UN Forum: Minorities and Effective Participation in Economic Life

UN Independent Expert on Minority Issues and IntLawGrrls contributor Gay McDougall (photo, right) organized and convened the Third Session of the Forum on Minority Issues at the Palais des Nations in Geneva on 14-15 December.
This year’s session focused on “minorities and effective participation in economic life”—a timely and significant topic given the ravages of the global economic crisis on minority groups throughout the world. (See coverage by Minority Rights Group International (MRG) here.)
According to Forum Chair Dr. Gita Sen, Professor, Indian Institute of Management and Adjunct Professor, Harvard School of Public Health,

Times of economic crisis can be particularly difficult for minority groups that may already be subject to societal discrimination and stigma, and who may be undocumented or migrant workers. Societal pressures to blame those who are the most vulnerable can become explosive unless governments play a moderating role and act as guarantors of protection from violence and abuse.

Draft Recommendations
Consultations centered on the associated Draft Recommendations on Minorities and Effective Participation in Economic Life. The draft served as a platform from which we could explore the roles of minority groups as economic actors and as participants in their own empowerment. Governments, business enterprises, international financial institutions, and other actors share the responsibility to provide the necessities and rights that sustain all groups and individuals. But they also bear affirmative responsibilities to remove barriers to minority groups’ own efforts to build a sustainable and human rights-based future.
Previous sessions of the Minority Issues Forum resulted in recommendations on “Minorities and the Right to Effective Political Participation” (2009) (see also Gay McDougall’s post on the session here) and recommendations on “Minorities and the Right to Education” (2008).
The Diversity of Minorities
The meetings bring together individuals from minority groups and civil society, diplomats from UN and regional organizations, and academic experts to share ideas and to make action-oriented recommendations. The Forum’s mandate is to assist in the further implementation of the Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Linguistic and Cultural Minorities
This year’s session was attended by approximately 500 participants, including 300 members of minority groups or their representatives, as well as attendees from government permanent missions. The proceedings follow a participatory and inclusive approach, encouraging oral and written interventions by as many participants as time permits.
The fact that many women were represented among the key speakers and participants was perhaps not surprising given McDougall’s leadership, but very welcome nevertheless. The presence of women was not merely symbolic, since minority group issues that have special impact on women were prominent on the agenda and in the draft recommendations. An intersectional perspective, in which both minority status and gender implications are taken into account, was evident throughout the program.

As noted above, the Forum was chaired by Dr. Gita Sen. UN High Commissioner on Human Rights, Navanethem (Navi) Pillay (photo, left) opened the proceedings along with the President of the Human Rights Council, H.E. Ambassador Sihasak Phuangketeow.
“Economic Life” in Multiple Dimensions
The Draft Recommendations and Forum addressed a wide range of issues, evidencing the fact that “the economy” implicates all aspects of life, including civil, political, social, and cultural spheres.
Key themes reflected from the Draft Recommendations included:
► Sustainable Livelihoods;
► Work and Social Security;
► Meaningful Consultation/Participation;
► Capacity-Building for Effective Participation;
► Poverty Reduction and Development Strategies;
► Minorities and the Millennium Development Goals; and
► Discrimination and Positive Measures/Affirmative Action.
The presenters highlighted barriers to the effective participation of minorities in economic life. Failure to protect and promote the language rights of minorities, for example, also prevents full participation in education, training, and employment. Gender discrimination, in combination with racial, ethnic, religious, or cultural discrimination, marginalizes or exploits women’s roles in economic and social development. Religious, ethnic, or racial restrictions on land ownership, use, transfer, or title may lead to entrenched poverty among minority groups. Violence and the promotion of hatred against racial, ethnic, or national minorities may marginalize or exclude their participation in the building of society as a whole or exacerbate broader conflict. See McDougal’s recent statement on links between protection of minority rights and the prevention of violence and conflict here. Unsustainable or top-down farming or land distribution practices prevent pastoralists, indigenous peoples, and other minority groups from pursuing sustainable livelihoods for themselves and their families. Such practices may also destroy cultural traditions and ways of living that sustained groups for generations. Policies pursued by business enterprises and international financial and trade institutions may intensify the impact of human rights violations or exclude minority groups from the benefits of human and social development efforts.
Participants also noted some positive developments and best practices. For example, a participant described recent successes in providing effective compensation for African-American farmers damaged by racial discrimination in the United States of America, although more remains to be done for Native American, Latino, and women farmers.
Side Events
Side events on the first day of the Forum included a “Panel on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights and the Application of the Minorities Declaration” organized by the Indigenous Peoples and Minorities Section of the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. A panel on “Minorities and Natural Resources” was co-sponsored by the Underrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization (UNPO) and Minority Rights Group International.
A preparatory workshop organized on 13 December by the UN Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights and the Minority Rights Group, included several moving presentations on national conditions for minority groups from Uganda, Iraq, Lebanon, Ireland, the United States, and Pakistan.
Formal presentations at the Forum itself were followed by a series of brief interventions by other participants.

Minority groups from Asia, Africa, Europe, and the Americas highlighted concerns or made comments on issues to be addressed by the Draft Recommendations, including
►The status of women pastoralists in Uganda;
►Access to economic participation, land, and employment for Palestinian minority groups;
►Evictions and demolition of public housing, mortgage abuses, violations of land rights, gentrification, and unemployment disproportionately affecting African-Americans and other minority groups in the United States;
►Deportations, displacement, lack of access to employment, education, and health care among Roma peoples in Europe;
►Displacement and other abuses against Ahwazi Arabs, the Oromo and the Degar (Montagnards) (see UNPO report here).
Outcomes
As chair of the Forum, Dr. Sen is responsible for preparing a summary of the proceedings and submissions that will be made available to the participants and members of the public early in 2011. Independent Expert McDougall will present the Forum’s final recommendations to the UN Human Rights Council in March 2011.
The first photo below shows 3 U.S.-based participants during a break (from left) Dr. Carol Anderson, Professor of African-American Studies and History, Emory University, Ms. Kaleema Haidera Al-Nur, Director, Kindred Afro-American Alliance (Kaleema@kindredonline.org ), and (spending too much time with her nose in her computer) yours truly, IntLawGrrl Hope Lewis , Professor of Law and Chair, Committee on Global Law Programs, Northeastern University School of Law. Pictured below (and very much involved in the consultations) is colleague Margaret Burnham, Professor of Law and Director, Civil Rights and Restorative Justice Project, Northeastern University School of Law.

Minority rights & conflict prevention

(It’s IntLawGrrls’ great pleasure to welcome back alumna Gay McDougall, who contributes this guest post)

The Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities states in its preamble that the promotion and protection of the rights of minorities contributes to the political and social stability of States in which they live.
Last month I discussed this statement with the body that had endorsed it in 1992. It was my 1st address to the U.N. General Assembly since my appointment 5 years ago as the United Nations' Independent Expert on minority issues.
This post reprints that address, also available in full here.

* * *

The report which I present to you today builds upon this important statement and considers the role of minority rights protections in conflict prevention. I believe that attention to minority issues and minority rights violations at an early stage – before they lead to tensions and violence – would make an invaluable contribution to the culture of prevention within the United Nations, save countless lives and promote stability and development.
My report highlights that among the essential elements of a strategy to prevent conflicts involving minorities are respect for minority rights; dialogue between minorities and majorities within societies; and the constructive development of practices and institutional arrangements to accommodate diversity within societies.
The link between minority rights and conflict prevention and resolution is clear and has been made by many. The basic assumption contained in the Declaration – that the implementation of minority rights contributes to the stability of States – has been taken up and developed in successive resolutions of the General Assembly, the Commission on Human Rights, its successor the Human Rights Council, reports of the UN Secretary-General and outcome documents of a number of conferences and policy processes, including the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action. It has also been recognized by regional inter-Governmental organizations, the donor community, and respected academic and research institutions and NGOs globally.
According to a recent survey, over 55 per cent of violent conflicts of a significant intensity between 2007 and 2009 had violations of minority rights or tensions between communities at their core. In a further 22 per cent of conflicts, minority issues were raised in the course of the conflict. This evidence indicates that Governments, donors and intergovernmental organizations need to allocate significant attention and resources to minority issues as sources of conflict.
II.Substantial steps have been taken over recent years to reposition international engagement with conflict situations from the point of reaction to a point of identification of early warnings. The evidence indicates that incorporating minority rights indicators into early warning systems is essential to enable an earlier identification of potential conflicts. Minority rights violations are often among the root causes of conflicts that have long gestation periods--root causes grounded in grievances that may simmer under the surface for years, or even decades, before violence actually breaks out.
More typical early warning indicators, such as small arms flows and movements of displaced peoples, tend to reflect a situation that is already rapidly spiralling into violence. By the time those indicators trigger attention, grievances may have festered for decades, perhaps generations — generations of lost opportunities to heal rifts, to avert conflict and to build a cohesive society.
There is mounting evidence that some of the earliest indicators of potential violence are chronic disregard of minority rights. Early warning systems must have the necessary expertise to be alert to these indicators. Better insight is needed into why certain situations of systematic exclusion escalate from chronic grievances to violent conflict. Early warning systems need to combine the collection of disaggregated quantitative data with more in-depth qualitative analysis to enable the identification of complex interactions between political, social and economic factors that help decide whether violent conflict will break out, and if so, when.
Foremost among my recommendations to the UN is that minority rights expertise should be strengthened and integrated comprehensively across the United Nations system. Given the prevalence of conflicts involving identity issues, permanent in-house expertise on minority issues within the principal agencies and departments working on conflict prevention would be highly beneficial, in a broader context than solely that of genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity. While there is already a substantial flow of information to early warning mechanisms within the UN system, a focus on minority rights should be strengthened.
III.Governments should take a proactive approach to minority rights, putting protections in place long before tensions erupt. Societies in which mechanisms are in place allowing minorities to freely use their language, practice their culture and religion, and participate in political and economic life on an equal footing with the rest of the population, are less likely to be societies in which tensions emerge and deteriorate into violent conflict.
Many States are engaged in on-going efforts to accommodate the interests of diverse communities and many positive practices exist. What is important is to ensure that the State provides channels to raise minority issues and to allow minorities to participate in decision-making; that it constantly re-assesses the success of efforts to accommodate diversity; and that it is aware of the different options available. It is critical that this process be guided by the principles of non-discrimination. Minority rights must be prioritized, enabling members of all minority groups to participate effectively in decisions affecting them and in all aspects of society.
The effective and meaningful participation of minorities in the political arena can be a pivotal element in avoiding violent conflict; however the reality is often quite different. Minorities are greatly underrepresented in the political processes and governing institutions of most countries because they are either intentionally restricted from participation, inadvertently disadvantaged by facially-neutral laws or policies, or because there is a lack of political will to dismantle structural barriers to the full and equal participation of minorities. States have significant leeway to decide the modalities by which political participation can be achieved, however, those modalities for inclusion must afford minorities genuine influence and should always ensure ample representation of minorities at all levels of the civil service, including the police and the judiciary.
At the core of minority rights are protection and preservation of culturally distinctive identities within societies. The denigration or suppression of a person’s or groups’ defining identity or forced assimilation, can be powerful factors in generating conflict. Language, in particular, is a potent vehicle of culture. The imposition on minority communities of a majority language – either through teaching in public schools or formal prohibitions on the use of minority languages – has been a spark that has ignited many violent clashes in every region of the world. The Declaration on Minorities establishes positive obligations requiring that “States shall take measures to create favourable conditions to enable persons belonging to minorities to express their characteristics and to develop their culture, language, religion, traditions and customs”.
The reality, and often even the perception of discrimination in access to any kind of resources – whether it is jobs, land ownership, political power, or natural resources – is a strong driver of conflict. Economic exclusion is a cause, a manifestation and a consequence of discrimination against persons belonging to minorities. Many minorities have historically been excluded from full and effective participation in economic life, both in the developed and in the developing world.
Minorities are often discriminated against when they seek employment and are often poorly represented even in public sector employment. They may face barriers in accessing credit or loans and may live in the poorest or remote regions that offer only limited prospects for their economic development. Equally, large scale economic development projects or commercial activities carried out on the lands and territories where minorities live, without their prior consultation, has had negative impacts, including displacement, the perpetuation of poverty and, in some cases, violence.
The rights of minorities to participate effectively in economic life must be fully taken into account by governments seeking to promote equality. Economic exclusion and denial of access to quality education can generate a sense of despair and destroy hopes of upward mobility. As such they are often a central grievance and a source of tensions. International standards on non-discrimination, including the Declaration on Minorities, place an obligation on States to institute affirmative action policies in order to correct historical patterns of exclusion and enable members of minorities to achieve equality. Many States have recognized the corrosive nature of inequalities and have implemented such measures.
In my report I propose a series of recommendations to States to fulfil their human rights obligations, to increase political and social stability and to contribute to the prevention of violent conflicts.
IV.I would like to conclude by noting the work of the Forum on Minority Issues. In my capacity as Independent Expert, I have been honored to guide the work of the Forum and prepare its annual meetings since it was established in 2008. The Forum has provided an important UN platform for minorities and the discussion of key global minority issues. It seeks to provide concrete and tangible outcomes in the form of thematic recommendations of practical value to all stakeholders. The inaugural Forum in December 2008 considered minorities and the right to education. The second annual session considered minorities and effective political participation. The third Forum will take place in December 2010 and will be dedicated to the issue of minorities and effective participation in economic life. I believe that the recommendations of the Forum offer States and others a hugely important resource in their efforts to implement fully the UN Declaration on the Rights of Minorities.
Distinguished delegates, societies flourish when all voices are heard, when all opinions are considered; when all citizens participate; and when the talent that exists in all communities is enabled to contribute to political institutions and all aspects of society. Inclusion is good for societies as a whole, not just for those previously left out. So, creating the conditions for the effective participation of minorities in all walks of life should be considered by States as an integral aspect of good governance and a key priority in their efforts to ensure equality, non-discrimination and stability. Thank you.

Minorities in Viet Nam

(It’s IntLawGrrls’ great pleasure to welcome back alumna Gay McDougall, who contributes this guest post)

This month I conducted a 10-day official visit to Viet Nam. My objectives for this, my 10th such country visit, were to hold consultations on minority issues and to examine the human rights situation of Viet Nam’s numerous minority groups. These goals conform with my mandate as the Independent Expert on Minorities for the United Nations: to promote implementation of the U.N. Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities, and to identify challenges, as well as successful practices, in regard to minority issues.

I would first like to thank the Government of Viet Nam for extending an invitation to me and for the high level of importance that it attached to my visit, apparent in the assistance and access provided to me, at both national and provincial levels. My preliminary comments, excerpted in this post, will be followed by a report containing my full findings and recommendations to the U.N. Human Rights Council next March.

I began my visit in Hanoi before travelling to regions of significant minority populations, including the provinces of Dien Bien in the Northern Highlands, Tra Vinh in the Mekong Delta region, and Gia Lai and Kon Tum provinces in the Central Highlands. (map credit) I met with senior Government officials, representatives of non-governmental organizations, community members, academics, and others working in the field of minority issues, social inclusion and promotion of equality and non-discrimination.

Overview

Viet Nam is a country of great diversity. The majority population consists of those who identify themselves as part of the “Kinh” ethnic group. There are 53 other ethnic groups as well, with unique religious, linguistic and cultural characteristics, and identities. Viet Nam recognizes its minority populations as important constituent parts of its nation, and it understands many of the challenges that it faces to ensure that the rights of minorities are respected, protected and promoted in every sphere of life. The establishment of dedicated Governmental bodies with responsibilities for minorities, including the Committee on Ethnic Minority Affairs, is a positive practice that is replicated on provincial and district levels.
Viet Nam has witnessed a remarkable period of economic growth, progress towards the United Nations' Millennium Development Goals, and highly positive results in respect to poverty alleviation and economic development in general. The Government readily acknowledges that despite these achievements, most minority groups remain the poorest of Viet Nam’s poor.

The acknowledgment of the economic and social gaps that exist between the minority communities and the majority population is an important step towards putting in place the measures required to close those gaps.

Government programs over the past several years have established important initiatives to close those gaps through infrastructure projects, social protection programs and developments in the fields of health and education. The government should be commended for these programs and for the improvements that the programs have made in the lives of minorities.

I understand the challenges facing the government in achieving the rights of non-Kinh ethnic communities, particularly those in the most geographically remote areas. I welcome the government’s affirmation of its commitment to tackling those challenges as a matter of high priority. It is critical that:

► The Government ensures that its economic growth is achieved without negatively impacting on the lives of minorities or deepening their poverty; and

► Minorities share fully in the benefits of growth and prosperity, while maintaining their distinct cultures and identities.

Education

Access to quality and appropriate education is a gateway to development and poverty eradication for minorities. It is equally essential for the preservation and promotion of minority cultures, languages and identities. Education helps minorities to take control of their lives and to fulfill their potential as equal stakeholders in the development of the State. (photo credit)

Viet Nam has made significant progress in the provision of school structures to most Communes, in the option of boarding schools for students from remote villages, and in access to secondary schools for minority children. Nonetheless, I am concerned that minorities are achieving poor results in education relative to Kinh students.

One of the problems that has been identified is that minorities lack adequate opportunities to be taught in their own minority languages from the earliest years of education. They struggle with being taught only in Vietnamese.

With the ultimate goal of fluency in Vietnamese, bilingual education helps minority children to make better early progress in education and provides a strong and culturally appropriate foundation for their future schooling. I look forward to the results of a pilot programme of Mother-Tongue-based bilingual education currently being implemented by the Ministry of Education and Training and UNICEF, including in Gia Lai and Tra Vinh, 2 provinces I visited. Studies done worldwide endorse this approach. It is not sufficient that the Mother-Tongue language is taught as a subject. In preschool, and the first 3 years, it should be the language of instruction, which then transitions to be Vietnamese.

Enjoyment of rights
As in many countries with such diversity, numerous challenges exist to ensuring that members of minority groups can fully realize all their economic, social, cultural, civil and political rights and live in conditions of equality. The rights of minorities include:

► Freedom to practice their religions without restriction;

► Freedom of association and expression;

► Right of peaceful assembly;

► Equal right to own and use land; and

► Right to participate fully and effectively in decisionmaking regarding issues that affect them, including economic development projects and resettlement issues.

(photo credit) Concerns relating to these rights have been raised with me in the context of my visit; in turn, I have raised these issues directly with the Government of Viet Nam at national and provincial levels. I will study closely the information that I have gathered and the responses of the Government before commenting on these issues in my final report.

Conclusion
I believe that my visit marks an important step by the Government of Viet Nam to engage with the human rights bodies and mechanisms of the U.N. system. I welcome the Government’s undertaking to extend further invitations to other U.N. human rights experts in the months ahead, and I hope that these will include invitations to a wide range of mandate holders, including those with mandates in the area of civil and political rights.

Raising Arizona

If the polls are to be believed, a significant majority of Americans support Arizona's harsh new immigration law, signed by Gov. Brewer three weeks ago today. The significant minority of Americans opposed to the law has pushed back fairly powerfully, including through criticism from governors of other border states (California, New Mexico, and Texas) and boycotts by several cities, including most recently, Los Angeles. Perhaps even more striking has been the strong opposition to the law from outside our borders, from Mexican President Felipe Calderon (who stated that the law infringes basic human rights) to the Mexico-based World Boxing Council (which called the law shameful, inhuman, and discriminatory) to Secretary General Jose Miguel Insulza of the Organization of American States (who called the law discriminatory) to the Union of South American Nations (which expressed concern over the law's racist consequences that undermine respect for human rights), much of it leveraging the language of human rights.
The most comprehensive international human rights critique of the law, however, was offered by a group of six independent United Nations experts -- an unusually large team of human rights superheroes -- on Tuesday. Their statement, which also addresses the bill banning ethnic studies courses in Arizona schools that Brewer signed the into law the following day, raises interesting questions about the role of international human rights law in protecting immigrants' rights. Most obviously, if laws that violate human rights are consistent with a country's social norms, as the poll results suggest in the case of Arizona's law, will international pressure help to shift those social norms or will it simply entrench anti-immigrant attitudes and opposition to "foreign meddling" in domestic affairs?
In her own rather confused way, Governor Brewer presents another interesting question about the application of international human rights law in federal systems of government. Her response to the UN experts statement places the responsibility for enforcement of international human rights law squarely on the federal government, arguing that "[i]f the Arizona law violates the international standards, then so does the federal law upon which it is based." Though perhaps not the most compelling argument, it does give rise to questions about whether the federal government should be responsible for challenging state laws that violate international human rights law. While sub-state actors may in some cases be more effective enforcers of international norms, central governments still have an important role to play in keeping rogue sub-state actors in line.
Finally, the statement takes a step towards enforcement of positive rights, a move that highlights the predominance of negative rights in the human rights discourse. At first read, I questioned the existence of binding legal authority to support the claim that "[s]tates are obligated to not only eradicate racial discrimination, but also to promote a social and political environment conducive to respect for ethnic and cultural diversity.” But there it is, clear as day, in the text of Article 7 of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination:

States Parties undertake to adopt immediate and effective measures, particularly in the fields of teaching, education, culture and information, with a view to combating prejudices which lead to racial discrimination and to promoting understanding, tolerance and friendship among nations and racial or ethnical groups. . .

A good reminder that the "spirit" of human rights treaties is sometimes spelled out right there in the text, and that we shouldn't allow the enforcement of negative rights, though unquestionably important, to overshadow legally binding claims to positive rights. (For those interested in further readings on Article 7, here's an excellent short piece by IntLawGrrl Stephanie Farrior.)

Go On! Minorities & political participation

(Go On! is an occasional item on symposia of interest. This particular one's a guest post, from IntLawGrrls guest/alumna Gay McDougall)

I am pleased to announce that U.S. Rep. Barbara Lee (D-California) (below left), Chairperson of the Congressional Black Caucus, will chair the Second United Nations Forum on Minority Issues, undertaken in accordance with Human Rights Council Resolution 6/15 (2007). Yours truly has organized and convened the forum as part of my duties as the U.N. Independent Expert on Minority Issues, about which I've posted here.
Theme for this forum is "Minorities and Effective Political Participation"; it will take place November 11-13, 2009, at the Palais des Nations in Geneva, Switzerland.
Discussions at the forum will focus on the following core elements:
► identification of good practices in relation to minorities and political participation;
► identification of challenges and problems facing minorities and countries with respect to increasing the participation of minorities in political processes;
► consideration of opportunities; and
► initiatives and solutions for improved and more effective political participation by members of minority groups.
In addition to a wide range of stakeholders, the Forum will bring together members of minority populations from all regions of the world, who are either elected officials or have been candidates at national or local levels, those engaged in political parties, and those who are actively engaged in developing programs to encourage greater participation of minorities in the political process. There will also be a number of minorities who are senior government officials from countries that have affirmative action policies or constitutional provisions that require diversity in the top echelons of government. It is hoped that they will be able to share their personal experiences and to make proposals for policies that would encourage greater participation of minority groups in political processes.
Additionally, the Forum participants will include governments, relevant bodies and specialized agencies of the United Nations, intergovernmental organizations, regional organizations, national human rights institutions, experts on minority issues and non-governmental organizations. As last year, it is anticipated that there will be over 400 participants.
The forum will produce action-oriented recommendations, addressed to governments, political parties and nongovernmental organizations, which I will present to the Human Rights Council next spring.
For information, please contact the Secretariat supporting the forum, Lydie Ventre, lventre@ohchr.org, or Kim Turcotte, minorityforum@ohchr.org. Further details here.

Guest Blogger: Gay McDougall

It's IntLawGrrls' immense honor to welcome Gay McDougall (right), the United Nations' Independent Expert on Minorities, as today's guest blogger.
Gay was appointed to serve in that post for a 6-year term in 2005. From 2006 until 2008, she also held an appointment as Distinguished Scholar in Residence at the Washington College of Law, American University, Washington, D.C. (home institution of IntLawGrrls). From 1994 to 2006, Gay was the Executive Director of the human rights advocacy group Global Rights, leading the development and implementation of programs in Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe and the Americas.

Gay was the 1st American to serve on the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD), the U.N. treaty body that oversees the International Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Racial Discrimination. While in that position, she drafted and sponsored for adoption General Recommendation No. 25: Gender related dimensions of racial discrimination. From 1997 to 2000 she was a member of the U.N. Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights, and was U.N. Special Rapporteur on the issue of systematic rape, sexual slavery, and slavery-like practices in armed conflict. In the latter capacity she presented to the United Nations a then-groundbreaking study that called for international legal standards for the prosecution of acts of systematic rape and sexual slavery committed during armed conflict.
In 1994, she was appointed the only American member of the 16-member 1994 Electoral Commission of South Africa, which organized the process that resulted in the election of President Nelson Mandela. For the previous 14 years, she'd worked with South African lawyers for the release of thousands of political prisoners. Gay also founded the Commission on Independent Elections that monitored Namibia’s transition to democracy.
Gay earned her J.D. from Yale Law School in 1972 and her LL.M. from the London School of Economics and Political Science in 1978. She holds honorary Doctor of Laws degrees from Georgetown University Law Center and the City University of New York Law School.
Among her many honors is a 1999 MacArthur Foundation Fellowship, awarded on account of what the foundation called her “innovative” work in international human rights.
In her guest post below, Gay discusses her work as the United Nations' expert on minorities, about which IntLawGrrls earlier posted here, here, and here.
Heartfelt welcome!

The work of the U.N. minority issues expert

(My thanks to IntLawGrrls for this opportunity to contribute this guest post on my current work on behalf of the United Nations)

► This week I sent a letter, along with my colleagues who work on torture and arbitrary detention, to China. We challenged the Chinese government either to explain how its detention of two ethnic Uighurs complies with international law or to release the two urgently. China acknowledges having upwards of 40 different ethnic and religious minorities, in addition to the Tibetans, who face varying levels of oppression and repression.

► Next week I leave for a mission to Kazakhstan.

► Last year this time I was in Guyana, investigating the multi-layered relationships between the Indo-Guyanese (persons of East Indian descent), who currently control the government, and the Afro-Guyanese, who are almost the same percentage of the population but feel persecuted and grossly disadvantaged.

► In France, I saw a country that tourists never see. The lives of the “visible minorities” of France, persons who immigrate from North Africa, Asia, and the Caribbean to the shoddy, ghetto suburbs outside Paris, can’t been seen from the Eiffel Tower. They face discrimination at all levels. They are suspected and feared because of their religion. And even those who are second-generation citizens are never, ever considered “French.”

Since 2005, I have done this work in my capacity as U.N. Independent Expert on Minority Issues. I was appointed to the position by the High Commissioner for Human Rights with the consent of all governments that were members of the U.N. Human Rights Council (née Commission on Human Rights). There are over 40 individuals like myself, from all regions of the world, who are chosen to carry out this critical function for the chief human rights mechanism of the United Nations. Each has a mandate to focus on a specific human right. My mandate is to focus on the rights of minority populations. They are defined as groups that are distinct by ethnicity (race), religion or language and who have an inferior power relationship to other groups in the society. The relative numbers aren’t as meaningful as the subservient power status. So that:

► In South Africa during apartheid, my mandate would have been the protection of the African population, rather than the Afrikaners.

► In Brazil, I focus on the Afro-Brazilians even though the government now admits that they may be 55% or more of the population.

The international legal prescription against racial discrimination is at the core of my mandate, along with the U.N. Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to Ethnic, Religious or Linguistic Minorities.

Furthermore, the U.N. resolution authorizing my work requires that I take “a gender perspective” in everything that I do. Each year I visit a number of countries where I am received at the level of a Cabinet Member or Minister of State. That gives me an unparalleled opportunity to engage the top officials in countries about their policies regarding minorities. And, of course, I am able to meet with minority communities, with academics who study these issues, and with civil societies more broadly. I present my findings, evaluations and detailed recommendations to the 47 governments that sit on the U.N. Human Rights Council. I also do thematic reports on issues that concern minorities across all regions of the world, like minorities and poverty or minorities and the right to education.

Of course, my mandate also includes minorities in the United States. Indeed, U.S. civil rights laws and my personal experiences as a minority in the United States have enriched my capacity to grapple with the complexities of discrimination as they present themselves in other cultures and countries. When I take on issues here in the United States, however, that home-grown expertise is rarely acknowledged.

An example: The U.N. Special Rapporteur on Housing and I intervened a while back when the City of New Orleans revealed a post-Hurricane Katrina plan to tear down much of the its remaining public housing. Our assessment was that to do that would violate the right to adequate housing that is guaranteed without discrimination by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The local response? New Orleans' daily newspaper, the Times-Picayune, accused me of being a meddling outsider “idiot from the U.N.”

Xenophobia Rising?

The economy, of course, is on everyone's minds these days, and when asked how it's likely to affect my field -- immigration -- I think of the obvious: fewer jobs, fewer remittances to send home, and eventually, fewer immigrants, particularly the low-skilled and undocumented. But here's a grimmer possible outcome: increased xenophobia and violence against immigrants. We've seen it before, from Marseilles to Johannesburg -- when unemployment rises, so does anti-immigrant sentiment, which quickly turns to violence against those whom even the police often don't protect. Indeed, we see politicians exploiting racial hatreds in order to get elected, and local officials at best turning a blind eye to abuse of migrants, and at worst, participating in the violence.
This concern may underlie yesterday's press release in which the UN Independent Expert on minority issues, Gay McDougall (right), and the UN Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related forms of intolerance, Githu Muigai (left), expressed "grave concern" over the recent increase in violence against Roma in Europe. The Roma, who migrated to Europe from India in the 11th century, have continually suffered extreme discrimination by state actors, from genocide at the hands of the Nazis to recent reports of coercive sterilization by the Czech government and police brutality in Greece and Romania. In McDougall's words, “Extremists may feel they have license for their attacks when the message they receive from government activities in other spheres is also that the Roma are a problem.”
So what does this all have to do with immigration? While Roma may be citizens of the country in which they reside, their nomadic lifestyle may lead them to cross borders without authorization. Even in states where they are citizens, Roma may face numerous obstacles to obtaining residency documents including exclusion as the "other". This lack of regularized legal status combined with government neglect or hostility is an explosive combination that may lead to severe violence, such as the incident in the Czech Republic that prompted the UN experts' press release, in which far-right extremists attempted to attack a Roma community with stones and petrol bombs. As the world economy faces perilous times, we must be particularly vigilant in ensuring that financial woes aren't translated into increased assaults against migrant communities. As McDougall suggests:

Governments must strongly condemn such actions. Moreover they must be committed to finding ways to create safe environments for all by carefully monitoring and strengthening their own anti-racism activities, through leadership and public education, by swiftly denouncing hate speech and prosecuting the racist and violent actions of others in society.

'Nuff said.