights; those applicable only to minorities, including indigenous peoples to the extent that they constitute minorities;226 and finally those that are specifically designed to address the interests and needs of indigenous peoples as such. While providing a short overview of general and special participatory standards concerning minorities and indigenous peoples, including the evolving right to effective participation in decisions affecting them, the following focuses on recent jurisprudential developments relating to general political rights, mainly the rights to vote and to stand for elections. Complex issues of consultation and consent will be addressed in the next section, in connection with an assessment of the indigenous land rights case law. General and special participatory rights for minorities and indigenous peoples: a brief summary of standards The right to political participation is recognized under the main international and regional human rights instruments. Examples include Article 25 of the ICCPR, Article 5(c) of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD), Article 3 of Protocol 1 to the ECHR, Article 23 of the ACHR and Article 13 of the AfrCH. These general provisions apply to everyone, including members of minorities and indigenous peoples. In addition, a number of provisions are specifically addressed to persons belonging to minorities. Among these, one should highlight Article 27 of the ICCPR and 24 Article 15 of the FCNM.227 While Article 15 of the FCNM explicitly requires states to create the conditions necessary for effective participation of persons belonging to national minorities in all aspects of a country’s life, including in public affairs, in particular those affecting them, Article 27 ICCPR does not include such references. Nevertheless, the HRC in interpreting the cultural rights of minorities under Article 27 ICCPR observed that culture manifests itself in many forms, including a particular way of life associated with the use of land resources, especially in the case of indigenous peoples. Crucially, the HRC held that the enjoyment of these cultural rights may require positive measures to ensure the effective participation of members of minority communities in decisions which affect them.228 Indeed, the HRC’s jurisprudence affirms the right of minorities to participation in matters affecting their interests, such as in Ilmari Länsman et al. v Finland,229 Jouni Länsman et al. v Finland 230 and Apirana Mahuika et al. v New Zealand.231 In these cases, the authors complained that the states’ commercial exploitation of natural resources had a disruptive effect on their traditional way of life. In assessing whether Finland and New Zealand had violated their obligations under Article 27 ICCPR, the HRC focused on evaluating state measures taken to ensure the effective participation of members of the minority communities concerned in decisions which affected them. For example, in Apirana Mahuika et al. v New Zealand, the HRC emphasized that two criteria are essential in evaluating the acceptability of measures that affect or interfere with the culturally significant economic activities of a minority: ‘whether the members of the minority in question have had the opportunity to participate in the decision-making process in relation to these measures and whether they will continue to benefit from their traditional economy’.232 In all three communications, the HRC found that because the states consulted the groups concerned before they adopted relevant domestic legislation and took into specific consideration the sustainability of the minority groups’ traditional activities,233 there was no violation of Article 27 ICCPR.234 Accordingly, Article 27 ICCPR also includes the right to effective participation of minorities in matters affecting their interests. It is also worth mentioning the provisions included in the (non-legally binding) UNDM, inspired by Article 27 MINORITY GROUPS AND LITIGATION: A REVIEW OF DEVELOPMENTS IN INTERNATIONAL AND REGIONAL JURISPRUDENCE