Did Nuba Mountians - South Kordofan .Pre- determination or self- determination By Salim A.Dekin

06:49 PM October, 23 2017

Sudanese Online
سليم عبد الرحمن دكين-UK
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One question, when it come to the representation of minorities, is whether a separate voters roll should be maintained for the minority to be able to elect their own candidate. Minority groups – whether based on language, ethnicity, religion or any other identity – coalesce either voluntarily, coercively or by some mixture of the two. Even if identities are historically crafted and fluid(Deborah Kaspin) on Malawi for a good example of identity formation affecting politics in a democratizing African state electoral politics may still allow for groups to define themselves and come together as political blocks voluntarily. This is self- determination where labels are nor imposed from the outside, rather they are adopted and claimed by individuals who see themselves as part of a collective group. The alternative is where political institutions pre- determinate who is a member of each group on the basis of criteria that range from being rational and legitimate to suspect and oppressive. Apartheid South Africa was an excellent example of the evils of a deeply flawed system of ethnic classification, that created a straitjacket through which oppression could be meted out. Unfortunately, many peace settlement rest upon a pre- determined view lf who, and how large, the various conflicting groups are, and this can create a rigid foundation which retards the growth of cross – cutting multi- ethnic, political movement and can exclude minorities that are not parry to the conflict. While elections votes ethnic affiliations, they do require parliamentarians to identify themselves as unionist protestant. Nationalist/ Catholic, or non, aligned. By their very definition, communal rolls, reserved seats and race- conscious districting rely upon a pre- determined assessment of what constitutes a group and how large such group are. New Zealand is more fixable in allowing votes to choose between being on the Maori or general roll, but there does exist in law the capacity to be challenged if one registers as a Maori and as yet rarely used. Judicial guidelines revolve around blood lines and one’s or Mario community attachment. Much criticism of power – sharing theories of democracy has revolved around the belief that such arrangements segment a society into fixed and pre- determination groups, which act as the pillars of an elite cartel that is more interested in self- enrichment than in representing their communities. The key conundrum inherent within separate communal votes rolls in how to choose which groups are awarded seats or are recognized as eligible for special treatment what are the building blocks for the power sharing settlement and who has or needs special rights؟ Do minority groups have to be small and oppressed, or can they be small and powerful؟ And what constitutes a clearly defined ethnic group to begin with؟ In Kosovo, the small Egyptian community made claims that they should be treated on a par with minority Serbs. In Denmark and Germany, the minority groups allotted special privileges are European national minorities, not the equally large immigrant communities from Africa, Asia or the Middle East. In Bosnia citizens from boxed into Bosnia. Croat or Serb identities that effectively deny the existence of smaller minority groups( such as Roma) or those Bosnians who are multi- ethnic or claim no ethnic identity at all, a too- rigid view of what constitutes an ethnicity may not gain purchase on the important political divisions in society. Second. Pre- determination within power- sharing settlement can exclude the weaker groups that are not parry to the chief conflict. Significantly, this means their voices are silenced precisely because they are not in the midst of the violence. The Batwa ethic group of Rwanda were overlooked and excluded in the seat allocation aspects of that country’s peace settlement because the conflict revolved around Hutus and Tutsis. In Sudan smaller minorities were excluded from the north – south comprehensive peace to allow agreement. Armenians and Marinates were side- lined in Cyprus because Turkish Cypriots refused to allow any other groups to acquire minority political status.

Spec list in Human rights and EU law
23/10/2017

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