Why is it important whether a group is defined as a “minority” according to international law or not?
The “minority” concept is difficult to handle because of the many connotations which place the concept differentially in several hierarchies, not just one. Many groups, therefore, do not wish to be called “minorities” but prefer other terms. Some groups gain rights by being accepted as “minorities”, some lose rights. In international law, groups accepted as “minorities” have many more guaranteed rights, also in education, than “immigrants”, “migrants”, “guest workers” or refugees, who have almost no rights. Therefore, many of these groups strive towards being granted the status of minorities. One of the strategies to force unwilling States to organise minority education better is to make them real duty-holders: to hold them to task under international or regional human rights instruments which they have signed and ratified. But many of these groups reject labels, not knowing the legal implications. “Linguistically diverse students” (a recent North American invention) have no rights wha
