‘Challenges and the Future of Minority and Indigenous Rights Protection’ Conference

University of Stirling, Scotland, 05/03/25-07/03/25

What does the future of justice look like for communities whose rights have been ignored, and what approaches can we facilitate to make this future a better place?From the 5th – 7th March, at the University of Stirling in Scotland, this question lingered as each keynote speakers and presenters shared their research and insights. The need to ‘fundamentally rethink’ our approaches to the rights of indigenous peoples and ethnic, religious, and linguistic minorities emerged as a central theme. Academics, NGOs, grassroots initiatives, and governments alike need to do better in recognising and protecting these rights.

Bringing Indigenous and Minority rights together under one conference quickly proved to be both necessary and rational. International Human Rights Law (IHRL) affects both groups in similar ways, yet existing legal instruments – including the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), and the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) – often fail to respond to the fluidity of today’s geopolitical climate. With mounting threats from climate change and political repression, alongside the lasting impacts of armed conflict, the need for stronger legal protections, environmental justice, and greater accountability has never been more urgent.

In this blog, I reflect chronologically on the ‘Challenges and the Future of Minority and Indigenous Rights Protection’ conference, examining the key themes and complex challenges discussed, and considering what steps are needed to strengthen legal protections and drive meaningful change.

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Day 1, Morning: Prof. Joshua Castellino & Environmental Justice

Keynote Speaker: Professor Joshua Castellino

The conference began with a gripping keynote by Prof. Castellino (Minority Rights Group Intl.), which spotlighted the enduring impact of colonialism, where racial superiority justified systemic inequalities that persist across the globe today. Yet efforts to overcome this legacy through decolonisation has often led to privatisation, rather than real change. While there have been some human rights advancements in areas such as abortion and genocide prevention, violations remain widespread, with minorities and Indigenous peoples disproportionately affected by climate change and economic equality. Castellino called for a shift from a victim-based to a benefit-based model, exposing how OECD corporations unjustly enriched themselves through historical exploitation in Africa and South America.

This should come in the form of reparations, wealth redistribution, and the re-examination of governance models beyond sovereign states.Looking ahead, Castellino advocated for building alliances across social movements, legitimising local solutions, recognising Indigenous knowledge, and challenging colonial systems to foster empathy, equity, and global solidarity.

Rights & Environmental Justice

The first session of the conference examined themes regarding environmental justice and climate change, and the impact these themes currently exert on to Indigenous peoples and minorities. In particular, the direct impact of plastic on indigenous communities who rely on traditional livelihoods was explored by Dr. Austin Nwafor, who called for Indigenous peoples to be engaged with the creation of a Global Plastic Treaty (GPT) due to a lack of legal framework to address such challenges.

Following Dr. Nwafor, both Ruona Qi and Nelson Ologhadien addressed the vulnerability of native Mongolian herders in Inner Mongolia, China, and African Indigenous peoples in Nigeria respectively. In these case studies, an underlying theme emerged of states failing to protect Indigenous livelihoods from the threats of climate change was present. However, Ologhadien specifically called for ‘energy justice’ for African Indigenous peoples due to the impact of fossil fuels and renewable energy projects on indigenous lands, and the need for a balance between the future of renewables and respecting land rights in national and international legal frameworks.

The work of Dr. Karolina Prażmowska-Marcinowska concluded this session by underlying the importance of holding states accountable for climate change, highlighting how current human rights mechanisms fail to reflect indigenous peoples and must consider historical injustices faced by these communities.

Day 1, Afternoon: Indigenous Rights, Legal Pluralism, & State Accountability

Conflict & State Accountability

The importance of legal frameworks, state accountability, and the role of international mechanisms for minority and Indigenous communities cannot be understated, and this was reflected in the late-morning session focusing on the Karen in Burma, the Nubians in Kenya, and the effect of the arms trade on indigenous peoples in Asia.

Dr. Soe Win began by outlining the Myanmar-Karen conflict, rooted in British colonialism which later influenced ethnic tensions. In the post-colonial era, the denial of a sovereign state for the Karen people demonstrates a denial of self-determination and repression of a minority seeking to be recognised on a world scale as an independent people. More often than not, we witness in many states across the globe the denial of states in the existence of their minorities and Indigenous peoples, and the rights attached to these peoples.

This followed on to the work of Dr. Judith Oloo, focusing on the dilemma of the Nubian community in Kenya. Their case study was similarly rooted in historical issues of British colonialism, yet in this instance, the Nubians were denied Kenyan citizenship, leading to an identity crisis which rendered them stateless and prevented their access to basic services, such as education and health. Despite legal rulings against the Kenyan government, non-compliance persists. Dr. Oloo concluded by emphasising the importance of international and regional mechanisms, such as the African Union (AU), but real progress depends on the political will and the state’s independent commitments to human rights.

The afternoon’s first session was concluded with Dr. Narissa Ramsundar’s examination of the role of arms sales in fuelling conflicts and violating the rights of indigenous and minority groups in Asia. In her work, she discussed how arms sales indirectly support human rights violations and conflict. Especially in today’s current geopolitical climate, we see funds diverted from human development to military spending. Through the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs), she stressed that businesses and states have a responsibility to ensure due diligence in arms transfers, assessing the risk of human rights violations. Dr. Ramsundar also addressed the arms trade treaty and legislation from countries like France, Germany, and Japan, calling for greater accountability in monitoring arms trade, particularly in conflict zones where indigenous communities are at risk.

Legal Pluralism & International Norms

The afternoon sessions deepened the discussion on legal frameworks. Dr. Elisa Ruozzi explored the Inter-American human rights system, questioning how broad, systemic reparations for Indigenous communities can realistically fulfil economic, social, and cultural rights beyond symbolic measures. This theme of inadequate legal structures was picked up by Slava Balan, who compellingly argued for a new Draft Global Convention on the Rights of Minorities. He highlighted that the current fragmented system fails to prevent the violent conflicts and mass displacement we see today, underscoring that robust minority rights are a prerequisite for peace.

Further emphasising the gap between legal recognition and reality, Lia O’Broin discussed the right of Indigenous Peoples to maintain their own juridical systems. She argued that revitalising these systems is a form of collective reparation and empowerment, yet their implementation is often constrained by the requirement to conform to state standards, preventing true jurisdictional equality.

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Day 2: Self Determination, Culture, and Closing Reflections

The Fight for Self Determination

The second day opened with a powerful keynote from Professor Angela O’Hagan, who grounded the conference’s themes in the Scottish context, highlighting initiatives supporting Indigenous communities and exposing barriers to rights in healthcare and housing. Her focus on community-led justice set the stage for a profound session on self-determination.

Dr. Maureen N. Eke delivered a sobering account of the struggle for Biafra, connecting historical mass atrocities to ongoing violence and the profound betrayal felt by the continued absence of truth and reconciliation.

Similarly, Awring Shaways detailed the systemic marginalisation of the Kurdish people in Iraq, where geopolitical interests and denial of full citizenship rights continue to undermine their aspirations, despite a clear vote for statehood. The session was a stark reminder that the right to self-determination remains a live and often violently contested issue.

Cultural Heritage and Identity Under Threat

A recurring theme throughout the conference was the deliberate attack on cultural and linguistic identity as a tool of oppression. This was starkly illustrated in a session on cultural heritage. Dr. Erika De Vivo discussed the ongoing fight for the repatriation of Sámi cultural artifacts, a crucial step in healing the cultural violence of colonisation.

Meanwhile, Iva Divkovic exposed the ‘soft erasure’ of the Macedonian minority in Bulgaria, where EU structures have proven ineffective in challenging state-driven denial of existence.

Most starkly, Dr. Deniz Arbet Nejbir presented a compelling case for labelling Turkey’s century-long suppression of the Kurdish language as a form of linguistic genocide, a systematic policy aimed at annihilating a core component of human identity.

Technology, Spirituality, and Community Led Futures

The final sessions looked to both future challenges and profound, timeless sources of resilience. Dr. Roberta Medda-Windischer warned that artificial intelligence, if not carefully designed with human rights at its core, risks amplifying existing biases and further marginalising minority communities. In contrast, Dr. Piergiuseppe Parisi shared how Colombia’s Nasa people use spirituality as a form of protection amidst conflict, arguing that international law must learn to recognise spiritual and cultural harm, not just physical violence.

The conference concluded with a powerful dinner keynote from Davie Donaldson, who championed the decentralisation of resources to strengthen community voices. His message was a perfect summation of the week’s core imperative: that real change must be community-led, rooted in the direct transfer of power and resources to those most affected.

A special session on Land Rights the following day reinforced this, highlighting that for Indigenous and minority communities, land security is the non-negotiable cornerstone of justice, cultural survival, and identity. The discussions at Stirling made it abundantly clear that the future of justice depends on our collective ability to move beyond recognising rights on paper, and towards enabling their realisation in practice, led by the communities themselves.

This blog post reflects on the author's experience at the conference, which was sponsored by Incomindios UK. Incomindios UK works to support the rights and representation of Indigenous peoples worldwide.

Archie Wood