The Protection of Minorities ? Whether a Neglected Field?

Minorities are existing socio cultural realities. The protection of minorities is the hallmark of a civilized nation. The claim of a country to civilization depends on the treatment it provides to the minorities. The most certain test by which we may judge whether a country is really free is the amount of security provided to the minorities. The minority problem has led to intervention, aggression and major conflicts between states. The relation between dominant and non dominant cultural, religious and linguistic groups within a political system has been a perennial problem of politics since time immemorial. In the past it was symbolized by the conflict between dominant and non dominant religious groups. Knowledge was power in ancient Egypt, Greece, Rome, Persia, India and China. Knowledge as power was in the hands of a small minority. The problem of minority as we know it today did not arise in those days. Minorities exercised power and very often the majority had to submit to the minority. It was hoped that the problem will get resolved with separation of Church and State. The rise of secularism associated with the rise of nationalism further aggravated this problem by advocating the concept that the political boundaries should confirm to the national characteristics of the people. Most of the States regarded themselves as a power instrument of the dominant group. States tried to mould the people belonging to minorities in accordance with the religious, linguistic and cultural traits of majority through education, propaganda, political and legal action. Where the minority group resisted this policy, States resorted to extermination and expulsion of the minorities to assure national uniformity. The problems of minorities have attracted both national and international attention. But in spite of different efforts the problem has so far been neglected either knowingly or unknowingly. The area may be summarized as issues of definition of the term minorities and contradictory provisions of different international instruments. However, in this background the purpose of this paper is to deal with different aspects of the concept of the term minorities and to evaluate and analyse both national and international instruments to protect the minorities.