The compilation brings together international and regional legal instruments and case-law addressing the rights of minorities and indigenous peoples.

A Compilation of International and Regional Instruments and Case-Law on Minorities and Indigenous Peoples’ Rights (Brill Nijhoff | 2025–) is the result of several years of work by visiting Researcher Medy Dervovic from the Arctic Centre and Professor Gudmundur Alfredsson, Senior Associate at the Stefansson Arctic Institute. Dervovic also acts as Editor-in-Chief of the compilation. The compilation has been sponsored by the Stefansson Arctic Institute based in Akureyri, Iceland.

On the occasion of the publication of Volume I, Medy Dervovic explains what this work is about and why it is important.

Medy Dervovic is the Editor-in-Chief of the recently published compilation.

“This compilation is intended as an essential resource for all those working to implement and defend the rights of minorities and indigenous peoples, i.e., the groups themselves and individuals belonging to them, legal practitioners, human rights defenders, government officials, non-governmental organizations, academics, and university students,” says Dervovic.

According to him, the work is “comprehensive but not exhaustive”. The compilation covers a wide range of topics, such as civil, cultural, economic, political, social, and solidarity rights, as well as religious and linguistic rights, land ownership, natural resources, climate change, and many others. The compilation is divided into 4 volumes:

– Volume I – International Instruments
– Volume II – Regional Instruments
– Volume III – International Case-Law
– Volume IV – Regional Case-Law

Raising awareness and saving time

According to Dervovic, compilations are particularly useful tools in legal studies, especially in complex and highly fragmented fields of law. In the context of minorities and indigenous peoples’ rights, a compilation primarily serves three purposes.

First, it raises awareness about the situations faced by minorities and indigenous peoples around the world.

Secondly, it enables better understanding of minorities and indigenous peoples’ rights. Each volume of the compilation contains a detailed table of contents and a user-friendly index. This enables readers to gain a better understanding of the rights of minorities and indigenous peoples, locate specific issues, and track legal developments within a single institution or across several institutions.

And finally, compilations are time saving. “All instruments and case-law collected are available on the official websites of institutions that have adopted them. However, navigation and search engines on these websites are not always intuitive or streamlined and going through each website is incredibly time-consuming. Moreover, some documents are only available as scanned documents for which keyword searches do not yield any results. Fortunately, years of compiling efforts make these materials more accessible in a fraction of the time someone would need to find applicable laws and previous cases about a given topic,” Dervovic explains.

A Compilation of International and Regional Instruments and Case-Law on Minorities and Indigenous Peoples’ Rights is available in print only. The four volumes are gradually being released: Volume I was published in December 2025, Volume II is scheduled for June 2026, and Volumes III and IV in 2027.

Brill, the publisher, is currently preparing a Major Reference Work online portal for the compilation, allowing for updates and an enhanced user experience.

More information about the compilation: https://brill.com/CMIP

You can purchase your own copies or request your closest library to acquire them:

– Volume I (Part 1): https://brill.com/display/title/68277
– Volume I (Part 2): https://brill.com/display/title/72296