A/HRC/49/46 (c) Globally, today’s main drivers of instability leading to conflict are group-based grievances around exclusion and injustice;21 (d) “There are now more violent conflicts globally than at any time in the past 30 years, and the world is also facing the largest forced displacement crisis ever recorded”. 22 28. While it is more difficult to measure globally whether there is growing exclusion, discrimination and intolerance of minorities, there is undeniably a “perception” of such. As the first ever, and comprehensive, United Nations/World Bank joint report warns in relation to preventing conflicts: “It is when an aggrieved group assigns blame to others or to the state for its perceived economic, political, or social exclusion that its grievances may become politicized and risk tipping into violence.”23 C. Increasing conflicts and intolerance: the neglected links between violent conflicts and exclusion, discrimination and inequalities involving minorities 29. Despite the overwhelming evidence that more violent conflicts than not are linked to long-standing grievances over exclusion, discrimination and inequalities experienced by minorities, and past suggestions that to address and prevent such conflicts requires “frameworks for minority rights” 24 there has been a lack of progress in developing such frameworks. 30. Nevertheless, many submissions from civil society organizations received by the Special Rapporteur for the present report, as well as a number of recommendations emanating from the 2021 regional forums and Forum on Minority Issues, 25 identified grievances of discrimination and inequalities, of the denial of rights in relation to education and the use of a minority language, of equal access to employment and economic opportunities, of the fair sharing of resources or the benefits of development, and even of the denial of citizenship or the right to vote or to run for office, as well as of other identity-related issues for minorities, as significant drivers in the eventual emergence of conflicts. Similar observations were made by State and other actors, including from, among others, Liechtenstein, which took the view that: “Full respect for the human rights of minority and Indigenous communities is key to the prevention of self-determination conflicts. Many self-determination conflicts emerge from violations of the human rights of Indigenous peoples and persons belonging to ethnic, religious, and linguistic minorities, most frequently relating to the legal system, language, and culture.”26 31. New trends have in the past decade added another powerful factor contributing to the observed global increase in violent conflicts: the rise of hate speech, xenophobia, racism and populist (majoritarian) nationalism in social media, which has been fuelling violence and attacks against minorities worldwide. In addition to antisemitism, islamophobia, antigypsyism, anti-Christian, anti-Asian and similar intolerance – all involving minorities in different countries – are generally increasing. There have been in recent years calls to genocide in Nigeria against the Yoruba minority and in India against Dalit and Muslim minorities, communitarian attacks against Muslim minorities in Sri Lanka and Myanmar, and hate speech and incitement to violence in social media against English-speaking and Tigrayan minorities in Cameroon and Ethiopia, respectively, as well as right-wing majoritarian populist propaganda against certain minority migrant communities and visible minorities in 21 22 23 24 25 26 United Nations and World Bank, Pathways for Peace: Inclusive Approaches to Preventing Violent Conflict (Washington, D.C., World Bank, 2018). See https://documents1.worldbank.org/curated/en/844591582815510521/pdf/World-Bank-GroupStrategy-for-Fragility-Conflict-and-Violence-2020-2025.pdf, p. viii. United Nations and World Bank, Pathways for Peace, p. 109. A/59/565 and and A/59/565/Corr.1, p. 80, recommendation 14. The recommendations from the 2021 regional forums are available at https://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/Minorities/SRMinorities/Pages/Regional-Forums.aspx. For the recommendations of the Forum on Minority Issues, see A/HRC/49/81. Liechtenstein Institute on Self-Determination, Handbook on the Prevention and Resolution of SelfDetermination Conflicts (Princeton, New Jersey, Princeton University, 2021), p. 10. 7