Socio-economic empowerment In the context of minorities, socio-economic empowerment requires first of all adhering to the principles of respect for fundamental freedoms as explicitly affirmed by international laws. International laws in this respect are those clearly stipulated by UN declarations and conventions as well as by UN bodies such as the ILO. Like all components of the international human rights law, the state of the rights of minorities has been violated by a great many governments for decades. These violations are continuing at an alarming state particularly in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Middle East. As we are examining the state of the socio-economic empowerment of minority communities, we need to stipulate exactly what it entails. Empowerment must signify, first of all, the affirmation of the right to selfdetermination, which in the minority context is the capability of a given community to make choices to determine and decide on the modality of life it opts to lead. It is all about the practice of this self-determined development which, by and large, revolves round the questions of social, economic and political relationships between minority communities and the powers that be. The United Nations has so far come out with one declaration after another unambiguously asserting its position on these issues principally putting forward the principles and policies to protect the rights of minorities globally. The rights of minorities are enshrined in international laws that assert mainly the freedoms of minority communities that should not be trampled underfoot by any government. Adhering to these laws needed to lead towards respecting the freedom of minority communities to adhere to their traditional way of social organization. The realization of such freedom and the unhindered exercise of this right in particular is the first step forward towards social and economic empowerment. In other words, the powers that be must recognise the rights of minorities in this respect as stipulated by international law. That is the first step forward as there can be no empowerment without community institutions legally and independently functioning on the ground that are not independent to lead the lives of communities as empowerment is in the first place the exercise of freedom of choice.