Some Definitions of "Minorities"

Dr Joshua Castellino, Deirdre O'Leary, ICHR,
NUI Galway, Republic of Ireland
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International Law has so far provided us with no universally accepted and binding definition of a minority, and efforts by the United Nations to define a minority have proved unsuccessful, but two definitions have been proposed within the framework of Article 27 of the ICCPR:

The first effective definition was provided by UN Special Rapporteur Francesco Capotorti and has undoubtedly contributed to clarifying certain aspects of what constitutes a minority:

A group, numerically inferior to the rest of the population of a State, in a non-dominant position, whose members- being nationals of the State- possess ethnic, religious or linguistic characteristics differing from those of the rest of the population and show, if only implicitly, a sense of solidarity, directed towards preserving their culture, traditions, religion or language.
Study on the Rights of Persons belonging to
Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities
UN Document E/CN.4/Sub.2/384/Add.1-7 (1977)
A second definition worth noting was put forward by Jules Deschênes:
A group of citizens of a State, constituting a numerical minority and in a non-dominant position in that State, endowed with ethnic, religious or linguistic characteristics which differ from those of the majority of the population, having a sense of solidarity with one another, motivated, if only implicitly, by a collective will to survive and whose aim is to achieve equality with the majority in fact and in law.
Proposal Concerning a Definition of the Term 'Minority'
UN Document E/CN.4/Sub.2/1985/31 (1985)
To differentiate 'indigenous peoples' from minorities Martinez Cobo, then Special Rapporteur, presented the following definition:
Indigenous communities, peoples and nations are those which, having a historical continuity with pre-invasion and pre-colonial societies that developed on their territories, consider themselves distinct from other sectors of the societies now prevailing in those territories or parts of them. They form at present non-dominant sectors of that society and are determined to preserve, develop and transmit to future generations their ancestral territories, and their ethnic identity, as the basis of their continued existence as peoples, in accordance with their own cultural patterns, social institutions and legal systems.

Their historical continuity may consist of the continuation, for an extended period reaching into the present, of one or more of the following factors:

  1. Occupation of ancestral lands, or at least parts of them;
  2. Common ancestry with original occupants of these lands;
  3. Culture in general, or in specific manifestations (such as religion, living under a tribal system, membership of an indigenous community, dress, means of livlihood and lifestyle);
  4. Language (whether used as the daily language, as mother-tongue, as habitual means of communication at home or in the family, or as the main, preferred, habitual, general or normal language);
  5. Residence in certain parts of the country, or in certain regions of the world;
  6. Other relevant factors.
José Martínez Cobo [Special Rapporteur of the UN Sub-Commission
on Prevention of Discrimination & Protection of Minorities]
Study on the Problem of Discrimination against Indigenous
Populations, UN Doc. E/CN.4/Sub.2/1986/Add.4
Other definitions that are often referred to in international and human rights law are given below:

Permanent Court of Justice:

The criteria to be applied to determine what is a community within the meaning of the articles of the Convention ... Is the existence of a group living in a given country or locality, having a race, religion, language and traditions of their own, and united by the identity of such race, religion, language and traditions, maintaining their own form of worship, securing the instruction and upbringing of their children in accordance with the spirit and traditions of their race and mutually assisting one another.
PCIJ Series B, No. 17 pp.19, 21, 22, 23 also see Capotortri.
The quote relates to the emigration of Greco-Bulgarian communities con-
comitant to a Convention adopted between Greece & Bulgaria in 1919.
Council of Europe, 1993:
A group of persons in a state who: (a) reside on the territory of that state and are citizens thereof; (b) maintain longstanding, firm and lasting ties with that State; (c) display distinctive ethnic, cultural, religions or linguistic characteristics; (d) are sufficiently representative, although smaller in number than the rest of the population of that state or of a region of the state; (e) are motivated by a concern to preserve together that which constitutes their common identity, including their culture, their tradition, their religion or their language.
Council of Europe Parliamentary Recommendation 1201 (1993) on an
additional protocol to be adopted by the Assembly on February 1 1993
In a domestic case, a British Court wrestled with the idea of what identifies an ethnic group thus:
One, a long shared history, or which the group is conscious of distinguishing it from other groups, and the memory which it keeps alive; two, a cultural tradition of its own, including family and social customs and manners, often but not necessarily associated with religious observance; three, a common geographical origin, or descent from a small number of common ancestors; four, a common language, not necessarily peculiar to the group; five, a common literature peculiar to the group; six, a common religion different from that of the neighbouring groups or from the general community surrounding it; seven, being a minority or being oppressed or in a dominant group within a larger community.
Mandla v Dowell Lee [1983] 2AC 548 available at: www.hrcr.org/safrica/equality/Mandla_DowellLee.htm
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