92 PROMOTING AND PROTECTING MINORITY RIGHTS set forth in article 17 (1) of the Charter, guideline 47 (e) draws States’ attention to their obligation to report on “the promotion of understanding, tolerance and friendship among all nations and all racial, ethnic or religious groups” and on measures taken for special groups, including “children belonging to linguistic, racial, religious or other minorities, and children belonging to indigenous sectors of the population, where applicable”. The rights of peoples The African Charter contains a series of group rights attributed to “peoples”. A survey of the Commission’s jurisprudence indicates that the Commission considers “peoples” to refer to identifiable ethnic communities, and it has not thus far distinguished between minorities and indigenous peoples in any of the cases that address peoples’ rights. Article 19 provides that “All peoples shall be equal; they shall enjoy the same respect and shall have the same rights. Nothing shall justify the domination of a people by another.” The reporting guidelines for article 19 require more specifically that States give information on “the constitutional and statutory framework which seek to protect the different sections of national community”, and refer to “precautions taken to proscribe any tendencies of some people dominating another as feared by the Article”. Confronted by allegations of discriminatory practices against certain sections of the Mauritanian population, the Commission stated, “At the heart of the abuses alleged in the different communications is the question of the domination of one section of the population by another”, thus affirming that the “peoples” referred to in the Charter include different groups within a State. On the merits of the case, the Commission concluded that it had insufficient information to conclude that there had been a violation of article 19. Article 20 declares the right of all peoples to existence and proclaims their “unquestionable and inalienable right to self-determination. They shall freely determine their political status and shall pursue their economic and social development according to the policy they have freely chosen.” Article 20 (2) states, “Colonized or oppressed peoples shall have the right to free themselves from the bonds of domination by resorting to any means recognized by the international community”. The reporting guidelines for article 20 clarify that “[a]ll communities are allowed full participation in political activities and are allowed equal opportunities in the economic activities of the country both of which should be according to the choices they have made independently”. The African Commission has accepted cases brought by specific communities which assert their right to self-determination. In 1992, a claim was brought by the Katangese Peoples’ Congress for recognition of the independence of Katanga, a province of (then) Zaire. Although the Commission found no violation of any Charter right, its decision recognized the population of Katanga as a people, defined as a group within the State of Zaire. The Commission stated, “In the absence of concrete evidence of violations of human rights to the point that the territorial integrity of Zaire should be called to question and in the absence of evidence that the people of Katanga are denied the right to participate in Government as guaranteed by Article 13 (1) of the African Charter, the Commission holds the view that Katanga is obliged to exercise a variant of self-determination that is compatible with the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Zaire.”104 The Commission further clarified its understanding of the concept of “people” in a 2009 decision concerning a claim by Southern Cameroonians that they were entitled to exercise their right to self-determination as “separate and distinct people”. The Commission agreed that “the people of Southern Cameroon can legitimately claim to be a ‘people’. Besides the individual rights due to Southern Cameroon, they have a distinct identity which attracts certain collective rights …. [T]he Commission finds that ‘the people of Southern Cameroon’ qualify to be referred to as a ‘people’ because they manifest numerous characteristics and affinities, which include a common history, Communication No. 75/92, Katangese Peoples’ Congress v. Zaire (1995). 104