Group rights in the name of equality

More recently though group rights are seen as an instrument to actively facilitate the realisation of equality.

This is where the group is regarded as being in a situation such that it needs special protective rights if its members are to enjoy human rights on terms equal with the majority of the population. Examples of such groups may include indigenous peoples, ethnic minorities, women, children and the disabled. This discourse may takes place in the context of negative and positive rights in that some commentators and policy makers conceptualise equality as not only a negative right, in the sense of ensuring freedom from discrimination, but also a positive right, in that the realisation of equality requires action by others or the state. In this respect group rights may aim to ensure equal opportunity and/or attempt to actively redress inequality.