The representation of minorities and indigenous people in parliament: a global overview

The Global overview contains an analysis of responses to a questionnaire sent to all national parliaments in 2009. The aim of the survey was to gain a better understanding of the nature of parliamentary inclusion of minorities and indigenous peoples and to provide a global overview of the state of minority representation in national legislatures. While some of the problems that individual parliaments face might be country-specific, there are a significant number of topics and themes that appear recurrent in different national contexts. Some common challenges arise with respect to issues of minority recognition and legal status, positive electoral measures, parliamentary procedures for addressing minority issues, policy accommodation of minority and indigenous groups, issues of media and civil society awareness.