UNITED NATIONS • Forum on Minority Issues A. National, regional and local governments 12. Governments should acknowledge the particular challenges and barriers faced by minority women. They should ensure that domestic legislation relevant to anti-discrimination, equality, the rights of women and minority rights is adequate to guarantee the protection of minority women and, where appropriate, that it take explicitly into account the rights of minority women and the multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination to which they may be subjected. 13. Governments should review, reform as appropriate and make transparent any legislation, policy or practice that has a disproportionately negative effect on women from particular minority groups, for example, by restricting their access to public and work places, employment opportunities and educational institutions. 14. In addition to adopting domestic legislation preventing direct and indirect discrimination against minority women and girls, Governments should ensure the implementation of such legislation and that adequate penalties exist for acts of discrimination. 15. Minority women’s access to justice should be evaluated and barriers identified. Governments should consider appropriate safeguards, including those aimed at guaranteeing the right of minority women and girls to non-discrimination and their equal access to remedies in cases of violation of their rights. The justice system, in particular at the local level, should be equipped to help ensure that minority women have full and effective access to justice and comprehensive reparation. For example, legal aid could be targeted at and made more easily accessible to women from minority groups, including by means of outreach and the provision of translation services in minority languages. 16. Governments should take all necessary measures to ensure protection of minority women’s rights defenders and minority women who fulfil leadership roles and may be at greater risk of violence. 17. Governments should recognize the need for special measures, policies and programmes in order to address entrenched situations of discrimination and exclusion experienced by certain women belonging to national or ethnic, religious and linguistic minorities. They should ensure that policies equally benefit minority women by adopting targeted approaches devised to eliminate gaps and inequality between them and others in society. Such measures should be time-bound, monitored and evaluated to assess their impact on the situation of disadvantaged minority women and girls. 18. Accurate data disaggregated by ethnicity, gender, nationality, religion and language allows for a greater understanding of the issues affecting minority women and their circumstances, including their socio-economic situations, and enable targeted interventions to be considered. A crucial prerequisite for this data collection 48 Compilation of Recommendations of the First Four Sessions 2008 to 2011