“minority”. The concept of “Indigenous People” is not accepted by most States, even if most of them adhere to the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Some African constitutions ensure the special protection of minorities, and some allow for the representation of specific ethnic groups in elected national authorities.  Burundi adopted quotas for ethnic groups (including the Batwas) at the National Assembly and at the Senate.  No African constitution, except for the Cameroonian, recognises specifically the concept of “Indigenous Peoples”  The Amazighs, in Algeria, are recognised as a minority  The Batwas in Rwanda are recognised as a minority  The Ethiopian constitution “does not explicitely recognise national, ethnic, religious or linguistic minorities, nor the Indigenous Peoples status.”  In Nigeria, most Indigenous populations identify as minorities to compensate for the absence of their official recognition and the absence of any national debate on their identification as Indigenous Peoples. Access to education, literacy, and labour market: non-access and limited access to education and literacy; very high drop-out from school among young girls because of early marriages and pregnancies; insufficient involvement and awareness of communities; in educational policies , minority culture and way of life is not taken into account; povery in communities; limited or inexisting access to professional training. Health: Poor access to health infrastructures; lack of, and remoteness of health centres; cultural factor is not taken into account in health programmes; lack of training of traditional women heads of families; inexisting access to family planning services  Consequences include: persistence of excision and other practices that are harmful to women’s health; very high synthetic fertility index; very limited level of contraceptive prevalence; high maternal mortality rates. Participation in political life and right to association: weaknesses in the organisational structure and in the advocacy of women’s associations; very low or absence of female representation in administration and elected mandates; weight of socio-cultural practices and overload of housework limit the access of women to political life; weakness of programmes of political and civil education. Access to land: Limited access to land and property; absence of land reform that integrate a gender perspective and the specific needs of women belonging to minorities; persistence of discriminatory customs related to land; limited access to agricultural inputs and equipments; poverty Access to savings and credit: lack of awareness of women of the conditions and criteria for the access to financial institutions, in particular for rural women and those working in the informal sector; weakness of training and awareness-raising programmes on funding opportunities; limited access to banks and financial institutions for rural women and those working in the informal sector Access to justice: illiteracy; lack of rights awareness; fearof the administration of justice; complexity of procedures; remoteness of courts; poverty of women; coexistence of a modern justice system with