ABSTRACT
These prefatory remarks look at contemporary minority rights issues and shifts in policy approaches at the United Nations, providing context to the global minority rights protection framework. Beginning with the inter-war period and the “Minority Treaties”, and through the emergence of an individualistic centred multilateral approach to rights and freedoms after World War II, the piece analyses some of the misunderstandings and misinterpretations that have shaped the current global system. It argues that the absence of an agreed-upon concept of minority at the international level has contributed to the instability and underdevelopment of the global minority protection framework, leading to inconsistencies and contradictions in the responses and actions of states and the UN. The piece goes on to criticise the absence of a robust system for the protection of the rights of minorities at the United Nations, when comparing the advancement of legally binding treaties and other systems that have evolved to protect the human rights of particularly vulnerable or marginalised segments of society. Finally, it provides some cause for optimism through setting out new initiatives that are being developed at the international level.
