Importance of minority rights in conflict prevention

Importance of Minority Rights in Conflict Prevention

Introduction

Conflict refers to the violent conflict in the states especially in the minorities. Minority is most of the time considered as being controversial with different governments continue in denying the existence of minorities or pretend as if there is no agreement regarding what or who is minority. However, the international definition of minority is very straight forward. It is regarded as the group of people which have a common identity on the basis of religion, language, ethnicity or culture that is unique from the group which is in majority. The minority is regarded in terms of the position in the country. It is very important to understand the minority rights while dealing with the conflict resolution and prevention (Anonymous, 2007). It is assumed to be the basis of most of the conflicts in the world (www.ssrnetwork.net).

Discussion

The main issue is that these minorities do not have the power which refers to the inability of the minorities to make decisions. It is these minorities which are protected by the minority rights. It is an illegal term which refers to the minorities' rights in the form of groups along with the right of the individuals who are in them. These minority rights are based on the human rights and the fundamental international law. The minority rights have four main types which include:

Existence

The minorities have the right to exist along with being recognized as various groups that they explain themselves not just bu the State but also on the basis of subjective and objective criteria (www.ohchr.org). The attempt of the destruction of the group is considered to be the main violation of the rights. These different groups can face threatening through the denial of the existence. It is more important when this form of denial is the state policy.

Identity

The toleration of the minorities' existence is not just the first step. They are also entitled to the complete protection of the identity. This highlights that the identity they select is recognized completely in context of their culture, religion and language so that it can be practiced freely along with being supported and recognized by the different authorities. The individuals have the right of identity along with the right to select the identity and not face any type of detriment to do. At times, it is the effort to divide the individuals and society in groups which are predetermined and which lead to the conflicts in Rwanda, India and Bosnia.

Discrimination

It affects the people on various grounds. At times, the person can be discriminated due to their religion and ethnicity and also because of disability, age and gender. It is at times regarded as the multiple discrimination.

One of the main problems which the minorities suffer is the systematic and persistent discrimination in which these minorities are treated in a different manner because of their language, religion or ethnicity. In the theory, they need to be treated like everyone. However, in the real world, their ...