A/HRC/43/47 the regional conditions and challenges relating to the teaching of and education in minority languages in Africa and the Middle East. 23. On 4 November 2019, the Special Rapporteur made an opening statement at the 19th Informal Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) Seminar on Human Rights: Human Rights Education and Training, held in Tromsø, Norway. He highlighted the need to give minority issues greater visibility by international organizations and in human rights discourse. 24. On 6 November 2019, the Special Rapporteur gave a presentation entitled “Hate speech and incitement to hatred against minorities: how can the challenges be met?” and discussed potential collaboration with staff and researchers at the Norwegian Center for Holocaust and Minority Studies, University of Oslo. 25. On 11 November 2019, the Special Rapporteur participated in an academic workshop on confronting inequality and social exclusion in Hong Kong, China, organized by the Justice Centre Hong Kong and the Department of Asian and Policy Studies at the Education University of Hong Kong, China. 26. On 14 November 2019, the Special Rapporteur gave the closing remarks at the highlevel conference of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) High Commissioner on National Minorities to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the Lund Recommendations on the Effective Participation of National Minorities in Public Life. The conference, entitled “From Lund to Ljubljana: promoting the participation of national minorities as a pathway to the integration of diverse societies”, was held in Lund, Sweden. 27. On 18 and 19 November 2019, the Special Rapporteur participated in the United for Intercultural Action conference UNITED #WithoutHate: Building Partnerships towards a Hate-free Society, held in Poprad, Slovakia. During the initial panel discussion of the conference, he addressed the theme “Protecting minorities, resisting hate”, highlighting how a human rights approach was essential to tackle the upsurge of hate speech and hate crimes, which mainly targeted minorities around the world. 28. On 4 December 2019 in Paris, the Special Rapporteur addressed the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe’s Committee on Equality and Non-Discrimination hearing on preserving Europe’s linguistic, ethnic, cultural and national diversity. In his presentation, he discussed the differences between international norms protecting minorities and the experiences of persons belonging to minorities in Europe. 29. Between 6 and 17 December 2019, the Special Rapporteur was on a country visit to assess the situation of minorities and the protection and promotion of their human rights in Kyrgyzstan. 30. On 18 and 19 December 2019, the Special Rapporteur participated in an expert workshop on a human rights training toolkit for faith actors, held in Collonges-sous-Salève, France. The workshop was organized by OHCHR to strengthen the implementation of minority rights and the freedom of religion or belief and to prevent violent extremism by designing a human rights training toolkit for faith actors. III. Education, language and the human rights of minorities A. Introduction 31. Language is undeniably central to the identity of linguistic minorities. Language also refers to all of the world’s 6,000 or so recognized languages, including sign languages. Language issues are at times among the main grievances that may contribute to toxic environments of exclusion and claims of discrimination in education that can lead to tensions and even conflicts between minorities and authorities, as shown unfortunately in different parts of the world. 32. The centrality of language for individuals and communities alike is acknowledged in article 1 of the Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities, which solemnly affirms in paragraph 1 that “States 5