III • Minorities and effective participation in economic life III. Minorities and effective participation in economic life: RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE THIRD SESSION OF THE FORUM ON MINORITY ISSUES I. INTRODUCTION 1. Given the pivotal nature of economic rights to the full inclusion of minority communities, at its third session, the Forum on Minority Issues focused on the topic of minorities and effective participation in economic life. The Chairperson of the Forum was Professor Gita Sen. The work of the Forum was guided by the independent expert on minority issues, Gay McDougall. The participants, of whom there were more than 500, included representatives of Governments, treaty bodies, United Nations specialized agencies, regional intergovernmental bodies and civil society. Importantly, the participants included representatives of minority communities from all regions of the world. 2. In accordance with Human Rights Council resolutions 6/15 and also with reference to resolution 13/12 (para. 3), the Forum made thematic recommendations that seek to be action-oriented and of practical value to all stakeholders, to enable them to make informed choices when designing legislation and policies aimed at combating the economic exclusion of minority communities. 3. The recommendations are based on international human rights norms. In addition to the Declaration on the Rights of Minorities and the clarifications provided in the commentary thereto, the recommendations draw upon other relevant international human rights standards, including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination and the jurisprudence and general comments of the Human Compilation of Recommendations of the First Four Sessions 2008 to 2011 27 ECONOMIC LIFE (Held on 14 and 15 December 2010 in Geneva, Switzerland) Chaired by Professor Gita Sen