An ethnic, religious or linguistic minority is any group of persons which constitutes less than half of the population in the entire territory of a State whose members share common characteristics of culture, religion or language, or a combination of any of these. A person can freely belong to an ethnic, religious or linguistic minority without any requirement of citizenship, residence, official recognition or any other status. Show
Clarifications on who is a member of a minorityFollowing mainly the Human Rights Committee jurisprudence, additional elements as to who is a member of a minority can be summarized as follows: (a) Indigenous peoples may constitute linguistic, religious or ethnic minorities in the States in which they find themselves. Both are not mutually exclusive, nor undermine any applicable rights as a minority or indigenous people. (b) The “territory” to consider in determining whether or not a group is a linguistic, religious or ethnic minority is the entire territory of a State, and not one of its political or territorial subunits; (c) One of the main objective criteria for determining whether a group is a minority in a State is a numerical one. A minority in the territory of a State means it is not the majority. Objectively, that means that an ethnic, religious or linguistic group makes up less than half the population of a country. Background to the conceptIn his latest report to the United Nations General Assembly in October 2019, the UN Special Rapporteur on minority issues reviewed the history, approaches and jurisprudence on the concept of minorities within United Nations mechanisms and entities in order to provide greater clarity for his own mandate and all other stakeholders in upholding the human rights of minorities. The absence of consistency in understanding who is a minority is a recurring stumbling block to the full and effective realization of the human rights of minorities. Different United Nations entities may contradict one another because they consider different groups of persons as constituting a minority – and exclude certain persons as ‘not being members of a real minority’ for different, sometimes ad hoc, reasons. States Members of the United Nations may at times hesitate to engage on matters relating to minorities because of uncertainties as to who is a minority and what that entails. In some countries, there may be even the assumption that the absence of a “definition” means it is left to each State to determine freely who is or is not a minority. In most of these situations, the uncertainty leads to restrictive approaches: in many situations, persons are deemed to be “undeserving” because they are not “traditional” minorities, not citizens or not sufficiently “dominated”. The end result is that some minorities are excluded because they are not the “right kind” of minority according to different parties. In order to overcome such challenges and promote the full and effective realization of the human rights of minorities, the Special Rapporteur advanced the above definition of a minority. This concept applies for the purposes of the Special Rapporteur’s mandate and is presented for United Nations activities only. It does not affect what constitutes a minority in relation to a state’s domestic matters, or for the concept which may also have different connotations or involve other criteria for other international or regional organisations. It is mainly based on the history and formulation of the concept of a minority under article 27 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the Human Rights Committee’s jurisprudential views and its General Comment No. 23 on the rights of minorities. The Special Rapporteur clarified that when considered in its historical context, the term minority, as defined by article 27, is expansive and clear: the provision guarantees certain rights to all those in a State who are members of a linguistic, religious or ethnic minority, with no other requirement or precondition.
IntroductionIn the chapter on population, we discussed how and why population growth exploded in the 20th Century. Recall that as nations evolve from Stage 1 to Stage 2, death rates plummet, but birth rates maintain were maintained at their existing levels causing an explosion in population. Europe and America were the first nations to enter Stage 2, but today no nation is in Stage 1. Most nations are still in Stage 2 and the result of this is that the human population is now over 6.6 billion. Our numbers will peak to 9 billion by 2100. The 20th Century was also the deadliest century, in terms of war, in human history. This century experienced two world wars, multiple civil wars, genocides in Rwanda (Tutsis and moderate Hutus), Sudan, Yugoslavia, and the Holocaust that decimated the Jewish population in Europe during WWII. In addition to WWI and WWII, this century experienced the Korean War, Vietnam War, the Cold War, and the first Gulf War. Additionally, this century saw regional and civil conflicts such as those experienced in the Congo (6 million people died), as well as an upsurge in child soldiers and modern slavery. Defining States
STATES The idea or concept of a state originated in the Fertile Crescent between the Persian Gulf and Mediterranean Sea. The first ancient states that formed during this time were called city-states. A city-state is a sovereign state that encompasses a town and the surrounding landscape. Often, city-states secured the town by surrounding it with walls and farmlands were located outside of the city walls. Later, empires formed when several city-states were militarily controlled by a single city-state. Empires were also formed COLONIES
Shape and Boundaries of StatesSHAPE OF STATES
TYPES OF STATE BOUNDARIES
UNITARY AND FEDERAL
STATES International RelationshipsPhysical location of the U.N. in New York, U.S.A. Image taken from Wikimedia Commons. THE UNITED NATIONS The most powerful council on the UN is the Security Council. The United States, Russian Federation (formerly the Soviet Union), France, China, and the United Kingdom form the council. This council has the power to determine if peacekeeping or military intervention by the United Nations is necessary. Often, these nations have differences of opinion and philosophies on various security and human rights issues. Thus, there is often conflict about what should be done. Three recent examples are Iraq, Darfur in Sudan, and now Syria. In 2003, the United States and United Kingdom international military action against Iraq because of the concern of “weapons of mass destruction.” But the other permanent members of the Security Council – Russia, France, and China – disagree against this action, thus the United States and United Kingdom had to invade with very little international support. Another recent conflict pitting the United States against the other Security Council members was the conflict in Darfur, Sudan. Former Secretary of State Colin Powell declared that the conflict in the eastern Sudan region amounted to genocide; which under United Nations rules requires military, political, and economic action. But again Russia and China disagreed with the United States and vetoed any military action in Sudan. Currently, the Security Council is having problems coming together to decide what to do with the human rights abuses and mass murders of citizens in Syria. After the fall of the Soviet Union, the world made a dramatic shift from military power to economic power. Today, the world's economic superpowers are the United States, China, European Union (the largest economic entity in the world), and Japan. The recent global recession of 2007 lasted several years and has shown the world that an economic ripple in one part of the world could cause the entire world to go into a recession. Take for example Greece that is currently has the potential to economically collapse. A collapse of Greece would cause turmoil for the European Union and could ultimately cause the United States to go into a deep recession. The United States is not immune to what happens to even small countries around the world because of globalization. Russia has lost a lot of economic power since the fall of the Soviet Union. Well, that is beginning to change as the price of oil, something Russia has a lot of, has risen. This has provided vast amounts of money to rebuild their infrastructure, military, and economy and thus dramatically improved their influence in the world. Commonwealth Realms, Republics, and Monarchies. Image from Wikimedia. REGIONAL ORGANIZATIONS Another important intergovernmental organization the Commonwealth of Nations. The Commonwealth consists of 53 member states that include most of the colonies of the former British Empire (Bangladesh, Canada, India, Pakistan, etc.). Click on the image above to see a breakdown of the status of each Commonwealth member. Terrorism and Civil ConflictTERRORISM
Geospatial technology can also be used for humanitarian efforts as a way to end conflict or monitor situations before they esculate. One organization, called the Satellite Sentinal Project, was created by The Enough Project and the largest private satellite imagery corporation called
Digital Globe. The organization was first used satellite imagery from Digital Globe and Google Earth to monitor potential humanitarian conflicts along the border of Sudan and the newly created South Sudan. Now it is using satellite imagery to track poachers who use the money from the black market to fund civil wars like the Lord's Resistence Army (LRA). ISRAEL AND PALESTINE
There is growing debate around the world about needs to be done to end the conflict between the people of Israel and Palestine. Basically there are three options: 1) create a "two-state solution" where basically the Israeli people keep most of Israel, but give the Palestinians the West Bank and possibly Gaza Strip, 2) integrate Palestinians into Israel and legal citizens which would make them the majority within Israel, 3) keep segregation between Israelies and Palestinians as it currently exists and be considered an apartheid by the global community. Below is a series of videos that critically look at the Israeli-Palistinian conflict. Is there a case to be made that Israel's very survival depends on the creation of a stable and viable Palestinian state?
ISRAEL AND IRAN
Ronny Edry, a graphic design educator and activist believes that peace doesn't need to be so complicated and that all that is required is reaching out to the "enemies" you've been endoctored to hate. As you will see in the videos above, Web 2.0 and social media have become a new force in grassroots geopolitical change. Ronny Edry's movement can be viewed on The Peace Factory Facebook page. Items to consider are:
When a human group shares a language and culture this is known as?Listen to pronunciation. (ETH-nik groop) A group of people who share a similar culture (beliefs, values, and behaviors), language, religion, ancestry, or other characteristic that is often handed down from one generation to the next.
Is a group of people who share a common culture location and sense of identity?Ethnic group A group that shares a common cultural tradition and sense of identity.
What is the difference between a frontier and a boundary AP Human Geography?Boundaries. Political boundary: An invisible line that marks the outer limits of a state's territory. Frontier: A zone of territory where no state has governing authority. Geometric boundary: A boundary created by using lines of latitude and longitude and their associated arcs.
What is true about a landlocked state?Landlocked states are completely surrounded by other countries and therefore do not have a direct access to an ocean. Due to this isolation, landlocked states must transport their raw materials across another country or state to get access to an ocean.
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