Human Rights of Minorities

All human beings are born with the same inherent dignity. Therefore they also have the same right to integrity, freedom and welfare, regardless of their religion, ethnicity or other status. This is the foundation of all human rights. Human rights as defined by the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948 apply to all human beings in all countries, regardless of citizenship.

Fact box: Human rights

Human rights are the principles and norms inherent to all people, guiding human behavior and standards of life. These rights are inalienable and universal, regardless of sex, ethnicity, color, religion, language or other status.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1948, was the first legal document to set out the fundamental human rights to be universally protected.

Human rights are established by various conventions and core instruments, in turn appraised by monitoring bodies (read more here).

“Minority rights are human rights”, says Fernand de Varennes

Who are “minorities”?

Not all persons in a minority situation want the term “minority” to be applied to them or to the religious or ethnic group(s) with which they are affiliated. Some perceive the term to assign a status of being less equal as citizens. This is why we choose to refer to inclusive citizenship and human rights when addressing these concerns.

However, when the term “minority” is used by scholars and civil society actors in this learning resource, it refers to the international human rights framework, under which it is intended to ensure equal recognition of the basic rights of all individuals, including their rights to citizenship and non-discrimination.