Law and Traditions in Africa
DISCRIMINATION ON ETHNIC GROUNDS: A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS Introduction
Many societies all over the world have had to grapple with the problem of inter-group relations. Such concepts as apartheid, discrimination, prejudice, pogrom, ethnicity, hatred, fanaticism, intolerance, war and even terrorism are terms in common use all over the world. It is manifest that many societies tend to stratify themselves based on the strength of race or tribe. Ethnic discrimination represents one of the problems of inter-group relations in any society. As mentioned in the preceding chapters, this is a situation which people of the minority ethnic groups are given unfair or unequal treatment simply because they are from a different ethnic group. It could be referred to as tribalism, which emanates from the ethnocentric feeling of the dominant group. When there is feeling of superiority by one ethnic group, the tendency is to look at the other ethnic groups with contempt. Ethnicity, thus, is a polythetic concept that referrers to several attributes which include inter-alia the name of a group, a distinctive language, religion, geographical territory, values and norms and history. This has however not always been the case.
Even in the developed worlds, while the categorization based on race seems more pronounced, thereunder lays the ghost of ethnicity, which for most of the time rears its ugly head in the most unfortunate of circumstances. The United States, even with its self-claimed impeccable record on human rights has had very many cases of ethnic profiling, most of the time hidden under the ever controversial shield of national security. Even Biblically, the Jews, ‘the chosen people of God’ divided themselves into Jews and Gentiles, thus labeling the former an inferior party.
This chapter will dwell on having an analysis of different legal and territorial jurisdictions by critically reviewing the laws governing ethnic relations and also making an attempt to assess their
Many societies all over the world have had to grapple with the problem of inter-group relations. Such concepts as apartheid, discrimination, prejudice, pogrom, ethnicity, hatred, fanaticism, intolerance, war and even terrorism are terms in common use all over the world. It is manifest that many societies tend to stratify themselves based on the strength of race or tribe. Ethnic discrimination represents one of the problems of inter-group relations in any society. As mentioned in the preceding chapters, this is a situation which people of the minority ethnic groups are given unfair or unequal treatment simply because they are from a different ethnic group. It could be referred to as tribalism, which emanates from the ethnocentric feeling of the dominant group. When there is feeling of superiority by one ethnic group, the tendency is to look at the other ethnic groups with contempt. Ethnicity, thus, is a polythetic concept that referrers to several attributes which include inter-alia the name of a group, a distinctive language, religion, geographical territory, values and norms and history. This has however not always been the case.
Even in the developed worlds, while the categorization based on race seems more pronounced, thereunder lays the ghost of ethnicity, which for most of the time rears its ugly head in the most unfortunate of circumstances. The United States, even with its self-claimed impeccable record on human rights has had very many cases of ethnic profiling, most of the time hidden under the ever controversial shield of national security. Even Biblically, the Jews, ‘the chosen people of God’ divided themselves into Jews and Gentiles, thus labeling the former an inferior party.
This chapter will dwell on having an analysis of different legal and territorial jurisdictions by critically reviewing the laws governing ethnic relations and also making an attempt to assess their