MRG is awarded the UNA Media Peace Prize for its work publishing reports exposing little-known minority rights issues. MRG’s report “The Armenians”, which focused on the ‘hidden holocaust’, and Armenian culture more generally, was a recipient.

MRG moved to its new office space in Brixton in the early 1990s, a community in South London known for its multiculturalism.

In 1994, MRG published Cutting the Rose: Female Genital Mutilation – The Practice and Its Prevention, a ground breaking report which raised world attention to the issue of female genital mutilation (FGM). It was written by Efua Dorkenoo, affectionately known as “Mama Efua”, and was selected by an international jury in 2002 as one of “Africa’s 100 Best Books of the 20th Century”. Dorkenoo went on to become a global expert on FGM and pioneered the global movement to end the practice and worked internationally for more than 30 years to see the campaign “move from a problem lacking in recognition to a key issue for governments around the world.”    

This report focused on the distinct and extraordinary diverse ethnic and cultural identities of Afro-Latin Americans that had received little official recognition up until this point. Despite being published in 1995, it remains ground breaking and relevant to this day.

MRG hires its first staff member out of Budapest, and its work based in Europe begins in earnest. This European sister office of MRG aims to promote and protect the rights of minorities and indigenous peoples across Europe and Central Asia.

MRG appoints first member of staff in Kampala, Uganda. MRG’s African office aims to strengthen the voices of marginalised people –  addressing capacity building of partners, mentoring, legal empowerment through paralegal training and national and regional advocacy.   Photo: Colleagues from Minority Rights Group Africa (MRGA) stand outside the office in Kampala, Uganda.

The first “Peoples Under Threat” analysis published in the first “State of the World’s Minorities and Indigenous Peoples Annual Report” which would become an ongoing and important project for MRG.

MRG lobbying contributes to the creation of the UN Working Group on Minorities, which would then transform into Minority Forum. The Forum meets annually, with two working days allocated to thematic discussions and consultations with regional groups.

The World Directory is established as on online database, allowing for more continuous updating and wider readership. The World Directory is now one of MRG’s most used resources.

MRG contributes particularly to the Asian Indigenous input as the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples is adopted. UNDRIP defines the individual and collective rights of Indigenous peoples, including their ownership rights to cultural expression, identity, language, employment, health and education .

The landmark Sejdic and Finci case was won at the European Court of Human Rights, with MRG representing Jakob Finci. The Court found that that applicants’ ineligibility to stand for election to the House of Peoples violated their rights.