A concise review on comparative studies on the evolution of minority rights in the European and African context

Abstract

Minority rights refer to the privileges granted to a specific group of people within a particular region. These rights are provided for various reasons, including the fact that this group may have a smaller population compared to others from the same ethnicity or tribe. The topic of minority rights has been a point of dispute in both Europe and Africa. More so, determining who constitutes a minority and granting them rights is a complex and challenging task. The aftermath of colonialism has resulted in a mix of ethnicities living together in a single territory, making the discussion of minority rights particularly difficult in the African context. While progress has been made in Europe with regards to granting rights to minority groups, it is still not a straightforward process. Understanding the evolution of minority rights in both the African and European contexts is crucial to fully comprehending the issue of minority rights and how it somewhat differs from the African to the European context. This paper reviews the historical examination of the evolution of minority rights and presents a comparison of the differences in the way minority rights is understood and dealt with in the African and European contexts.