right to assert its status as a minority and thereby to claim minority rights. Individuals can claim their membership in a minority community on the basis of objective criteria, including shared ethnicity, culture, language and religion. The preservation of the minority group identity depends on the expressed will of the minority community. Recognition of minority status in some countries is limited by the domestic legal framework and/or local social constructions. Many constitutions legally recognise certain groups as minorities but frequently apply restrictive definitions. For example, in parts of Europe, the Roma have historically been denied recognition as national minorities because they lacked a defined territorial homeland. In some countries, the concept of ‘minority’ is not socially or politically accepted. In some cases, the term ‘minority’ might not exist in local languages. In such cases, alternative terms like excluded groups, marginalised communities or vulnerable groups can be used provided that due attention is still given to the distinct ethnic, cultural, religious or linguistic identity of the minority group. There are potential divergences between how countries define minorities, how international standards define minorities and how minorities define themselves. Groups that self-identify as minorities with a view to accessing minority protection offered at the international level may be confronted with difficulties when claiming rights as minorities per se domestically. Key Messages  Access to power and vulnerability to exclusion are factors in assessing the need for protection of minority rights  Minority protection is required by non-dominant groups  Groups that are dominant economically, but not politically or socially, may also need protection The principle of self-identification in selected international standards: The UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD), General Recommendation VIII, states that unless there is justification to the contrary, identification of persons as members of a racial or ethnic group will be based on “self-identification by the individual concerned”. The UN Human Rights Committee (HRC) has said in General Comment 23, that for the application of ICCPR article 27 on minorities, the existence of a minority group must be determined by fact and not merely by a decision of the state. The OSCE Copenhagen Document (1990) states, “To belong to a national minority is a matter of a person’s individual choice and no disadvantage may arise from the exercise of such choice” (paragraph 32). In the case of indigenous peoples, the ILO Convention 169 Concerning Indigenous and Tribal Peoples states self-identification is the fundamental criterion for determining the groups to which the convention applies (article 1.2). Article 33.1 of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, refers to the rights of indigenous peoples, “to determine their own identity or membership in accordance with their customs and traditions”. See UNDG Guidelines on Indigenous Peoples’ Issues, p 8-9. 8 M A R G I N A L I S E D M I N O R I T I E S I N D E V E LO P M E N T P R O G R A M M I N g