A/HRC/37/26 OHCHR minorities fellowship programme, national civil society groups and youth minority organizations. OHCHR also delivered a workshop to the national human rights institutions, namely the Ombudsman Office and the Equality Council, and to the Constitutional Court. Over 25 participants took part in the workshops, engaging in very lively discussions over the international and national standards on minority rights and the recommendations arising from the visit of the Special Rapporteur on minority issues. 6. Over the years, United Nations human rights mechanisms have expressed their concerns about caste-based discrimination as a violation of human rights law and demonstrated how it intersects with a number of cross-cutting themes, thereby placing persons subjected to discrimination based on descent in a particularly marginalized position and in need of focused attention. In that context, as coordinator of the network on racial discrimination and protection of minorities, OHCHR has spearheaded the preparation of a guidance tool on descent-based discrimination, looking at key challenges and strategic approaches to combat caste-based and analogous forms of discrimination. The guidance tool sets out guiding principles and a framework for action with a view to ensuring a comprehensive and coherent approach in combating that type of discrimination. It was launched on 27 March 2017 in Nepal, bringing together 65 participants from Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Thailand. Participants in the launch included representatives of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the International Labour Organization (ILO), the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS, the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the United Nations Resident Coordinator’s office, as well as representatives of national human rights institutions and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) from Nepal and other countries of the region, the Special Rapporteur on minority issues, scholars, academics and parliamentarians. 7. The launch of the guidance tool offered participants the opportunity to discuss how United Nations country teams, national human rights institutions and civil society organizations would put it to good use, with a view to attaining several goals and, most importantly, to building strategic approaches to combating caste-based discrimination, while focusing on good practices and coordinating United Nations efforts to combat descent-based discrimination in country programmes, such as United Nations Development Assistance Frameworks and other joint country team plans and programmes. 8. The report of the Secretary-General on the effective promotion of the Declaration, on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities, submitted to the General Assembly in September 2017, contains further information on the work of the network and its members (A/72/219). III. Twenty-fifth anniversary of the Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities 9. The twenty-fifth anniversary of the Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities provided an opportunity for taking stock of the achievements and challenges still faced in the promotion and protection of minority rights throughout the world. During the anniversary, various stakeholders explored the way in which minority rights help to build cohesive societies, where the sense of inclusion and recognition of one’s language and culture were not the prerogative of the dominant ethnic, religious or linguistic group. It was stressed that inclusion and respect for minority rights were also key ingredients in preventing radicalization and violent extremism. 10. In the context of the anniversary, various events were organized to look into the most relevant contemporary and future challenges faced by minorities around the world. For example, at a side event in February 2017, participants focused on the relevance of a minority rights approach in efforts to combat intolerance, radicalization and violent extremism. In her remarks, the Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights recalled that in too many countries, the world was witnessing an upsurge in inter-ethnic tension, with 4