UNITED NATIONS • Forum on Minority Issues Contents Foreword by Navi Pillay – United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.................................iii Preface by Gay McDougall – former UN Independent Expert on minority issues....................................................v Introduction to the Forum on Minority Issues........................vii I. Minorities and the right to education: Recommendations of the first session of the Forum on Minority Issues ............................................3 II. Minorities and effective political participation: Recommendations of the second Forum on Minority Issues................................................... 15 III. Minorities and effective participation in economic life: Recommendations of the third Forum on Minority Issues .............................27 IV. Guaranteeing the rights of minority women and girls: Recommendations of the fourth Forum on Minority Issues ........................45 Annex I. United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities ....................................67 Compilation of Recommendations of the First Four Sessions 2008 to 2011 i