The University of Groningen conducts research into the cultural rights of minorities and indigenous peoples

How can the cultural rights of minorities and indigenous peoples be made more accessible to minority groups facing threats to their culture?

The SHIELD M[e] project, led by Vanessa Tünsmeyer, will investigate this with the support of an Open Competition XS grant from the research funding body NWO.

Pilot study in northern South Africa

In this pilot study, Tünsmeyer is collaborating with South African researcher Fezeka Ntsanwisi and a traditional community in the Limpopo region, in northern South Africa, to investigate what protection is offered by local, regional and international legislation in light of increasing mining activities in the region.

Tünsmeyer: “Cultural rights are protected under international law, as well as under regional legislation of the African Union and South African law. However, governments also have a considerable margin of discretion to limit cultural rights. In this project, we are examining these limitations from the perspective of the minority.”

The aim of the research is to place the perspective of minorities at the centre of research into international human rights, in particular cultural rights.

Vanessa Tünsmeyer is an assistant professor at the Faculty of Law and one of the academic co-leads of the Agricola Research Group on Conflict, Environment and Society