A/HRC/37/26 violence.12 Over the past year, OHCHR has organized a series of meetings among faithbased and civil society actors, seeking to help them establish a respectful common ground on the essential principles of human dignity, equality and justice. In March 2017, they adopted the Beirut Declaration and its 18 commitments on “Faith for rights”. It aims to foster peaceful societies, which uphold diversity of belief, behaviour and thought as an intrinsic and inalienable right of all their people. 28. In May 2017, OHCHR organized a symposium for religious leaders and civil society representatives on the rights of women and children from the perspective of Islam in Dakar, which led to the creation of a national “Faith for rights” coalition in Senegal. In December 2017, together with Morocco, OHCHR organized a meeting for States, national human rights institutions, religious authorities and faith-based civil society actors in order to outline good practices and define modalities of support for existing and new “Faith for rights” projects. The Beirut Declaration and its 18 commitments illustrate how faith can stand up for rights more effectively so that both enhance each other. The commitments also include a pledge to stand up for the rights of all persons belonging to minorities and to defend their freedom of religion or belief and their right to participate equally and effectively in cultural, religious, social, economic and public life, as recognized by international human rights law. 29. United Nations treaty bodies have also raised issues related to religious diversity in their dialogues with States. For example, in its concluding observations of July 2017, the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women recommended that Nigeria “expedite the repeal or amendment of all discriminatory laws identified by the National Law Reform Commission following its comprehensive audit of discriminatory laws in the State party and include religious leaders in the process of addressing issues of faith and human rights, so as to build on several ‘faith for rights’ initiatives and identify common ground among all religions in the State party” (see CEDAW/C/NGA/CO/7-8, para. 12). The universal periodic review has also recommended that States promote interfaith dialogue among religious groups to safeguard the rights of religious minorities in several countries.13 30. At the country level, for example, the Special Rapporteur on minority issues has emphasized that ending impunity for those who incite ethnic or religious hatred and violence must be a priority in Sri Lanka. The newly established Interreligious Council constitutes a positive development and its role in mediating between different religious and belief communities and promoting tolerance and peaceful relations should be strengthened, particularly at the provincial level. The Government, including at the local level, should also ensure the full protection of all minority places of worship as well as heritage.14 D. Empowerment and participation 31. The OHCHR minorities fellowship programme took place from 13 November to 1 December 2017, with two linguistic components (English and Russian) and the participation of 15 fellows from Afghanistan, Georgia, India, Israel, Jordan, Kosovo, 15 Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, the Russian Federation, Spain, the Sudan and Tajikistan. While the programme is organized by OHCHR, it also involves several other United Nations agencies, including UNHCR, the United Nations Institute for Training and Research, ILO, UNDP and UNICEF, and is run in close collaboration with Genevabased civil society and NGO partners and international and regional bodies. 32. To improve minority rights expertise and participation both at headquarters and in field presences, the national/regional component of the minorities fellowship programme provided an “on-the-job” experience to some of the outstanding alumni from the 2016 12 13 14 15 See www.ohchr.org/en/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=22125&LangID=E. See, for example, A/HRC/36/13, para. 129.92. See A/HRC/34/53/Add.3, para. 71, and A/HRC/36/13, para. 129.92. All references to Kosovo in the present document should be understood to be in the context of United Nations Security Council resolution 1244 (1999). 9