PART THREE: PROTECTING MINORITY RIGHTS
protections afforded by article 27 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.907 Indigenous
peoples are also the subject of a specific international human rights instrument, the United Nations Declaration
on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, adopted by the General Assembly in 2007, which recognizes, among other
things, the right to self-determination and self-identification.908 Multiple United Nations mechanisms issue
guidance and recommendations as concerns the rights of indigenous peoples, including the United Nations
Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples,909 the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues and the
Special Rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples.910 It is important to note that many people who selfidentify as indigenous peoples oppose categorization as a minority for reasons that include both their unique
identity as first and original occupants of land and the comparatively weaker international rights framework
for minorities.911 A discussion of the rights of indigenous peoples is provided below.
PART THREE
Beyond the identification of at-risk groups at the global and regional level, the United Nations system has
in various contexts named groups of concern in particular countries or contexts. The Mayan Ixil peoples of
Guatemala,912 the Rohingya and other minorities in Myanmar,913 Yazidis in Iraq and Syria,914 Uighurs in China,915
Baha’is and other named minorities in the Islamic Republic of Iran,916 Ahmadis in Pakistan,917 and Darfuris in
Sudan,918 for example, have been the subject of great international concern. The situation of Russian-speaking
minorities in the Baltic States has also been named as a cause for concern.919 The United Nations established
a dedicated agency focused on the rights of Palestinians in 1949, a group that has been the subject of serious
international human rights concern for decades.920
In its review of States’ compliance with and implementation of the International Convention on the Elimination
of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination identified
groups that it considered at particular risk of racial discrimination in a given State or context.921 Particular
groups requiring attention in national contexts may also be named by other human rights treaty bodies
and United Nations mechanisms. However, such lists are not exhaustive, for a number of reasons, and it is
important to recognize that non-inclusion of a group may be a consequence of denial, stigma or risk that is
so pervasive that communities are unable or unwilling to be named.
907
Human Rights Committee, general comment No. 23 (1994), paras. 3.2 and 7.
908
See also African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights, African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights v. Kenya, Application
No. 006/2012, Judgment, 26 May 2017, paras. 107–108; and Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, Indigenous Peoples,
Communities of African Descent, Extractive Industries (OEA/Ser.L/V/II, Doc. 47/15) (2015).
909
The web page of the Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples is available at www.ohchr.org/en/issues/ipeoples/emrip/pages/
emripindex.aspx.
910
The web page of the Special Rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples is available at www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/IPeoples/
SRIndigenousPeoples/Pages/SRIPeoplesIndex.aspx.
911
For example, the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples sets out rights to self-determination, autonomy or
self-government in matters relating to their internal and local affairs, as well as ways and means for financing their autonomous functions
(art. 4) and establishes that “no relocation shall take place without the free, prior and informed consent of the indigenous peoples
concerned and after agreement on just and fair compensation and, where possible, with the option of return” (art. 10). See further African
Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, “Advisory opinion of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the United
Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples” (2007).
912
UN News, “Guatemala: UN rights chief welcomes ‘historic’ genocide conviction of former military leader”, 13 May 2013. Available at
https://news.un.org/en/story/2013/05/439412-guatemala-un-rights-chief-welcomes-historic-genocide-conviction-former-military.
913
See, for example, CRPD/C/MMR/CO/1, paras. 31–32.
914
CEDAW/C/IRQ/CO/7, paras. 19–21; and CRC/C/SYR/CO/5, paras. 19–20.
915
CERD/C/CHN/CO/14-17, paras. 36–42.
916
CCPR/C/IRN/CO/3, para. 24.
917
CCPR/C/PAK/CO/1, para. 33.
918
Giving rise to the African Union-United Nations Hybrid Operation in Darfur (https://unamid.unmissions.org/about-unamid-0).
919
See, for example, A/HRC/7/23, para. 66.
920
United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (www.unrwa.org).
921
Thus, for example, in its most recent review of Japan, the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination expressed particular
concern at the situation of the Ainu people, Ryukyu/Okinawa peoples, Burakumin, Koreans, comfort women, Muslims of foreign origin,
migrants, foreigners and non-citizens, as well as at “intersecting forms of discrimination and violence against women”.
See CERD/C/JPN/CO/10-11.
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