Geneva, 24 March, 2024.- People belonging to a minority group should be given due recognition of their identity, a UN expert said today.
“The identity assigned to persons belonging to minorities, usually through their identity documents, should reflect who they really are,” said Nicolas Levrat, the Special Rapporteur on minority issues.
In a report to the 58th session of the Human Rights Council, Levrat recalled the requirements of Article 1 of the Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities. “Persons belonging to minorities have the right to have a traditional name associated with their minority identity registered as their legal name, including a patronym, where appropriate. They also have the right not to be assigned a religion that does not correspond to their own beliefs, and to have their religion duly acknowledged and recognised,” he said. “Minorities have the right to choose, where relevant, the nationality or ethnicity to which they are officially assigned.”
“The transmission of traditional names from one generation to the next, the practice of one’s own religion, the preservation and development of the minority language, and the expression and dissemination of minority culture are all elements that contribute to strengthening the sense of identity of persons belonging to minorities, as well as the existence and identity of the minorities themselves,” the expert said.
He stressed that any laws or administrative practices that undermine these rights and obstruct a minority’s right to identity are contrary not only to the Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities, but also to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
“The recognition of the specific identity of persons belonging to a minority group serves as a pacifying and stabilising factor in society,” the Special Rapporteur said. “UN Member States must allow the positive articulation of the multi-layered identities of persons belonging to minorities. As a result of a process of self-identification, these persons should be able to identify themselves both as persons belonging to a minority and as citizens of the State.”
“Without recognising the specific identity of persons belonging to a minority as a constitutive part of its own identity, a State risks breeding tensions within its own society and at the international level,” Levrat said.