Ethnic identity: the cause of

joyfulness or sorrow.

Student: Fiordilino Milena.

Teacher: Saubidet Stella.

Subject: Language and Written Expression IV.

Institution: I.S.F.D. N41.

INTRODUCTION
 Belonging to a social group may have positive or negative results. In a group, its
members share similar characteristics, preferences, interests and even cultural ties.
There is a deep feeling of unity and familiarity that can only be constructed among
those members. However, there have always been people who look at these groups
and laugh in their faces because of several motives: colour of their skin, clothes they
wear, music they listen, political interests, culture they belong to, languages they
speak, among many others. Throughout history, inequality has been strongly
ingrained in peoples soul hurting the otherness without even caring about the
negative impact on their subjectivity. Those whose rights have been violated feel a
strong sense of resentment. Consequently, the United Nations adopted a document
that became the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the most universal human
rights document in operation. Its thirty articles ensure that everyone has to be treated
equally and fairly in every nation of every continent. However, even though laws
ensure that ethnic groups have to be treated with respect and give emphasis on
fundamental rights that protect them, everyday events show that these minorities still
suffer from discrimination.

Ethnicity is the state of belonging to a social group that has a common national or
cultural tradition and rights that defend its members from any kind of violence. An
individual learns a language, social norms, customs and assimilates into a culture to
belong to an ethnic group in a specific area. In other words, there are several
characteristics shared by its members:
a common proper name;
common religion;
customs and language;
community with the same interests and feelings;
a shared sense of common origins or ancestry;
a common geographic origin.
Members of ethnic minorities are entitled to the realization of all human rights and
fundamental freedoms on equal terms with others in society, without discrimination
of any kind.
The human rights of ethnic minorities are explicitly set out in the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights promoted in 1948, the International Covenants,
the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, the
Convention on the Rights of the Child, the Declaration on the Rights of
Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious or Linguistic Minorities and
other widely adhered to international human rights treaties and Declarations.
(PDHRE)
The following articles belong to the universal declaration of human rights:
- All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights (...). (Article
1).
- Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms (...), without distinction of
any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other
 opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status (...)country or
territory to which a person belongs (...). (Article 2).
- Everyone has the right to recognition everywhere as a person before the
law. (Article 6).
- All are equal before the law and are entitled without any discrimination to
equal protection of the law. All are entitled to equal protection against any
discrimination in violation of this Declaration and against any incitement to
such discrimination. (Article 7).
- Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion (...)
(Article 18).
These human rights exalt the fundamental concepts of equality, freedom, justice and
peace in the world. Nevertheless, the actual situation in the world is far distant from
the ideals envisioned in the Declaration.

Ethnic minorities have been protected from 1948; however, they are still the focus
of discrimination throughout the world. One person tends to be treated less
favourably than others in a foreign country . A typical example of this would be
stopping a member of an ethnic minority on suspicion of committing an offence
solely or mainly because they are a member of that ethnic minority.
In most European countries, new migrants often work in insecure or even
exploitative conditions, and in low-paid jobs that the native-born population
may deem too lowly to perform(...). We do know that in the UK there is a 12%
employment gap between white British and ethnic minority people. This
amounts to around 500,000 missing workers in the UK labour market.
Figures from the Department for Work and Pensions show a jobless rate of
45% in 2013 for young black, Pakistani and Bangladeshi workers, with a
figure of 19% for white people. (Khan O., 2015, Ethnic inequality is
widespread and a drag on the global economy, The Guardian).
This shows that there is a link between ethnicity and occupation, with certain jobs not
only viewed as low status, but also lower paid and with fewer rewards. Similarly,
even though America is known as nation of immigrants or the melting-pot, minority
groups are not treated equally. There is often direct or indirect discrimination against
immigrants. Direct discrimination occurs if a person or a group is treated
unfavourably because of their immigrant background. The second refers to a
situation where equal treatment has the effect of disadvantaging immigrants. One
example is a situation where a test asks for very specific knowledge about the host
country that immigrants will typically not have, even though such knowledge is not
associated with the job. Hence, discrimination violates the fundamental human right
of equal treatment which is established, among others, by the Universal Declaration
of Human Rights in 1948.

Many gifted singers make use of their incredible skills to compose songs with
implicit messages connected to atrocious things people have to face as a result of
discrimination. One singer is Bono with the song Where the streets have no names.
This shows the cruel situation in Ireland and Northern Ireland where cities are
divided between poor and rich citizens, Catholics and Protestants, ethnic minority
groups, among others. Its implicit message here is that anyone can guess peoples
religion, wealth and beliefs by knowing which street they live on. Another singer is
Gordon Matthew Thomas Sumner known as Sting who wrote They dance Alone in
the 1980s. This song makes reference to the Pinochet regime that took place in
Chile. General Pinochet seized power in 1973, in a bloody military coup that followed
many months of political unrest and economic chaos. During his rule, more than
3,200 Pinochet opponents were executed, disappeared, detained, tortured or exiled.
The press was censored, and labor strikes and unions were banned. The song
describes the poor women dancing alone in front of government buildings with
pictures of their husbands, fathers, brothers or sons. Another of his songs is called
An englishman in New York written with the intention of emphasizing that minority
groups suffer from discrimination in a foreign country. As the song shows Im an
alien, Im a legal alien; It takes a man to suffer ignorance and smile; among other
phrases. Clearly, singers can express what they think about certain unfair topics
through their musical compositions.

CONCLUSION

In 1948, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights were promoted in order to

give exploited people a horizon of hope in such a cruel world. Many things have
changed, many are still changing, and there have been great improvements in
promoting respect for peoples rights and freedoms. Nevertheless, several minority
groups are still discriminated for their cultures and characteristics that differentiate
them from the rest of the citizens who live in a particular nation. Some people
consider these characteristics are synonyms of inferiority, incapacity, subordinacy,
dependence, imperfection, poverty, etc. that lead them to take advantages of their
superior position. This results, for instance, in labour exploitation. The declaration of
the rights of persons belonging to national or ethnic, religious and linguistic minorities
expresses in its first two articles the following:
States shall protect the existence and the national or ethnic, cultural, religious
and linguistic identity of minorities within their respective territories and shall
encourage conditions for the promotion of that identity(...) Persons belonging
to national or ethnic, religious and linguistic minorities( ) have the right to
enjoy their own culture, to profess and practise their own religion, and to use
their own language, in private and in public, freely and without interference or
any form of discrimination.... (Articles 1, 2)
Eventually, the epilogue of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights is a good start
to reflect on the way in which humanity can contribute in order to make this world a
better place to live: The time is now for all men and women to work shoulder to
shoulder for peace and freedom and against racial, religious and ethnic hatred. The
prize is a world of peace and sanity where the pursuit of happiness is possible.
(UDHR)

BIBLIOGRAPHY
- Human Rights and Ethnicity, The People's Movement for Human Rights
Education, New York, https://www.pdhre.org/rights/minorities.html.
- Universal Declaration of Human Rights, UN, 1948.
- Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic,
Religious and Linguistic Minorities, UN, 1992.
http://www.ohchr.org/EN/ProfessionalInterest/Pages/Minorities.aspx
- Khan O., 2015, Ethnic inequality is widespread and a drag on the global
economy, The Guardian. Available on: https://www.theguardian.com/public-
leaders-network/2015/jan/20/ethnic-inequality-widespread-global-economy
- Sting, Englishman in New York, ...Nothing Like The Sun, 1987.
- Sting, They dance alone, ...Nothing Like The Sun, 1987.
- U2, Where the streets have no names, The Joshua Tree, 1987.