INTERNATIONAL NORMS
AND STANDARDS RELATING TO DISABILITY
Part V. PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES AND MULTIPLE DISCRIMINATION
- RIGHTS OF SPECIAL GROUPS. 8/10  
7. Rights of Ethnic Minorities
Often, persons belonging to minority groups who are disabled are discriminated on the basis of their race or ethnicity as well as their disability.
In 1992, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities, and in 1995, a Working Group on Minorities was established.
Article 27 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights states that persons belonging to any kind of minority in any State shall not be denied any of their specific rights.
The Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action provides in section II, paragraph 19 that States are obliged to ensure that persons belonging to minority groups can effectively exercise all of their human rights and fundamental freedoms without any discrimination.
The Commitment 4 of the Copenhagen Declaration and Programme of Action provides that States undertake to promote and protect the rights of persons belonging to ethnic minorities.
The Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Racial Discrimination provides protection for persons with disabilities against discrimination based on their race. Racial discrimination is defined in the Convention as "any distinction, exclusion, restriction or preference based on race, colour, descent, national or ethnic origin, which has the purpose of nullifying or impairing the recognition, enjoyment or exercise, on an equal footing, of human rights and fundamental freedoms in the political, economic, social, cultural or any other filed of public life".
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