A/HRC/55/51/Add.1 and teachers about the difficulties encountered by students with disabilities, including deaf children and users of sign language. 66. Nevertheless, two years after the adoption of Law No. 6530/20, its implementation appears to be affected by the lack of budget allocation and staffing resources. While it exists on paper and falls under the mandate of the Secretariat of Language Policies, it appears that the Secretariat simply does not have the necessary financial and human resources to implement the law. Even if the Secretariat has a sign language department, it in fact does not have a dedicated physical office or an official assigned to exclusively be the office’s head. 67. Although the Supreme Court of Justice is implementing sign languages, the relay centres or other initiatives have been operating at the local level, in general, and these services are not enough and not extended throughout the country. Moreover, grave concerns are related to the facts that: sign language is not provided in the regular education system, it is not used as a medium of instruction and parents of deaf children do not know how to use sign language during their children’s early years. There seems to be a generalized negative attitude towards the teaching of sign language, in the name of mainstreaming, which may result in cases where deaf children are not able to learn sign language at a young age and may be deprived of their only effective form of communication. 68. The use of sign language as a medium of instruction is now generally considered to be the best approach to educating deaf and hard of hearing children. The Government of Paraguay and the Ministry of Education and Sciences should review and reformulate government policy, including by amending legislation, if necessary, to facilitate the use of sign language as a language of instruction and to train and employ fluent users of sign language as teachers in the public education system. It should also set up a national formation programme for sign language teachers and, in the best interests of the child, take a truly inclusive approach to education. Moreover, the prohibition of discrimination in education and realizing the rights of sign language users in education are factors in favour of a new approach in this area. 69. Concerning the relay centres for sign language interpretation, the Special Rapporteur considers it imperative that it operate continuously, around the clock, during the whole week, to ensure the rights of users of sign languages and their equal access to vital public services, in order to comply with the rights of this linguistic minority, given the prohibition of discrimination and the State’s obligations under the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. D. Migrants, asylum-seekers and refugees 70. Paraguay is much more diverse in all regards today. It is notable, and commendable, that Paraguay has, throughout much of its history, received with open arms refugees and asylum-seekers from all parts of the world and minorities fleeing persecution or intolerance in Europe and North America, as well as more recently those fleeing political and other upheavals in the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela or elsewhere. 71. Some ethnic groups, such as Ukrainians, have been living in the country for three or four generations, mostly in the south of the country, in Itapúa. Most of them are Orthodox Christians, and the transmission of the Ukrainian language, through the generations, may have been dropped and replace by Spanish. Bolivians, Brazilians and Venezuelans have been well received and are well integrated, as is the German community. German is the third language most spoken in Paraguay, after Spanish and Guaraní. However, communities such as the Polish community that is mostly present in Itapúa, resents some cultural oppression by the German minority, as a “minority of the minority”, and has been trying to preserve their cultural identity by the creation of associations, such as the Association of Collectivities of Itapúa Department (also known as the “Casa Polaca” (Polish House)). 72. Although Paraguay is to be commended for granting protection to a significant proportion of those who come to the country to seek its protection, be they refugees or others, some of them, usually those belonging to minorities, still face obstacles and challenges in access to employment, education or other public services. The Government of Paraguay GE.23-23380 15