[MINORITIES] April 13, 2018

THEORETICAL AND CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORKS

DEFINITION OF MINORITY

Like many other social science terms, there is no universally agreed definition of minority. The
first international binding instrument regarding minorities, the 1966 ICCPR covenant, failed to
define as to what constitutes a minority. Even, the term minority was not defined in the 1992 UN
Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Linguistic or Religious
Minorities, which is the first international instrument to deal with minorities concerns in a
separate instrument. However, different scholars define the term from different perspectives.1
The most known operational definition given by the Francesco Caportoti, who is special
rapporteurs of the UN sub-commission, which reads as: “A group numerically inferior to
the rest of the population of a State, in a non-dominant position, whose members –being
nationals of the State- possess ethnic, religious or linguistic characteristics differing from
those of the rest of the population and show, if only implicitly, a sense of solidarity,
directed towards preserving their culture, religion or language.’’

Accordingly, there are five criteria to be met by a group to be considered as a minority. First,
they should be a group of persons whose distinctions are based on ethnic, linguistic or religious
backgrounds in a state in which they constitute a minority. Secondly, the group should be in a
position of non-dominance. Thirdly, their number should be less than the rest of the population
of a state. Fourthly, they should be nationals of a state, as opposed to non-nationals, immigrants,
and refugees. Lastly, there should be solidarity among the group in preserving their
distinction.2Yet this definition is subject to various criticisms. In general, minority rights
presuppose the existence of minority groups. In such case, in order to protect minority rights; it
needs a kind of awareness of the existence of minority group that distinct from the majority in
terms of way of life, history, language, religion and culture of those groups.3

Types of Minorities
1. Linguistic

Like minority, linguistic minority does not have an agreed definition. However, it has ever been
one of the groups which required special treatments from the state or international community.
Groups speaking the minor language are eligible to protection against discrimination and special
treatment with a view to ensuring equality with the majority language to a certain extent. 4.

1
Muluken Kassahun, The Rights of Minorities during State of Emergency: The Case of FDRE Constitution
2 Ibid
3 Ibid

4 Belay Shibeshi, Minority Right Protection In Amhara Regional State: The case of Kimant people in north

Gonder, LLM thesis, AAU(unpublished) ,2010, P. 22

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 [MINORITIES] April 13, 2018

2. Ethnic Minorities
Ethnic minority is a generic term encompassing various types of vulnerable groups. 5For a
group of people to qualify ethnic minority it should exhibits both the objective and
subjective markers. Ethnic groups are entitled to claim minority protection only when they have
cultural, historical and linguistic characteristics that distinguish them from the rest of the
population. The group has to be self conscious6
3. National minority
Finding universally accepted demarcation between national and ethnic minorities is not an easy
task. Yet there is an endeavor to lay down the scope and contents of the concept national
minority. For instance, as per Art.1 of recommendation No 1201, ‘national minorities’ are:
[Residents of a state and citizens there of having strong and long lasting ties with that state,
having distinguishing ethnic, religious or linguistic characteristics, having a representative
number in the state although the members of the group are significantly less than the rest of
the citizens and that have the motivation to preserve and perpetuate their distinguishing
characteristics.]7
4. Religious Minorities
A group qualifies religious minority when its religion differs either from the state religion or the
majority or the rest of the group. 8Although neither religion nor minority religion is defined
under international law, the era of the UN has extended protection to those who desire to
preserve their religious identities as opposed to the state or dominant religious group.
Indigenous peoples
They are national minorities residing in their country of origin but overpowered and
outnumbered by the new comers to their homeland. They desire to preserve their ancestral lands
and socio-economic and cultural traditional institutions. In national minority proper the groups
are still within their land but are made minority due to their inferiority in number and dominance
compared to other parts of the state within which they found. With respect to indigenous groups,
even if they are in their original land, parts of their lands have been overtaken and their socio-
political and cultural institutions are being threatened to disappear by the newcomers who have
dominated and outnumbered them.9

5 Ibid pp 24
6 Tokuma Daba, The Legal And Practical Protection Of The Rights Of Minorities In Self Administering Nations
Of Ethiopia: The Case Of Oromia, (LL.M) Thesis, Addis Ababa University Faculty Of Law, January, 2010
7 Ibid pp 28

8 Id4 pp 29

9 Id 1 pp 25-26

See also the United Nations study on indigenous population has proposed a working definition of
indigenous communities, peoples and nations having. [A] historical continuity with pre-invasion and pre-
colonial societies that developed on their territories, consider themselves distinct from other sectors of
societies now prevailing on those territories, or parts of them. They form at present non-dominant sectors of
society and are determined to preserve, develop and transmit to future generations their ancestral territories,
and their ethnic identity, as the basis of their continued existence as peoples, in accordance with their own
cultural patterns, social institutions and legal systems.
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The status of Minorities internationally

United Nations
The developed concept of human rights launched by the Organization of United Nations
(hereinafter: UN) in 1948 in its Universal Declaration is mainly concerned with individual
protection of rights what resulted with the blurred approach to the minority rights protection.10.
The1948 UDHR for example, makes no mention of minority protection, or minority or group
rights. Nevertheless, the list of fundamental rules of the equal enjoyment of rights and non-
discrimination incorporated in the UN documents dealing with minority rights prima facie looks
quite impressive.

Article 27 of the 1966 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights remains the most
widely agreed upon basis for the protection of minority rights in international law.11 Article 27
provides that: In those states in which ethnic, religious or linguistic minorities exist, persons
belonging to such minorities shall not be denied the right, in community with other members
of their group, to enjoy their own culture, to profess and practice their own religion, or to use
their own language.

While art 27 is a very important milestone in the recognition and development of minority rights,
it leaves open many important questions such as the definition of a minority; whether the rights
are exercised by each individual or by individuals acting together as a collective entity; whether
there is a duty on the state to take positive action to assist a minority group or whether the state
should merely refrain from interfering with minorities exercising their rights; and whether it
provides the base for institutional development that assist minorities, for example, autonomy to
make decisions about matters that affect them and being included into governmental processes
by way of coalitions, quotas etc12

What is probably most important about this particular article is that “it governs the exercise of all
rights, whether protected under the Covenant or not, which the State party confers by law on
individuals within its territory or under its jurisdiction, irrespective of whether they belong to the
minorities specified in article 27 or not.” This is especially important with regard to the fact that
some States parties claim that they have no minorities. Nonetheless, as a result of the Article 27
they are not allowed to discriminate on grounds of ethnicity, language or religion.13

Article 13 the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (hereinafter:
ICESCR) provides the right of everyone to education, stating in some of its paragraphs that states

10 Antonija Petričušić, The Rights of Minorities in International Law: Tracing Developments in Normative
Arrangements of International Organizations
11
BERTUS DE VILLIERS, Language, Cultural and Religious Minorities: What and Who are They?
12
Ibid 12
13
Id

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should made possible for parents or legal guardians to choose for their children schools, other
than those established by the public authorities, which conform to such minimum educational
standards. States are also expected to ensure the religious and moral education of their children
in conformity with their own convictions. The Limburg principles on the implementation of
ICESCR endeavor to eliminate all kind of discrimination and adopt special measures that allow
disadvantaged groups access to the enjoyment of the economic, social and cultural rights.14

The International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination has
protective closes extending to minorities. Under the scope of the Article 14 the Committee on the
Elimination of Racial Discrimination (hereinafter: CERD), that was the first body by the United
Nations created to monitor and review States’ actions taken in fulfillment of their obligations
under a specific human rights agreement. The Convention establishes three procedures to make it
possible for CERD to review the legal, judicial, administrative and other steps taken by
individual States to fulfill their obligations to combat racial discrimination. Firstly, all States
which ratify or accede to the Convention must submit periodic reports to CERD. Secondly, the
Convention provides for State-to-State complaints. And last but not least, the Convention makes
possible for an individual or a group of persons who claim to be victims of racial discrimination
to lodge a complaint with CERD against their State.15

Article 30 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child provides that “in those States in which
ethnic, religious or linguistic minorities or persons of indigenous origin exist, a child belonging
to such a minority or who is indigenous shall not be denied the right, in community with other
members of his or her group, to enjoy his or her own culture, to profess and practice his or her
own religion, or to use his or her own language”16

The Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide also extends its
protection to minority groups, defining the genocide in the Article 2 as an acts committed with
intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, such as:
killing members of the group; causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;
deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical
destruction in whole or in part; imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;
forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.17

The 1992 UN Declaration on the Rights of Persons belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious
and Linguistic Minorities (‘Declaration’) expands the intended operation of art 27 of the
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights by requiring states to take positive action to

14
Minority Rights: International Standards and Guidance for Implementation, United Nation
15
Antonija, supranote, 11 p. 45
16
Minority Rights: International Standards and Guidance for Implementation, United Nations
17
Ibid

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 [MINORITIES] April 13, 2018

assist minorities.18 The Declarations not legally enforceable, but it sets a new standard for the
protection of minorities, for example in the way it recognizes the rights of minorities to
‘participation’ and to ‘mother-tongue education’:
a) Participation: ‘Persons belonging to minorities have the right to participate freely in
decisions on the national and, where appropriate regional level, concerning the minority
to which they belong or the regions in which they live, and in a manner not incompatible
with national legislation.
b) Education: ‘States should take appropriate measures so that, wherever possible, persons
belonging to minorities have adequate opportunities to learn their mother tongue or to
have instruction in their mother tongue.
The Declaration does not have the status as an international treaty and therefore cannot be
regarded as binding in international law, but the fact that it recognizes the positive role that the
state should take to assist minorities is a major step forward in developing a binding regime. In
the field of education, for example, the Declaration places an obligation on states to ‘take
appropriate measures in the field of education in order to encourage knowledge of the history,
traditions, language and culture of the minorities existing within their territory.19

European Union
The ECHR does not guarantee rights that are peculiar to minorities: rights and freedoms set out
in the Convention are, by virtue of Article 1 of the Convention, secured to “everyone” within the
jurisdiction of the High Contracting Parties. The ECHR contains no minority rights provision
akin to Article 27 of the ICCPR, but prescribes in Article 14, which is the only reference to
minorities is to be found in ECHR, that “the enjoyment of the rights and freedoms set forth in
this Convention shall be secured without discrimination on any ground such as sex, race,
color, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, association with
a national minority, property, birth or other status.”20

There is no direct way for members of minority groups to claim minority rights in the European
Court of Human Rights (hereinafter: the Court) . Article 14 of the ECHR is not a freestanding
non-discrimination clause like Article 27 of the ICCPR, and can only be invoked in aid with
another Convention right. Furthermore, member States are permitted a margin of appreciation
that is a degree of discretion to accommodate domestic factors, when the Court considers
whether Article 14 has been breached. The Court has reviewed a great number of cases
concerning minority rights in spite of the absence of the specific provisions for the protection of
minorities in the Convention in its Protocols. 21

18
The 1992 UN Declaration on the Rights of Persons belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic
Minorities
19
Antonija, supranote, 11
20 Emilia Papoutsi, Minorities under International Law: How protected they are?., Journal of Social Welfare

and Human Rights, Vol. 2(1), March 2014

21 Ibid

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The FCNM is the first legally binding charter solely aimed at the protection of minority rights
within international law. It should be pointed out that the Framework Convention does not
contain a definition of the notion of ‘’national minority’’. It has introduced the scheme that
minority communities shall be encouraged and improved prescribing legally binding minimum
standards that must be met by States. It has also established values which states are obliged to
implement trough their national institutions such as the right to full and effective equality,
education in minority languages and effective participation.22

Charter for Regional or Minority Languages defines regional or minority languages as non-
official languages traditionally used in a country by nationals of that country who form a group
numerically smaller than the rest of the country's population. It is important to emphasize that
the principle objective of this international document is to protect and promote regional or
minority languages, not linguistic minorities in particular. The Charter does not establish any
individual or collective rights for the speakers of minority languages, but the obligations States
take in order to promote and protect minority languages. 23

Undoubtedly, the variety of existing international instruments has established the base for the
protection of national minorities. However, the sufficiency of existing normative arrangements in
international law is dubious. Namely, the existing system for minority protection in the
international level is insufficient for the actual accommodation of minorities in states they
inhabit and for the fulfillment of their rights.24 In addition, the international documents and
policy recommendations regarding minority protection have not solved a contradiction between
collective rights of a group versus citizen rights of the individual. The emphasis on the individual
rights is indeed central to the existing concept of human rights protection. Nevertheless, minority
rights, usually exercised with other members of a community, imply a notion of collectivity, thus
expanding in the content general individual human rights. The reluctance of international law to
name groups as holders of rights, rather preferring to attribute rights to members of groups,
indicate inexistence of a strong international minority regime.25

The argument on weakness of international minority rights system is additionally strengthen by

the fact that majority of those documents are not legally binding, but they serve as a point of
departure in shaping national minority legislation in the member states of international
organization that had passed those minority protection related documents.

22 Ibid
23 BERTUS DE VILLIERS, 12

24
Emilia Papoutsi supranote, 21
25
Antonija, supranote, 11

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The status of Minorities in Ethiopia

This preamble of FDRE Constitution hints to the recognition of Ethiopia as the land of Nation,
Nationality and Peoples and with that implicitly as the land of minorities, in whatever criteria
minority may be defined in the Ethiopian context.26

Apart from employing the term minority nationalities, the FDRE Constitution has not defined
the term minority and it did not also identify which groups qualify as minorities. Rather,
it simply states the defining criterion for an ethnic group in Article 39 as “nations, nationalities
and peoples.” It defines ethnic groups (nation’s nationalities and peoples) as “a group of people
who have or share a large measure of a common culture or similar custom, mutual intelligibility
of language, belief in a common or related identity, a common psychological makeup, and an
identifiable, predominantly contiguous territory. 27

Proclamation No. 532/2007 has not defined what is meant by minority nationalities and
secondly, it has left the issue of determining the numerical size of an electoral constituency
based on the population size of the country rather than setting a predetermined figure.
Nevertheless, one can deduce that, a minority nationality is one which cannot establish its own
electoral constituency whatever the number of the group. The Proclamation addresses the
issue of ascertaining minority nationalities using a modality which is different from its
predecessor. It states that “minority nationalities which require special representation shall be
determined on the basis of clear criteria” set in advance by the House of Federation.
However, what is meant by ‘clear criteria’ is ambiguous.28

In a similar fashion, it can be argued that, minority groups are those which are not represented
in the House of Federation (HoF) because of their inability to fulfill the requirement of one
million population. Hence, an ethnic group that constitutes less than one million people could
also be considered as minority at least for the purpose of political representation. Due to the
practical limitation that every ethnic group is not represented in the house, every decision is
taken on a majority basis. The absence of veto powers for minority nationalities, even in
matters strictly affecting their rights, makes it difficult for the House of Federation to adequately
accommodate the rights of minorities.29

If we see the case of the HoPR, elections to the house are conducted by means of general and
direct elections under the first past the post electoral system. However, Article 54(3) of the
Constitution provides for a guarantee of representation for minority nationalities and peoples by

26
Tokuma, supranote 3,
27
Beza Dessalegn, “The Right of Minorities to Political Participation under The Ethiopian Electoral
system”, Mizan Law Review, Vol. 7, No.1, 2013
28 Id

29 Haileyesus Taye, Issues Of Minority Rights In The Ethiopian Federation, Ecmi Working Paper, 2012

Group 5 {Minorities} 7
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stipulating that at least 20 seats are reserved for these minorities out of the maximum number of
550 seats. In accordance with the Constitution, unless otherwise provided, “all decisions of the
house shall be by a majority vote of members present and voting”. The quorum requirement will
be fulfilled upon the presence of more than half of the members of the house. In effect, the
combined presence of the four big nationalities in the house will suffice to legislate even in
matters that affect the interests of other ethnic groups.30

The same reasoning applies to the House of Federation which is also based on majoritarian rule
because all decisions of the House require the approval of majority members present and voting.
The quorum requirement is the presence at a meeting of two thirds of the members of the House.
Unlike the HoPR, there are no guarantee seats to minority nationalities in the HoF. Each nation
and people will have at least one member and will additionally be represented by one additional
representative for each additional one million people. The larger the population size of an ethnic
group, the higher the representation it will secure in the house and the higher is the risk of
minorities being engulfed by the populous ethnic groups in the decision making process.31

Furthermore, according to the Preamble and article 8 of the Constitution, sovereignty resides in
each ‘nation, nationality and people’. However, although the Constitutions seems to give such
huge amount of rights to each ethnic groups, according to article 47, many of them are under the
sovereignty of few dominant ethnic groups. The Amhara, Oromo, Afar, Tigre, Harare, Somali,
Gumuz and Berta are expressly recognized, and the regional states are designated under
their name. Simply stated, those ethnic groups which do not have states or other subunits
may not have favorable conditions to develop their language, culture, history and
traditions. Thus, it can be argued, the constitution gave more benefits to the ethnic groups in
whose name states are named, for “32

Among the requirements under article 39(5) some are objective ones while others are subjective.
Geographical contiguousness, language and common culture or similar customs belong to
the former and are not difficult to determine. However, in case of ‘belief in common or
related identities’ and ‘a common psychological make-up’, which are subjective ones, their
determination is difficult. Apart from the difficulty in determining them, the Constitution does
not specify as to who has such power. 33

However, an important issue in a claim of identity was left undecided-how such a person or
group of persons can lodge the complaint. The regional state to which the complaint is lodged

30 Christophe Vander beken, Ethiopia: Constitutional Protection of ethnic Minorities at the regional Level,
Afrika focus, Vol.20, Nr.1-2, 2007, Pp.105-151
31 Beza, supranote, 28
32
Beza, supranote, 28
33
Belay, supra note 5, p. 29

Group 5 {Minorities} 8
 [MINORITIES] April 13, 2018

may not trust the complainant(s); they may challenge the legitimacy of representation of the
people. Depending on the circumstances, the regional state may complicate the procedure of
representation of the people by such complaints. Of course, Proclamation No.251/2001 has
procedures in presenting the claims or questions of self-determination.34

However, the FDRE Constitution deviates from this agreed principle due to lack of special rights
to minorities. Under article 39(2) and (3) each ‘nation, nationality or people’ are guaranteed to
develop and promote its culture, history and language, and to establish self government. It
treats equally the mainstream ethnic group and minority groups. It does not provide for special
measures or affirmative action in favor of minorities. Indeed, “within the new constitutional
system, the TPLF/EPRDF denies the existence of any ‘minorities’ in Ethiopia, i.e., ethnic and
religious groups which are politically oppressed or marginalized.” It can be argued that the
Constitution has taken the same position of the United Nations in its formative stage by which
“Minorities and their members were postulated to be fully and satisfactorily protected by
individual, universal human rights in combination with the non-discrimination principle. In
Our case, for instance, how can the Kemant enjoy such rights in equal footing with the Amhara,
being the mainstream state, who have already enjoyed those rights? In this respect also, the
Constitution fails to adequately protect the rights of ethnic minorities.35

Though the concept nation, nationality and peoples seem all-inclusive, it hardly applies to
dispersed minority groups at the regional level as they do not qualify the territoriality
principle. Though Art.25 of the FDRE constitution guarantees the principle of equality and
disallows unfair discrimination on the basis of language, ethnic affiliation, religion and other
contingencies, it merely protects individual human rights without extending any protection to
group specific rights of dispersed ethnic minorities. 36

Thus as part of the overall status of minority right in any country, it is desirable to assess the
international treaties to which a country is a party. However, the Constitution
comprehensively recognizes both individual and group rights of minorities by internalizing
such rights through explicit inclusion in domestic laws, ratifying treaties consist minority
right s (art. 9/4) and interpret constitutional rights in conformity principles of UDHR and
International Human right instruments adopted by the country(art.13/2) 37

34
Tokuma, supranote 3, P.38
35
Ibid
36
Fessha, Y. T. and Van der Beken, C. (2013). Ethnic federalism and internal minorities: the legal protection of
internal minorities in Ethiopia. African Journal of International and Comparative Law, 21(1): 32-49
http://dx.doi.org/10.3366/ajicl.2013.0051
37
Dagafa, Aberra, The Scope Of Rights Of National Minorities Under The Constitution Of Federal Democratic
Republic Of Ethiopia, Series On Ethiopian Constitutional Law, Vol. 1,Addis AAU Printing Press, Ababa
University,2000
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 [MINORITIES] April 13, 2018

As can be discerned from the table, Ethiopia has ratified International Covenant on Civil and
Political Rights (ICCPR), International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of
Racial Discrimination (ICERD), International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural
Rights (ICESCR), Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against
Women (CEDAW), Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) and Convention on the
Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRDP), which can be applicable implicitly or
explicitly for the protection and promotion of minority rights. Although Ethiopia is party to
major treaties, the pace of ratifying the Optional Protocols (OP) has been slow. In fact, the
Optional Protocols are in some ways important in providing an additional forum for minorities
for the protection of their rights

Why are Minorities entitled to a different package of rights?

The reason for existence of minority rights is that individual human right does not adequately
guarantee the actual equality of minorities and majorities. Formal equality cannot bring
substantive equality; thus, there arose a need to have special rights to minorities, at least
temporarily. However, it asserts that universal citizenship alone cannot guarantee equality to
minority groups in the absence of group-differentiated rights to take care of the pressures of
homogenization. Hence, it is argued, there is a need to go beyond universal citizenship to ensure
substantive equality between groups and to translate universal citizenship into democratic
citizenship–one that takes into account an individual’s membership of the state and of the
group(s) based on loyalties and identity. 38

The rights Minorities are entitled by domestic laws

Right to Existence/Recognition, Participatory Right, Right to Self-Determination, Cultural and
Linguistic Rights, Right to Equality, The Right to Self-Government, freedom of movement and
freedom to choose one’s residence within the Ethiopian , territory, and the right to vote
and to be elected without any discrimination on any grounds including based on ethnic
identity, Representation in the House of Peoples Representatives House of Federation 39

The rights Minorities are entitled by international law and how their rights are
enforced internationally and domestically
Based on the experiences of minority communities worldwide, and on the contents of the United
Nations Minorities Declaration and other international standards relating to minority rights, the
following can be identified as major right minorities are entitled: Rights to Preserve Separate
Identity, Linguistic Rights, Cultural Rights, Participatory Rights, Right to Equality, Rights to
Self Determination, and Right to Autonomy.

The implementation of human rights law internationally the promotion of human rights standards
in another country can take place through a ‘positive’ approach, whereby support is given to the

38
Kadloor Savitri, Justification for Minority Rights, AfrikaFocus, Vol.20, Nr.1-2, 2007,
39
Muluken, supra note,

Group 5 {Minorities} 10
 [MINORITIES] April 13, 2018

improvement of conditions that facilitate compliance with human rights, or through a reaction to
a violation of human rights. Often a differentiated approach is chosen, as this may often be the
most effective way to bring about compliance.40

The implementation of human rights law domestically depends to a large extent on the political
will of states to comply with international standards. To implement international human rights
standards states have to incorporate those standards into domestic law. As per article 9(4) of
FDRE Constitution there is an automatic incorporation of treaty provisions once they have been
ratified and published in the official gazette. In addition, it is important to note that in order to
ensure that human rights are protected and advanced in a sustained manner in the long term;
states should encourage and facilitate the establishment of national human rights institutions,
such as ombudspersons, Human right commissions’. Finally, it is important to mention that at the
national or domestic level, states are required to take actions to raise awareness about human
rights. They should inform the public specially minorities about human rights, as well as
available resources for redress to those whose human rights have been violated.41
Difficulties Minorities face in the enjoyment of their rights
 First and foremost lack of an international authority to handle issue minorities;
 the non-binding norm from one side and the lack of a real penalty system makes clear
the international system’s inadequacy
 Restriction of their freedom of movement and discrimination. It is also sometimes abused
to violate rights of migrants. In Ethiopia laws governing election and civil service
employment, have proved to be areas liable for discriminatory laws and practices in
regional states.
 Non accommodation of internal minorities due political practice that gives more weight
to collective rights and frustrates claims based on individual rights;
 The electoral law that make the right to stand for an election dependent on the ability to
speak the working language of the region and other political practice denies individuals
that belong to non indigenous internal minorities the right to exercise their political rights
in regions
 Exclusion of a large number of minorities from the constitutional promise of the right to
self-determination through constitution formula in most of the regional state.
 Internal minorities are not represented in the regional parliaments, executive and judicial
organ.
 However, this has resulted in the creation of the majority/dominant ethnic group
hegemony in heterogeneously inhabited region states. This has not only resulted in the
creation of minority ethnic groups within a given regional state but the minority ethnic

40
Magdalena Sepúlveda, Theo van Banning, Gudrun D. Gudmundsdottir, Christine Chamoun and Willem J.M.
van Genugten, HUMAN RIGHTS REFERENCE HANDBOOK pp67-69
41
Ibid

Group 5 {Minorities} 11
 [MINORITIES] April 13, 2018

group loses its constitutionally guaranteed right of self-determination in favor of the

majority and/or dominant ethnic group.

Suggestion to improve their currents stations

Therefore, we suggest that:
 Minority ethnic group need to have proportional representation in regional parliament
and in the Regional Constitutional Interpretation Commission.
 The FDRE constitution has to be amended so as to set a mechanism for regulating
tensions that may arise due to the competing claims of the different ethnic groups.
 The constitution of regionally states has to be amended so that it could properly
accommodate diversity address reality.
 Every NNP (ethnic group) in the country must have representative in the House of
Federation.
 The regime governing Ethiopia should take a broad political and policy measures.
 Amending the stipulation of the FDRE Constitution which embodies the first past the
post electoral system and putting in place the proportional representation system. The
other option is amendment of the electoral law of the country, especially, the section
which deals with the electoral system. This could be done without the total rejection
of the plurality system. The former system can be used to elections conducted at
the federal level, i.e. to the HOPR, while in the case of the latter, states would
be allowed to devise their own electoral systems in accordance with their own
specific needs. This enables the regional minorities to secure a seat in the regional state
councils proportionate to their population size without requiring them to constitute a
numerical majority in each electoral constituency.
 adopting special rules to guaranteed representation and to the right to cultural autonomy
of dispersed ethnic minority groups in each State Councils, Zonal and Woreda
Councils to protect dispersed ethnic at regional level.
 Granting the option of non-territorial autonomy to all ethnic groups in Ethiopia would
provide non-indigenous internal minorities with a mechanism to protect and promote
their language and culture;
 In order to protect the interests of non-indigenous internal minorities against majority
decisions as well as to promote inter-ethnic cooperation and integration, mechanisms of
power sharing at regional and sub-regional level must therefore be developed
 Establishing multi-ethnicity administration offers non-indigenous internal minorities that
are a numerical minority at the regional level but a numerical majority in the city an
important opportunity for political participation and representation

Group 5 {Minorities} 12