UNITED NATIONS • Forum on Minority Issues 4. Trade unions 98. Trade unions should explore the situation of minority women and extend membership and institutional, legal and advocacy support to informal economic sectors where minority women are overrepresented. They should inform minority women about their activities in the relevant minority languages and build their capacity to defend their labour rights. 99. Trade unions should also aim to secure minority women’s active involvement in union decision-making and in the development and implementation of policies, plans of action and equality initiatives. In their efforts to address the gender pay gap, they should pay particular attention to the situation of minority women, who frequently earn less than the average salary for women. 5. United Nations system and human rights mechanisms 100. Representatives of minority women’s groups should be invited by the United Nations and its specialized funds, agencies and programmes to provide information on aspects of economic, social and cultural participation that are priority concerns for them, including in the areas of poverty reduction, employment, social security, financial services, education and training and land rights protection. 101. United Nations human rights mechanisms should urge Governments to ensure the full and effective participation of minority women in all aspects of economic, social and cultural life and to involve representatives of minority women’s groups in the preparation of reports to be submitted to international supervisory bodies. To this end, they should seek information from Governments on domestic policies that show the extent to which minority women enjoy and exercise their rights equally and without discrimination, and have access to effective remedies when violations occur. 102. Development agencies should consider the inclusion of a focus on minorities in their projects on women’s social and economic empowerment. They should work in collaboration with Governments and civil society to identify barriers to development and to remedy the root causes of multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination faced by minority women that result in their economic and social exclusion. 103. Development agencies should ensure the full and effective participation of minority women in the design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of all programmes or projects that will affect minorities or the regions in which they live. They should seek the active participation of a minimum number of minority women in civil-society consultations relating to the country strategy development process. To this end, they may consider making information on their activities accessible to minority women by means of proactive outreach to minority women’s groups, communities and minority media outlets, holding meetings in regions where minorities predominantly live, and by facilitating attendance of minority women in such gatherings. 64 Compilation of Recommendations of the First Four Sessions 2008 to 2011