Constitutional Protection of Ethnic Minority Rights in Timor-Leste: Compliance with the UN Declaration on Minorities
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.59011/vjlaws.5.3.2026.553-562Keywords:
Protection, Rights of Ethnic Minorities, UN DeclarationAbstract
This aims to determine and explain to what extent the protection of ethnic minority rights in the Constitution of Timor Leste (2002) is in accordance with or not in accordance with the principles set out in the UN Declaration on the Rights of Minorities (1992). This type of research uses normative law research. The approach method in this research is the statute approach. The data obtained in this study were analyzed using qualitative methods. Based on the results of the research, the author can conclude that the 2002 Constitution of Timor Leste regulates the protection of the rights of ethnic minorities by prohibiting discrimination on the basis of race, ethnicity and language in Article 13 (a) and requires the state to build a society that upholds respect and cooperation. The Constitution also recognizes the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which implicitly protects the rights of minority groups, and adopts a civil law system that includes prosecution of discriminatory acts through the Criminal Code. The protection of ethnic minority rights in the Constitution of Timor Leste (2002) is generally in accordance with the principles set out in the UN Declaration on the Rights of Minorities (1992), which emphasizes the right of minorities to enjoy their culture, religion, language individually and collectively without discrimination and without detriment for the exercise of those rights. Although the Constitution of Timor-Leste does not specifically refer to the 1992 UN Declaration, the same spirit of protection of diversity and equality is reflected in the country’s constitution.
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