Rights Of Minority Groups Research Articles

Liberal Theory and Minority Group Rights

Liberal Theory and Minority Group Rights Joel E. Oestreich* (bio) I. Introduction The current international human rights regime is a development of the Western liberal interest in the rights of the individual. Its earliest documents, particularly the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), 1 were drafted primarily by representatives of the United States and Western Europe. 2 Later developments have broadened somewhat the types of rights covered by international treaty law, particularly into more “positive” social rights with some rhetorical nods to notions of “non-Western” rights. Even so, human rights documents continue to reflect the traditional liberal preoccupation with the individual and the protection of the individual from the powers of government and other collectives. [End Page 108] Critics of the standard interpretation of human rights have attacked it from two perspectives. On the one hand, they have charged that early human rights documents were too concerned with “negative” rights, or those political protections that in Ronald Dworkin’s terms “trump” the power of government to regulate the lives of citizens. 3 Over time, this line of criticism has led to a new definition of human rights that includes economic, social, and cultural rights. On the other hand, critics have attacked human rights as they now stand for their emphasis on the individual rather than on the needs and rights of groups. This criticism charges that certain basic human needs cannot be reduced to individual freedoms but require an understanding that humans are organized into groups. The assumption is that one should also understand that being organized into groups is a vital human good, and therefore groups themselves need recognition in international law. 4 There are those that level these criticisms by seeing in all facets of international law a case of lurking ethnocentrism, an attempt to impose on others an inappropriate Western standard. Proponents of this view speak (often in a self-serving manner) of “non-Western” rights that place the welfare of the individual in the hands of the community. 5 These criticisms [End Page 109] also come from those who represent ethnic or cultural minorities, or are concerned with the welfare of distinct groups that feel mistreated. 6 This article will not directly address this first line of attack. The debate over the universality of liberal ethics has consumed countless volumes of philosophy with no satisfactory conclusion so far. 7 Those who would simply reject current human rights norms as an imposition of the powerful can and do propose a myriad of alternatives. Rather, this article will suggest a way that much of the second line of attack can be accommodated under existing notions of individual human rights. In doing so, this article will borrow from the extensive literature that has centered around the ongoing debate between liberal and communitarian philosophies, and particularly from the debate over the rights of cultural minorities. The argument will be about cultural rights, not political ones. Part II of this article will briefly show the importance that cultural rights have had in the development of international human rights standards and how these rights have fallen out of favor. Part III will then attempt to show how they can be resuscitated without changing international law as it now exists. Part IV will apply the standards developed in Part III to the demands of indigenous peoples, the most extensive and developed area of group rights. The conclusion will suggest some advantages and disadvantages of this new perspective. II. Group Rights in History International concern for protection of minorities predates the modern state system, and can be traced as far back as the high Middle Ages and perhaps earlier still. 8 Religion, not ethnicity, was the basis of these earliest concerns. In 1250, for example, St. Louis pledged himself protector of Maronite Christians in the Holy Land, a promise periodically renewed by French monarchs. 9 During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, drafters wrote a number of provisions into treaties that provided for the protection of [End Page 110] religious groups that inhabited land transferred between monarchs. 10 At the Congress of Vienna in 1815 such treaty provisions for the first time took the form of ethnic rather than religious protection. 11 For example...

Multicultural Liberals and the Rushdie Affair: A Critique of Kymlicka, Taylor, and Walzer

This article critically analyzes the work of Will Kymlicka, Charles Taylor, and Michael Walzer, three of the most important contemporary political philosophers writing on issues of multiculturalism. It uses the Rushdie affair, and each theorist's interpretation of it, as the basis for an immanent critique of “multicultural liberalism,” a theory defined by the dual commitment to cultural rights for minority groups and certain core liberal principles, defended in different ways by Kymlicka, Taylor, and Walzer. It is principally concerned with Kymlicka, whose work is one of the most influential attempts to respond to communitarian criticisms that “atomistic” liberalism is inhospitable to community and culture. The article argues that Kymlicka's defense of “multicultural citizenship” is deeply problematic from the perspective of the Rushdie affair. It then considers Taylor and Walzer similarly, as representatives of the communitarian strain of multicultural liberal argument, and likewise finds their positions unconvincing. The article concludes with the suggestion that the Rushdie affair points to a potentially unresolvable tension at the heart of all three attempts to defend multicultural liberalism.

Democratic Restraints upon the Police

To place the subject of democratic restraints upon the police in its proper perspective, I would like to start out by suggesting that much of today's concern about the police stems from a confusion in the minds of many persons with respect to two different functions of the police. One function is the traditional one of the prevention and detection of conventional crimes and the apprehension of conventional criminals; the other is the role that the police have played, or rather been forced to play, in the controversy over the civil rights of minority groups. Suggestive of this confusion is the fact that in recent years there have been considerably fewer instances of physical abuses of criminal suspects, and less intrusions upon their constitutional rights and privileges than ever before. For instance, the so-called 3rd degree is a rare occurrence today; thirty, twenty, or even ten years ago it was fairly commonplace. And today the police are being better selected and far better trained than in the earlier years. If this be so-and it is so-than why are the police being subjected to more and more restrictions in the performance of their duties with respect to the conventional type of crime and criminals? Why are their judicial handcuffs being squeezed tighter and tighter? The primary reason, in my opinion, is the public identification of the police as the ones to blame and hold responsible for the plight of minority groups and the abuses of minority groups. The policeman is the uniformed symbol of all of these social ills. He has come to represent a menace in the way of a better life for the socially deprived. Any thoughtful reflection will produce a realization that the police did not produce our slums or our Negro and Puerto Rican ghettos; nor did the police dream up the ideas of segrega-

Own education institutions as an option for minority groups

In this article the introductory part deals with Christian guidelines regarding the rights of minority groups. In the ensuing part the provision of education according to the unique educational needs of minority groups is discussed within the context of the presented guidelines. It is indicated that own education is internationally accepted as one of the major rights of minority groups. Within the international context, for example in the treaties of Unesco and in the educational provision of several countries, it is accepted that minority groups also prefer their own education institutions in order to effectively provide in their unique educational needs. In this article the more general requirements, regarding the characteristics of the education institution needed to meet the unique educational needs of a particular minority group are also identified. The impending problems in South Africa regarding own education schools for minorities are discussed briefly. In order to find possible solutions the situation in the Netherlands regarding "bijzondere scholen” to provide in the unique educational needs of particular interest groups and particularly religious groups is analysed. The conclusion arrived at is that the mentioned situation does not oppose Christian guidelines if minorities need each other to influence educational change, that the acknowledgement of the educational rights of minority groups promotes national unity, that the educational rights of minorities should imply freedom of establishment, denomination and institution and that the educational rights of minorities are fully realised if their education is financially supported by government on an equal basis to that of the majority.

Moontlikhede vir onderwysvoorsiening aan minderheidsgroepe in Suid-Afrika

Options for education provision to minority groups in South AfricaThis article focuses on the educational rights o f minority groups. International trends in terms of the rights of minority groups have been identified regarding the right of unique educational provision, educational control and own education institutions. From an international perspective it can be deduced that South African minority groups can demand, without being discriminatory, the provision of own education which is to the advantage of the particular minority group as well as to the community at large. Minority groups can also request substantial involvement in educational control, which implies a system of decentralized educational control. These groups can also insist on own education institutions. It is indicated that if minority groups are not provided with the above-mentioned rights they can rightfully complain of unfair discrimination.

Animal Rights and Human Social Issues

AbstractUsing survey data from a sample of residents of Clark County, Ohio, the author explores the relationship between support for animal rights and opinions on eleven social issues pertaining to gun control, acceptance of violence, and rights for minority groups. Findings show that support for animal rights is significantly related to seven of the eleven variables, suggesting the existence of an important link between one's disposition toward human and nonhuman animals.

Aboriginal Self-Government and the Construction of Canadian Constitutional Identity

In this article, the author examines the need for constitutional recognition and protection of the political collective rights of minority groups in Canada, particularly those of Aboriginal nations. The author asserts that Canada's present constitutional approach to minority collective rights is one of "indirect consociation," an approach which embraces the ideology of "universalism" and does not expressly recognize or protect minority ethnonational communities. This is ineffective as it generates political instability. He examines both Canadian constitutional thinking as well as the thoughts of Aboriginal nations on the right to self-government and discusses the conflicting theories behind each position. Finally, the author suggests that the solution to resolving this conflict between minority and majority political rights is for Canada to adopt a "direct consociation" approach. This approach would recognize expressly and protect the political rights of Aboriginal nations and other minorities, based on the concept of equality, as opposed to continuing colonialist or assimilationist approaches which only serve to heighten inequality and political tension.

Some Confusions Concerning Collective Rights

In recent years, there has been an increased interest in considering collectivities to be moral agents and holders of collective rights. Peter French and others have argued that corporations are agents and bear moral responsibility for their actions. Virginia Held makes similar claims about nations. She also believes that we have “obligations to humanity collectively, to bring about its continued existence, and perhaps also to such lesser groups within it as our fellow nationals or conceivably the ethnic group to which we belong or the family or clan of which we are a member” and that in some of these cases—humanity, nations—the obligation correlates with a collective right. Perhaps, the area where claims of collective rights have aroused the greatest interest is that of the alleged rights of minority groups within some larger political unit. Thus, in recent political debate in Canada, collective rights have been ascribed or invoked in relation to Quebec and to aboriginal peoples. It is with this last group of alleged collective rights that I will be particularly concerned in this paper.

Life Experiences of Normal Young Adult Siblings of Persons With a Mental Handicap — An Exploratory Study

The last decade saw a major shift in the management of the mentally handicapped and their place in society. The dual influences of the movements for human rights, emphasising the rights of minority groups; matched by an increasing tendency to replace institutionalisation with community based care (often under the banner of economy), have had an impact on the liminal positioning of the mentally handicapped in Western society.

On being ethnic: The politics of identity breaking and making in Canada, or, Nevra on Sunday

The creation of ethnically sensitive health care is a major federal and provincial government concern in Canada at present. The concept of multiculturalism is used to reinforce the notion of rights for minority groups and the Canadian mozaic is explicitly contrasted with the American melting pot. In this paper, the lives of Greek immigrant women in Montreal are used to illustrate how class and gender are as relevant to the immigrant experience as is ethnicity. It is shown how values which were central to female identify in Greece can become a liability after immigration and how the notion of Greek identity in Canada is a fluid category which is subject to repeated transformations. It is suggested that medical anthropologists who ignore the complexity of social categories and whose focus is limited to the cultural construction of illness and the expression of distress are in danger of reinforcing a notion of the "quaint ethnic," a stereotype to which the concept of multiculturalism is often reduced.

Restraining the Governors: The Nordic Experience with Limiting the Strong State

The combination of a tradition of arbitrary royal government and popular intolerance, with the existence of extensive, unitary and highly centralized institutions of government, and with the dominance of government by a single, reformist party for more than a half century would seem a potent recipe for governmental abuse of individual and minority group rights. That is especially true in the absence of the formal constitutional safeguards used to preserve rights elsewhere Yet the Nordic democracies have in fact proved exemplary in protecting civil liberties Why? This article challenges the view that Nordic political societies are consensual historically or by nature, and it describes the limited traditional institutional checks on abuse of individual and minority rights by government Instead it finds the basis for the Nordic democracies' excellent record in civil liberties in the combination of (1) the development of new, non‐traditional institutional checks on government. (2) the use of direct democracy as a check on parliamentary majorities. (3) the pervasive use of corporatist channels encompassing the major oppositional interest groups to draft and implement legislation, and (4) the effective constraints placed on decisions by parliamentary majorities by the pattern of fierce partisanship in the finely balanced parliamentary party constellation These protections for individual and minority liberties arise primarily from the assumption that basic conflicts of interest are a fact of political life and that they should be institutionalized.

Political rights of minority groups

Political rights of minority groups