Conference on the Political Participation of Minorities and Marginalized Groups

How are members of marginalized groups making their voices heard in the design of constitutional solutions in the transition from conflict to stable democracies? What factors are promoting or hindering that effort and how can they be overcome? How is social media and international involvement impacting their efforts? What are some of the best practices of minority participation in securing constitutional protections through constitution building processes (CBPs)?

These, amongst many others, are some of the questions a multidisciplinary group of experts meeting in The Hague from 28-29 October sought to address. Participants were constitution building practitioners, academics researchers and representatives from some of International IDEA (IDEA)’s member states in the Netherlands, such as Mexico and Canada.

Group photo, ©IDEA, 2013

A collaborative initiative of IDEA‘s Constitution building Process (CBP) Programme and Democracy and Diversity Unit with support from the Government of Norway, the event aimed to explore, capture and share knowledge and experiences on these questions as well as create a common platform to encourage and facilitate on-going discussions on an issue  that is increasingly a defining feature of many contemporary CBPs.

Opening the event, IDEA’s Director of Global Programmes Kristen Sample highlighted the importance of giving voice to minorities and marginalized groups in CBPs, recognized some of the progress made in different contexts, while at the same time emphasizing that much remains to be done, especially in post conflict constitutional transitions.

Cross section of plenary, ©IDEA, 2013

In his key note address Ambassador Petter Wille Special Envoy on Minorities of the Royal Norwegian Government commended IDEA for organizing the event around an issue that is so topical especially in the context of increasing constitution building processes, particularly in post conflict settings.

L2R: Zaid Al Ali (IDEA), Petter Wille (Norway), Sumit Bisarya (IDEA), Carl. Sorderbergh (MRG) ©IDEA, 2013                                                                               

The event witnessed a high level of engagement not only from participants physically present but also from external participants following the discussions real time on social media, notably through the event’s twitter hash tag #MinorityConf

R2L: Walter Owuor (Kenya); Helena Bjuremalm (IDEA), Nivien Saleh (Thunderbird) Brendan Ballou (Stanford) ©IDEA, 2013       

Comparative global experience provided the basis for discussion and learning and will result in a report that summarizes key insights and policy recommendations on minorities and marginalized groups in constitution building processes which will be published for dissemination to the broader democracy building community.

©IDEA, 2013