1 Chapter Minorities in Development: Making the Argument 1.1 HOW ARE MINORITY ISSUES IMPORTANT FOR DEVELOPMENT? Government efforts to improve sustainable human development and promote inclusion and stability are complemented and strengthened with better attention to the situation of minorities and with the participation of minorities in such efforts. The marginalisation of ethnic, religious and linguistic minorities has a significant detrimental impact on poverty reduction, democratic governance, environmental sustainability and conflict prevention. Overcoming the marginalisation of minorities has direct benefits for national development processes and the achievement of inclusive growth. For example:  Discrimination against minorities is a major factor in poverty and inequality; addressing discrimination can make poverty reduction strategies more effective. Knowledge among government actors of the negative effects of discrimination on development and the particularities of cultural and religious traditions of marginalised groups can better equip them to create more flexible, effective and well-informed strategies for poverty reduction.      To achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), greater efforts are needed to address hard-to-reach groups like the most minorities; if these groups are left behind by the MDGs, inequality will increase and intercommunal tensions could rise, undermining the sustainability of MDG achievements. Educational attainments among minority groups are often lower; curriculum reform that takes account of minority cultures, languages and tackles discrimination will contribute towards achieving education for all. Enabling political participation by minority groups can strengthen State cohesion, accountability and help to achieve democratic governance. Fair political representation of minorities can stimulate broad-appeal policies that maximize development potential. Access to justice for minorities can reduce inter-communal tensions, prevent crisis, strengthen the rule of law and help maintain stability for development. Markets that are unfairly manipulated to benefit only the dominant groups and discriminate against minorities achieve suboptimal growth and discourage minorities from investing fully in their human capital potential for production. Chapter 1: Minorities in Development: Making the Argument 1