¾ National Level—Minority Representation in Bodies with DecisionMaking Powers The Permanent Representative of Nigeria, H.E. Martin Ihoeghian Uhomoibhi, gave an overview of the country’s history and political structure and some statistics on the minority presence in Nigeria, underlining that successive governments had made efforts at meeting the concerns of minorities. He listed the mechanisms in place to ensure participation of minorities in governance: the creation of States each of which is run by an executive governor, the representation of each State by three senators in the Senate (Upper House of the National Assembly) and the federal character principle, reflected in the Constitution, supported inter alia by the establishment of the Federal Character Commission. He noted that there is a high level of consciousness among the political class and an unwritten rule which provides for the rotation of political offices among the geo-political zones and ensures that the President and the Vice-President are not from the same region. He finally noted the efforts by government to create the enabling environment for all by establishing federal educational institutions which are spread equally across all the States of the Federation. The written statement sent by Ms. Anne Begg from the UK Parliament’s Speaker’s Conference (on Parliamentary Representation) was read by Ms. Rebecca Sagar, from the Permanent mission of the United Kingdom in Geneva. Her intervention aimed at identifying particular difficulties women, disabled people and people from ethnic minority communities are facing in becoming Members of Parliament, and recommended ways of supporting them and tackling those identified barriers. Fifty per cent of the MPs on the Speaker’s Conference are women; it also includes MPs who are of black or minority ethnic origin and MPs who live with injury, illness or disability. In its interim report, published in July 2009, the Speaker’s Conference concluded that, despite recent changes, MPs in the UK Parliament “remain predominantly white, male, middleaged and middle class” and that “many people will look at MPs in the Commons debating chamber and see very few Members who look as if they have lived a similar life or who can speak for them with the authority of shared experience.” Noting that enduring barriers to parliamentary diversity include a reluctance on the part of parties to nominate women, ethnic minorities and disabled people as candidates for seats which the party either holds, or has a reasonable chance of winning, the report pointed to a significant opportunity for change as substantial numbers of current MPs were announcing their intentions to retire before the next general election to be held before June 2010. The Conference therefore recommended that, in such cases, political parties should commit themselves to promote equality by selecting at least 50% women as candidates, ensure that a significantly greater proportion of candidates are selected from the above groups and seek to encourage a wider placement of such candidates across the country than at the 2005 election. The final report of the Speaker’s Conference shall be published at the end of 2009. The Head of “Fundação Nacional do Índio” in Brazil, Mr Márcio Augusto Freitas de Meira, gave a presentation on the developments with regards to the protection of the rights of indigenous peoples in Brazil and the different mechanisms in place to date to ensure their participation in the decisions that are affecting them. 12