cultures and identities

dossier

Linguistic minorities in Estonia : discrimination must end

Estonia has a sizeable Russian-speaking linguistic minority which constitutes approximately a third of the population. Persons belonging to this minority enjoy very limited linguistic and minority rights, and often find themselves de facto excluded from the labour market and educational system through a system of rigorous language and citizenship requirements for employment and limited possibilities of studying in minority languages in higher education. Such comprehensive and restrictive (...) read

date of on-line publication : 12 December 2006

Estonia

Indigenous people and minorities: a global and historic assault

> IRIN

http://www.irinnews.org/webspecials/ (...)

“In every world region, minorities and indigenous peoples have been excluded, repressed and, in many cases, killed by their governments," said Mark Lattimer, executive director of the nongovernmental organisation Minority Rights Group International (MRG) at a press conference in January 2006. The event was the launch of the first edition of The State of the World’s Minorities Report, compiled by MRG with the assistance of various United Nations agencies.
What faces indigenous people and minorities today is not at all new. Throughout human history, the cultures and livelihoods - even the existence - of indigenous peoples have been endangered whenever dominant neighbouring peoples have expanded their territories or settlers from far away have acquired new lands by force. Despite claims that the world has entered a new era of human rights and democratic representation, this process of attrition and discrimination continues today. read

date of on-line publication : 21 November 2006

dossier

Women Living Under Muslim Laws

International: Fundamentalisms and human rights

http://www.wluml.org/english/newsful (...)

We wish to refocus attention on, and awareness of, this report from a 2005 meeting to help key actors from several organizations that promote and defend human rights to identify guidelines on the warning signs of fundamentalisms. (Rights & Democracy)
In November 2002, WLUML convened a meeting on the theme of warning signs of fundamentalisms and it became evident that it was both important and urgent for human rights organizations to take stock of this phenomenon.
In response to the work that clearly needs to be done on this issue, Rights & Democracy hosted a three-day meeting, in May 2005.
It was acknowledged that all participants, whether they are involved in human rights groups, women’s rights groups, social justice organizations, are working in the field of human rights and, as such, represent a human rights organization. The use of the term “human rights organizations” in the agenda and during discussions refers specifically to international human rights organizations (IHROs) that have been and continue to be active in constructing the normative framework through which the many dimensions of human rights have been defined (covenants, conventions, declarations, guidelines, principles, etc.). read

date of on-line publication : 3 October 2006

dossier

Human Rights Watch (HRW)

Religion and the Human Rights Movement

> HRW, Jan 2005, 17pp

http://www.hrw.org/wr2k5/religion/re (...)

Is there a schism between the human rights movement and religious communities? The list of contentious issues is growing: on issues such as reproductive rights, gay marriage, the fight against HIV/AIDS, and blasphemy laws, human rights activists and religious groups often find themselves on opposing sides.
The essay warns: "on the one hand, rights activists should more aggressively stand up for religious freedom and the rights of believers in secular and religious societies alike; on the other, (...) human rights groups should oppose efforts in the name of religion to impose a moral view on others when there is no harm to third parties and the only “offence” is in the mind of the person who feels that the other is acting immorally." read

date of on-line publication : 13 January 2006

dossier

CRID , Forum de Delphes

Training and education in Africa: Western standards versus local factors

> March 2005, 20p., Pdf, 275 Ko, english version

http://www.crid.asso.fr/IMG/pdf/cahi (...)

As emphasised by the Forum de Delphes, “Several years after the last cases of decolonization in Africa, it is admitted that the former colonial powers have, in some cases, undertaken a slyer colonization - a mixture of geopolitical, economic or cultural influences. This new colonization hinders, in many ways, the emergence of truly sovereign, democratic countries. The training programs that, designed by countries in the North, are to be provided by a multitude of Western NGOs to people in countries in the South are a litmus test of this reinvented (but often unconscious) domination. Supposedly designed “for the benefit” of these people, they tend to overlook the question of whether they actually fit in with local reality and meet the needs of targeted beneficiaries. In like manner, the universality of the right to education has been conceived in a way that enters into contradiction with the educational contexts in most countries in the South.”
Focused on Burkina Faso, this issue’s purpose is to devote thought to the impact of cultural differences between the North and South on the training provided by Europeans in Africa. It provides a few keys “for moving from a deviant situation toward healthier, mutually profitable relations between the North and South”.

See also the Ficus project

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date of on-line publication : 14 April 2005