A/HRC/15/42 United Nations General Assembly Distr.: General 5 July 2010 Original: English Human Rights Council Fifteenth session Agenda items 2 and 3 Annual report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and reports of the Office of the High Commissioner and the Secretary-General Promotion and protection of all human rights, civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights, including the right to development Rights of persons belonging to national or ethnic, religious and linguistic minorities Report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Summary The first chapter of the report provides a summary of efforts being made by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and United Nations human rights machinery to strengthen the implementation of the Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities. The second chapter reports on capacity-building activities to facilitate and increase the ability of minorities to draw on the United Nations international and regional human rights bodies and mechanisms for the protection of their rights. The third chapter summarizes the most relevant concluding observations on the rights of minorities made by treaty bodies in considering initial and periodic reports of States parties. The fourth chapter provides an update on the work of relevant special procedures mechanisms with regard to the rights of minorities. GE.10-14893 (E) 270710