Minorities & Indigenous

In this decision, the Supreme Court of India upheld the constitutionality of section 12 of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act (RTE Act), which requires all schools, both state-funded and private, to accept 25% intake of children from disadvantaged groups. However, the Court held that the RTE Act could not require private, minority schools to satisfy a 25% quota, as this would constitute a violation of the right of minority groups to establish private schools under the Indian Constitution.

The advice of the Expert Mechanism are meant to provide a better understanding of the provisions of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and to propose concrete actions that States, indigenous peoples, civil society, international organisations, national human rights institutions and others can take in order to further its implementation.

This advice deals with the right to education of indigenous peoples. 

This document lists the international instruments and provisions relevant to the right to education of minorities and indigenous peoples.

The study prepared by the Expert Mechanism encompasses (a) a human rights-based analysis of the scope and content of the right to education; (b) indigenous education systems and institutions; (c) lessons learned; (d) challenges and measures to achieve the implementation of the right of indigenous peoples to education; and (e) advice on the right of indigenous peoples to education.

This Guide provides an overview of economic, social and cultural rights and how they can be applied to minorities and indigenous peoples. Aimed at minority and indigenous activists and those working with them, each chapter has been written by an expert on a different right. Education rights are addressed by Duncan Wilson on p.55 – 67.

Each chapter focuses upon a different ESC right and describes the legal standards, the various enforcement mechanisms, and guidelines for successful civil society advocacy.

The report provides a conceptual framework for minority rights in and through education and includes an analytical review of legal and practical developments in the four countries (Estonia, Latvia, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and Romania) involved in negotiations with the European Union. The result highlights huge divergence in practice in minority education, and a lack of clarity in just what the EU promotes.

An update of the decisions made by the European Court of Human Rights from 2007-2010, on the right to education of Roma children.

In a unique collaboration with UNICEF, Minority Rights Group International reports on what minority and indigenous children around the world face in their struggle to learn. This report profiles the programmes that are being developed to help them – from better bilingual education to meeting the needs of nomadic populations – giving examples of what works and why. It describes efforts to overcome exclusion so that education is available, accessible, acceptable and adaptable for minorities and indigenous peoples, and shows how far there is still to go.

This report documents how the the Czech authorities are violating the human rights of Romani children in schools across the country. Romani children in the Czech Republic have for decades suffered systemic discrimination in primary education. Many are placed in so-called practical schools designated for pupils with mild mental disabilities. Those in mainstream schools are often segregated in Roma-only schools and classes or otherwise treated differently. Reports of racial bullying and ostracisation by non-Roma pupils, and even open prejudice by some teachers, are frequent.