Blanquerna International Relations Debates Lecture, Ramon Llull University

20 November 2014

Dr Prof Fernand de VarennesHonorary Professor, Human Rights Centre, University of Pretoria, South

AfricaVisiting Professor, University of Hong Kong, China

International Observatory on Language Rights, Université de Moncton, Canada

A conditional responsibility of the international community for mass atrocities of:

genocide, ethnic cleansing, crimes of war between states, and crimes against humanity.

“55 per cent of violent conflicts of a significant intensity between2007 and 2009 had at their core violations of minority rights or tensions betweencommunities.”Effective promotion of the Declaration on the Rights ofPersons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious andLinguistic Minorities, Report of the Independent Expert on Minority Issues, UN Doc. A/65/287, 12 August 2010.

ICC arrest warrants for President Omar al-Bashir in March 2009 for war crimes and crimes against humanity, and on 12 July 2010 for genocide in Darfur.

“Given the role of discrimination and ethnic conflict in atrocity crimes, implementing the responsibility to prevent requires effective protection of minority rights. If minorities are adequately protected, this avoids the instrumentalization of minority issues, either by radicals in the minority community or by neighbouring states—which may even use violence to seek the world’s attention. States must support minority groups in expressing and preserving their identities, while promoting integration and equality before the law to strengthen social cohesion and prevent discrimination.”

Nicholas Turner and Nanako Otsuki, The Responsibility to Protect Minorities and the Problem of the Kin-State, Policy Brief No. 2 2010, UNU Press.

a General Assembly Resolution containing the basic principles of R2P;

Security Council guidelines defining the criteria for military interventions for humanitarian grounds, incorporating an agreement to suspend use of the veto

leadership by the Secretary General in advancing R2P

139. The international community, through the United Nations, also has the responsibility to use appropriate diplomatic, humanitarian and other peaceful means, in accordance with Chapters VI and VIII of the Charter, to help protect populations from genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity. In this context, we are prepared to take collective action, in a timely and decisive manner, through the Security Council, in accordance with the Charter, including Chapter VII, on a case-by-case basis and in cooperation with relevant regional organizations as appropriate, should peaceful means be inadequate and national authorities manifestly fail to protect their populations…

“[T]he ultimate purpose of the responsibility to protect: to save lives by preventing the most egregious mass violations of human rights, while reinforcing the letter and spirit of the [UN] Charter and the abiding principles of responsible sovereignty.”

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon, 2009

“Full respect for human rights, a working democracy and the existence of the rule of law, are the best guarantees for a positive situation for national minorities… To confront the root causes of excessive nationalism, one has to break down ‘nationalist’ issues to their core elements. More often than not, these concern political participation, education, language, culture or resource allocation… The best type of early action is building civil societies that protect human rights, including minority rights.”

17. First, countries at risk of genocide and, to an extent, other atrocity crimes, often have a history of discrimination or other human rights violations against members of a particular group or population, often on the basis of its ethnic, racial or religious background. This risk factor is particularly significant where the legacies of past atrocity crimes have not been adequately addressed through individual criminal accountability, reparation, truth-seeking and reconciliation as well as comprehensive reform measures in the security and judicial sectors.

18. Genocide is an extreme form of identity-based crime. Whether real or socially constructed, identity can be subject to manipulation by elites, including as a deliberate tactic for personal or political gain, and may be used to deepen societal divisions. Identity-based conflict can be rooted in differences among national, ethnic, racial or religious groups, whether real or perceived. It is not the differences per se that cause conflict among groups, but rather discrimination based on such differences that creates unequal access to resources and exclusion from decision-making processes and leads to a denial of economic, social, cultural, civil and political rights.

19. Patterns of discrimination against a particular community are an important factor. Discrimination can be overt or covert and come in many different forms. Political discrimination refers to the denial of such basic political rights as participation and representation, and freedom of expression, opinion and association. Political discrimination can be evident in the underrepresentation or exclusion of population groups within national legislatures, the security sector and the judiciary. Social discrimination includes measures such as denial of citizenship or the right to profess a religion or belief, compulsory identification and limitations on basic rights such as marriage or education that target members of a community. Patterns of economic discrimination are evident where there are significant socioeconomic disparities among communities. Economic discrimination includes unequal access to economic opportunities, land and other resources, employment, food, shelter or health care. Gender discrimination and inequality increase underlying risks associated with sexual and gender-based violence, which can constitute genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity in some circumstances. Specific gender discrimination practices include the denial or inadequate protection of basic rights relating to physical security and the status of women, compulsory birth control and unequal access to services and property.

... siempre la lengua fue compañera del imperio...

(Language is always the companion of power)

Antonio de Nebrija Antonio de Nebrija (1441-1522) (1441-1522)

Prólogo a la Gramática Prólogo a la Gramática de la lengua castellanade la lengua castellana

A minority (in a few countries even the majority) may be disadvantaged or excluded from educational or employment opportunities because of the linguistic preferences and language policies of government – depending on the context, this could be discrimination on the ground of language in international law

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98% of East Pakistanis spoke Bengali

Close to 50% of the country’s population

Most of them not fluent in Urdu

Making Urdu only national and official language would disadvantage and exclude most East Pakistanis

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21 February 1952: 12 students in demonstration against official language policy of government killed by Pakistani army

Language Movement Day (21 February) official national public holiday

Students commemorated at Shaheed Minar in Dhaka, the Martyrs’ monument, also known as the Language Monument.

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Diergaardt v Namibia, United Nations Human Rights Committee, 2000: a state’s language preference must be reasonable and justified in the circumstances in order to comply with non-discrimination

Not reasonable or justified to use Urdu only – and not Bangla – in many areas of government employment and service (state schools; state health system; civil service, police)

Many aspects of language policy therefore discriminatory international human rights law

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