Natural resource development projects such as logging and dams, oil and mineral extraction and large-scale agriculture have been successful in generating vast revenues across the globe. But at what cost to minorities and indigenous peoples?In its flagship annual publication, State of the World's Minorities and Indigenous Peoples 2012, MRG documents hundreds of case studies about marginalized groups who have been adversely affected by exploitation of the resources found on, or under, their ancestral lands. It also considers land rights around the world.

In almost every country in the world, minorities and indigenous peoples suffer greater ill-health and receive poorer quality of care than other segments of the population. They die younger, face higher rates of disease and struggle more to access health services compared to the rest of the population. This year's edition of State of the World's Minorities and Indigenous Peoples presents a global picture of the health issues experienced by minorities and indegenous communities, features country profiles and case studies, and makes recommendations for addressing these key issues.

Across the world, minorities and indigenous peoples are disproportionately exposed to hatred. From intimidation and verbal abuse to targeted violence and mass killing, this hatred often reflects and reinforces existing patterns of exclusion. The impacts also extend beyond the immediate effects on individual victims to affect entire communities - in the process further marginalizing them from basic services, participation and other rights. This year's edition of State of the World's Minorities and Indigenous Peoples highlights how hate speech and hate crime, though frequently unreported or unacknowledged, continue to impact on every aspect of their lives. The volume also documents many of the initiatives being taken to promote positive change and the different ways that governments, civil society and communities can strengthen protections for minorities and indigenous peoples. An exploration of key issues such as hate crime and hate speech, as well as ways to counter their prevalence. The dynamics of targeted attacks and hate speech in conflict situations, as well as the particular vulnerability of minority and indigenous women. A global examination of the legal standards in the area of hate crime legislation. Interviews and case studies from minorities and indigenous communities, including examples of grassroots organizations working to improve their protection and representation. Overviews of the human rights context for minorities and indigenous peoples in every major world region. Peoples under Threat 2014 - MRG's unique statistical analysis and ranking of the vulnerability of minorities and indigenous peoples worldwide. An invaluable reference for policy makers, academics, journalists and everyone who is interested in the human rights situation of minorities and indigenous peoples around the world.

The unique cultures of minorities and indigenous peoples worldwide – spanning a wide variety of customs and practices – are under threat. This year’s edition of State of the World’s Minorities and Indigenous Peoples highlights the impact of land dispossession, forced assimilation and other forms of discrimination on the most fundamental aspects of their identity, including language, art, traditional knowledge and spirituality. But while the effects of this attrition can be devastating, minority and indigenous cultures have also been critical in strengthening communities and providing activists with a platform to fight for their rights. As this volume illustrates, ensuring that the cultural freedoms of minorities and indigenous peoples are protected is essential if their other rights are also to be respected.

Though the fifteen years of the Millennium Development Goals have seen some positive progress in areas such as health and education, minorities and indigenous peoples have often been excluded from these benefits. This short information pack, Minorities, Indigenous Peoples and the Post-2015 Framework, outlines the continued shortfalls affecting these communities and the opportunities for these disparities to be addressed through the forthcoming Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). As the publication argues, there must be greater attention to the specific needs of minority and indigenous communities, with a stronger focus on rights rather than targets, directed investment and fully disaggregated data. As inequalities in health, education, livelihoods and other areas are interconnected, there needs to be a systematic focus on minority and indigenous inequality across all sectors of development. Without a clear focus on discrimination, it is unlikely that their situation will soon improve. For these groups, the barriers to participation and service access often extend beyond resource limitations or weak governance. In this context, it is possible for countries to achieve rapid progress at a national level without any positive change for its most marginalized populations. However, there is also growing awareness of the contribution that minority and indigenous knowledge can play in environmental conservation, local economies and other priority areas of the SDGs. Ensuring greater equality for minorities and indigenous peoples will therefore not only benefit these communities, but also support the general progress of countries in their realization of more sustainable development outcomes.

In the year that saw the establishment of UN Women, the new United Nations entity for gender equality and women’s empowerment, minority and indigenous women continued to face violence, discrimination and marginalization, stemming both from their identity as women and as members of disadvantaged minority groups. In Latin America, despite the election of women as heads of state in several countries, African descendant and indigenous women remain virtually invisible in public and political life. They are also the population group that has borne the brunt of armed conflict in the region, subjected to rape and sexual violence. As elsewhere, they have little hope of redress against those who assaulted them. In Europe and Oceania, migrant women face economic and social marginalization, and are often unable to access support services because of their immigration status, leaving them trapped in abusive relationships. In 2010, women belonging to Muslim minorities in the global North choosing to wear the face veil also faced increasing pressure, with bans under discussion in many countries. In the Middle East and Africa, minority and indigenous women continue to be subjected to religious and customary legal systems that deny them their rights, while Iraqi refugee women (many of whom belong to religious minorities) elsewhere in the Middle East are increasingly vulnerable to trafficking and sexual exploitation. In Asia, sexual violence against women has again been used as a weapon against minority women, while land seizures are resulting in further economic marginalization of indigenous groups. This year’s edition of State of the World’s Minorities and Indigenous Peoples presents an overview of the situation of minority and indigenous women today, and includes: - Discussions of gender-based violence and armed conflict, including the violence that indigenous and minority women experience within their own communities, and the difficulties that they face in accessing justice and support from outside. - Consideration of the lack of progress made towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals for minority and indigenous women, with special focus on reproductive rights and maternal mortality. - Interviews and special reports on trafficking, intersectional discrimination, land seizures and women’s political representation. - Overviews of the human rights situation of minorities and indigenous peoples in every major world region. - ‘Peoples Under Threat 2011’ – MRG’s unique statistical analysis and ranking of countries. An invaluable reference for policy makers, academics, journalists and everyone who is interested in the human rights situation of minorities and indigenous peoples around the world.

In a context of rapid growth, an increasing proportion of minorities and indigenous peoples are now living in urban areas. But while they offer the possibility of greater freedoms, improved livelihoods and more equitable opportunities, cities often magnify existing patterns of discrimination and insecurity. This year's edition of State of the world's minorities and indigenous peoples explores the many challenges communities face in urban areas, from segregation and lack of services to targeted violence and exclusion. Nevertheless, the volume also includes numerous cases of minorities and indigenous peoples achieving better social and political outcomes for themselves in cities, as well as examples of the substantial benefits their inclusion can bring to the entire urban population.

Central America constitutes a fascinating case study of the challenges, opportunities and characteristics of the process of transformation in today’s global economy. Comprised of a politically diverse range of societies, this region has long been of interest to students of economic development and political change. The Handbook of Central American Governance aims to describe and explain the manifold processes that are taking place in Central America that are altering patterns of social, political and economic governance, with particular focus on the impact of globalization and democratization. Containing sections on topics such as state and democracy, key political and social actors, inequality and social policy and international relations, in addition to in-depth studies on five key countries (Costa Rica, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala), this text is composed of contributions from some of the leading scholars in the field. No other single volume studies the current characteristics of the region from a political, economic and social perspective or reviews recent research in such detail. As such, this handbook is of value to academics, students and researchers as well as to policy-makers and those with an interest in governance and political processes.

Within the Middle East there are a wide range of minority groups outside the mainstream religious and ethnic culture. This book provides a detailed examination of their rights as minorities within this region, and their changing status throughout the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. The rights of minorities in the Middle East are subject to a range of legal frameworks, having developed in part from Islamic law, and in recent years subject to international human rights law and institutional frameworks. The book examines the context in which minority rights operate within this conflicted region, investigating how minorities engage with (or are excluded from) various sites of power and how state practice in dealing with minorities (often ostensibly based on Islamic authority) intersects with and informs modern constitutionalism and international law. The book identifies who exactly can be classed as a minority group, analysing in detail the different religious and ethnic minorities across the region. The book also pays special attention to the plight of minorities who are spread between various states, often as the result of conflict. It assesses the applicable domestic legislative instruments within the three countries investigated as case studies: Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon, and highlights key domestic remedies that could serve as models for ensuring greater social cohesion and greater inclusion of minorities in the political life of these countries.

From the Batak people of Indonesia to the Karamojong in Africa, those who are least responsible for climate change are amongst the worst affected by it. They are often referred to in generic terms such as ‘the world’s poor’ or ‘vulnerable groups’ by international organizations, the media and the United Nations (UN). But these descriptions disguise the fact that specific communities – often indigenous and minority peoples – are more vulnerable than others. The impact of climate change for them is not at some undefined point in the future. It is already being felt to devastating effect. Lives have already been lost and communities are under threat: their unique linguistic and cultural traditions are at risk of disappearing off the face of the earth. In a statement to mark World Indigenous Day in August 2008, the UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, commented on the threat to indigenous languages, saying, ‘The loss of these languages would weaken not only the world’s cultural diversity but also our collective knowledge as a human race.’ But all too often the impacts of global warming on human diversity are overlooked. More column inches have been devoted to the polar bear’s plight than to the Inuit, the Arctic people who live in harmony with the wilderness. This briefing paper addresses this gap and brings together a rare collection of interviews with members of minority and indigenous groups from across the world. The people presented here include communities from the El Molo on the shores of Lake Turkana in Northern Kenya, to Sami reindeer herders in Finland, that live in remote regions of the world, who have very limited access to the media or to international organizations, and whose voices are rarely heard. These stories are being told in critical times when major international decisions on climate change are being taken. UN member states are currently negotiating a climate change deal that will set carbon emission and other targets for countries to achieve beyond 2012. This deal is expected to be reached at a state-level meeting in Copenhagen, Denmark, in December 2009. The penultimate state-level negotiations on this issue will take place in Poznan´, Poland, in December 2008. Yet these vital discussions will take place with little or no input from the communities most affected. As indigenous and minority communities are often politically and socially marginalized in their own countries, and in some cases discriminated against, they are unlikely to be consulted on any national or international level climate change strategies. But the message from the interviews presented here is clear: these communities want their voices heard. They want to be part of the climate change negotiations at the highest level. This briefing paper starts by outlining the key issues – including how communities are affected by climate change and their role at international level discussions. It presents the testimonies, and in conclusion, it considers the way forward for these communities and makes a series of recommendations on how governments and the UN can harness their distinct knowledge.