CNDH TO PARTICIPATE IN DOHA IN MEETING ON DIVERSITY, MINORITY RIGHTS AND CONSTITUTIONAL REFORMS IN MENA

Representing the National Human Rights Council (CNDH), Secretary General Mr. Mohamed Essabbar participates in Doha-Qatar, on 19-21 of November 2012, in a consultation on diversity, minority rights and constitutional reforms in the Middle East and North Africa.

Representing the National Human Rights Council (CNDH), Secretary General Mr. Mohamed Essabbar participates in Doha-Qatar, on 19-21 of November 2012, in a consultation on diversity, minority rights and constitutional reforms in the Middle East and North Africa.

Under the theme “Reflecting diversity in the process of constitutional reforms in the Middle East and North Africa”, this consultation is organized by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and the United Nations Human Rights Training and Documentation Center for South-West Asia and the Arab Region. It is held in celebration of the 20th anniversary of the Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities, adopted by the UN general assembly on 18 December 1992.

This meeting is held within the current context of and situation in MENA and the ongoing constitutional reforms in the region. It will be an opportunity to reflect on the possibilities and strategies to include the rights of minorities in the constitutional reforms in light of the international relevant standards.

Significant human rights experts will take part in this meeting. They will discuss the constitutional reforms in the region in light of the rapid change and particularly its inevitable impact on vulnerable groups. They will examine the legal developments and discuss the possibility to inspire from the international minority right standards, including the principles of the Declaration, in order to protect human rights in Middle East and North Africa, in drawing up those constitutions.

Under the declaration, “persons belonging to national or ethnic, religious and linguistic minorities…have the right to enjoy their own culture, to profess and practice their own religion, and to use their own language, in private and in public, freely and without interference or any form of discrimination.” They “have the right to participate effectively in cultural, religious, social, economic and public life” and “to participate effectively in decisions on the national and, where appropriate, regional level concerning the minority to which they belong or the regions in which they live.”