15th Session of the United Nations Forum on Minority Issues Item 2 | Review: Normative Frameworks and the Mainstreaming of the Declaration in the UN STATEMENT OF MR MOHAMMAD SHAHABUDDIN Professor of International Law and Human Rights Birmingham Law School, University of Birmingham, UK ***** 1. Thank you, Mr Chairperson! Let me also thank Mr. Fernand de Varennes, Special Rapporteur on minority issues for inviting me as a speaker. Thanks also to the Secretariat for all the background work. 2. In my presentation today, I would like to focus on an important blind spot of contemporary minority rights discourse: socio-economic rights of minorities in relation to ‘economic progress’ and ‘development’. Civil and political rights predominantly occupy our attention – and, to some extent, rightly so. But it is important to understand the political economy of discrimination and violence. Minority and majority groups, competing over resources and jobs, are not always inherently racists. We need to consider material conditions which encourage hatred and bigotry, and political conditions which enable discriminatory policies and practices. International legal mechanisms for minority protection should take seriously the political economy of minority oppression. In this regard, let me shed light on a particular aspect of the UN Declaration on Minority Rights. 3. Article 4, Clause 5 of the Declaration stipulates that ‘States should consider appropriate measures so that persons belonging to minorities may participate fully in the economic progress and development in their country.’ If we compare the language here with that of other provisions of the Declaration on state responsibilities, it demonstrates a gradual weakening of tone in state obligations when it comes to economic rights. The language moves from ‘shall take’ to ‘should take’ to ‘should consider taking’ appropriate measures. 4. Article 5, Clause 1 of the Declaration provides that the planning and implementation of national policies and programmes will consider the ‘legitimate’ 1/4