discrimination, hostility or violence. Similar language to Article 27 of the ICCPR is also found in Article 30 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. The International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination prohibits all dissemination of ideas based on racial superiority or hatred, incitement to racial discrimination, as well as all acts of violence or incitement to such acts against any group on the basis of race, colour or ethnic or other origin (Article 4). 10. The Declaration on the Rights of Persons belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious or Linguistic Minorities adopted in 1992, remains the most important UN instrument devoted to minority rights, providing authoritative guidance and key standards ranging from non-discrimination to participation in decision-making. In accordance with its Article 9, “the specialized agencies and other organizations of the United Nations system are encouraged to contribute to the realization of the rights set forth in the Declaration”. 11. The protection of minority rights is a key factor in the prevention of conflicts and atrocity crimes as well as in peace-building, as has been highlighted by a number of experts, including the UN Special Rapporteur on Minority Issues. Minority women and girls are often particularly targeted, including for sexual violence in detention or in armed conflicts. Available and known experience shows that tensions rising to the level of conflict are less likely to occur in societies where minorities can use their own language, practice their own culture and religion and participate effectively in economic and political life, as prescribed in the Declaration. 12. The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women defines discrimination against women in terms of “any distinction, exclusion or restriction made on the basis of sex which has the effect or purpose of impairing or nullifying the recognition, enjoyment or exercise by women, irrespective of their marital status, on a basis of equality of men and women, of human rights and fundamental freedoms in the political, economic, social, cultural, civil or any other field.” Violence against women is prohibited in more specific terms under the United Nations Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women, which notes that some groups of women, such as women and girls belonging to minority groups, are especially vulnerable to violence. 13. The protection of minorities is also at the core of the United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide and the Responsibility to Protect principle. The obligation to prevent genocide, defined under article 2 of the Convention, has become customary international law. 14. International human rights law defines the specific groups identified by the Genocide Convention also as “protected groups”. In situations of non-international armed conflict or where non-state armed groups exercise control over territory and population, minorities are exposed to