Interview

Minority Rights Group (MRG), United Kingdom, is a non-governmental organisation which works to preserve the rights of Minorities and indigenous people around the world and promotes cooperation between communities. Mark Lattimer, Director, MRG International, UK, spoke to Malika B. Mistry
about the activities of the Group. Excerpts from the interview.



How do you define a Minority and how does MRG try to protect the rights of Minorities?

There is no definition of ‘Minority’ in international law, but the United Nations Declaration on Minorities refers to national or ethnic, religious and linguistic minorities and those are the communities with which MRG works. MRG tries to protect the rights of minorities by supporting organisations working for them, by publishing information about the situation of minorities, by advocating at the UN and other International bodies for the rights of minorities.



Can you tell us about certain concrete examples where MRG has helped in securing the minority rights?

There are two examples in this respect. MRG has worked for many years with Roma in eastern Europe, a very disadvantaged minority across all European states. MRG ran a programme of mentoring to develop skills of young Roma activists which has resulted in young Roma achieving significant position of influence. The second example is from India and other countries where discrimination exists on the basis of castes. Last August, MRG helped secure a UN ruling which recognised that the International Convention on Elimination of Racial Discrimination protects communities suffering from Caste discrimination and therefore places specific obligations on countries such as India and Nepal to take positive steps to improve the lives of underprivileged castes.



Do you have an office in India? In what way has it helped minorities in India?

MRG does not have a formal office in India. Some years ago we had an officer based in India who was able to work with a number of minority communities. However for administrative and logistic reasons, MRG currently coordinates its South Asian programmes from Nepal and London.



What is your evaluation of status of Minorities in general in India?

India is clearly a vast nation. It includes a wide range of different ethnic and religious minorities. In many ways, the Constitutional protection for minorities is better in India than in many other states. However there are serious problems with implementing their protection in practice. India has a long tradition of inter-community cooperation and cross- cultural understanding which is very valuable, but currently under grave threat.



Do you think that the Indian Constitution, judiciary and the state machinery provide enough safeguards for protection of minority rights?

I think that the main problem that we see in India today is the failure to implement in practice the important safeguards provided by the Indian Constitution, legislature and judicial framework. Individuals who have their rights violated if they come from a minority community, can find it very difficult to get the police or the bureaucracy to take their complaints seriously and if they obtain a favourable judgment, to have that judgement enforced against violators. This is the principal challenge facing minority protection in many parts of India.



What are the yardsticks of safety for minorities?

The principal yardstick of minority safety are protection of personal security of individuals and their civil and political rights bearing in mind that these rights are often threatened when individuals seek to speak on behalf of their communities. The other important yardstick is the degree of actual discrimination suffered by a particular minority as measured by their participation in political and economic life and by standards in educational attainment, health care and employment.


(Mark Lattimer, Executive Director, MRG Interntional, 54, Commercial Street, (Floors 2-4), London E1 6LT UK, T.no.0044-20-74224222, 0044-20-74224200, Fax 0044-20-74224201, Website www.minorityrights.org, mark.lattimer@mrgmai.org)