A/72/165 12. Violence against minorities throughout the world demonstrates that action is required in all regions to protect minorities at risk. In many cases, violence is committed with impunity, which can fuel further violence. In her report, the Speci al Rapporteur seeks to identify some of the major causes of violence against minorities and to consider action that should be taken by States and other actors to prevent and appropriately address violence and to ensure that it does not persist or escalate. Such causes include exclusionary ideologies, deficits of democracy and rule of law, hate speech, past and unresolved grievances, a history of ethnic or religious tensions between groups without reconciliation, agitation of ethnic or religious components by political leaders and impunity when perpetrators act without consequences. 13. Predicting and preventing violence must not remain an academic exercise. Post-violence analysis has helped to develop indicators and improve the potential to raise the alarm and trigger early warning mechanisms; however, analysis conducted after violence has begun means that the action taken is often too little and too late. The lessons of past atrocities must be put into practice when the warning signs are clear and States must become more capable of responding to them. 14. The comprehensive implementation of minority rights, non -discrimination and equality standards constitutes an important foundation for the prevention of violence against minority communities and helps to establish the conditions for stability and harmonious relations among population groups. Mechanisms to ensure dialogue, consultation and participation, the fundamental principles of minority rights, should be established to assist States in understanding the situations of minorities, their issues and their concerns. Where violence has previously taken place, such mechanisms are of particular relevance, including in post -conflict and post-violence reconciliation and peacebuilding processes. Establishing instit utions for the protection of minority rights and ensuring attention to minority rights within existing national and human rights institutions are essential violence prevention measures. Such institutional attention facilitates early warning and early respo nse and the establishment of the appropriate policy frameworks and violence prevention strategies that are essential to the prevention of violence. 4. 2015: Minorities in the criminal justice system (A/70/212) 15. The Special Rapporteur is alarmed by the many allegations that she has received of human rights violations committed against minorities in the administration of criminal justice, owing to their minority status. This report addresses the rights of minorities in relation to all stages of the criminal justice process, beginning with policing practices before arrest, through to arrest, trial and sentencing. 16. The Special Rapporteur underscores the importance of strict non-discrimination at the policing stage, arguing that, should a disproportionate number of individuals from a minority group find themselves in contact with the police as a result of discrimination, then even if, formally, every other step of the process functions impartially, minorities will, similarly, be disproportionately represented throughout that process. In the report, she notes with concern the subjection of minorities to excessive use of force by the police, torture or other ill-treatment in policing. Given that racial profiling and excessive use of force against minorities in policing often stem from embedded discrimination, the Special Rapporteur recommends that States go beyond mere prohibitions and instead take proactive steps to prevent such conduct. 17. Even after formal arrest, minorities tend to be overrepresented in pretrial detention and face longer periods of such detention. At the stage of judicial procedures and hearings, minorities may also experience particular obstacles to 17-12138 5/22