A/52/498 English Page 2 I. INTRODUCTION 1. The General Assembly, at its fifty-first session, adopted resolution 51/91 of 12 December 1996 on effective promotion of the Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities, by which the Assembly, inter alia, called upon the Secretary-General to make available, at the request of Governments concerned, qualified expertise on minority issues; requested the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to continue to improve the coordination and cooperation of United Nations programmes and agencies which deal with minority issues; urged treaty bodies to give due regard to the promotion and protection of the rights of persons belonging to minorities; called upon States to include in their reports to treaty bodies information on measures taken for the promotion and protection of the rights of persons belonging to minorities; called upon all special representatives, special rapporteurs and working groups of the Commission on Human Rights to continue to give attention to situations involving minorities. 2. The Assembly also requested the Secretary-General to report to it at its fifty-second session on the implementation of resolution 51/91 under the item entitled "Human rights questions". 3. Information was provided on activities of advisory services and technical cooperation in regard to minority issues and the prevention and resolution of disputes; activities of the High Commissioner within the framework of inter-agency cooperation in the field of minority protection; measures taken by States to protect and promote the rights of minorities as contained in their reports to treaty bodies; reference to the observance of the rights of persons belonging to minorities in the concluding observations of treaty bodies; minority issues in reports of the relevant special rapporteurs, special representatives and working groups of the Commission on Human Rights. 4. The present report is submitted to the General Assembly in pursuance of resolution 51/91. II. PROVISION OF QUALIFIED EXPERTISE ON MINORITY ISSUES 5. Qualified expertise on minority issues is provided within the framework of the technical cooperation programme in the field of human rights. The programme, which is implemented under the leadership of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, aims to assist Governments, at their request, in incorporating international human rights standards in national laws, policies and practices, and in building national capacity and regional structures for the promotion and protection of all human rights, democracy and the rule of law. Generally, assistance may take the form of expertise, advisory services, institution-building, training courses, workshops and seminars, fellowships, grants and the provision of information and documentation. 6. During the period under review, technical cooperation projects in the context of minority issues have essentially been limited to the organization of training workshops and the development of training manuals. More specifically, /...