UNITED NATIONS • Forum on Minority Issues minorities, governments and others. They are based on international human rights norms and offer action-oriented solutions of practical value to all stakeholders and that can be applied to a variety of national or minority specific contexts. The Forum on Minority Issues is an essential component of efforts by the United Nations to promote implementation of the Declaration on Minorities, the 20th anniversary of which is celebrated in 2012. In its first four meetings the Forum has addressed crucial minority issues that have frequently be raised as concerns by minorities themselves as well as other stakeholders and which are interconnected and overlapping in nature: minorities and the right to education, minorities and effective political participation, minorities and effective participation in economic life, and guaranteeing the rights of minority women and girls. The recommendations of the Forum on these issues are reflected in the following sections. viii Compilation of Recommendations of the First Four Sessions 2008 to 2011