A/60/333 I. Introduction 1. The General Assembly, in its resolution 58/182, called upon the SecretaryGeneral, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and the Working Group on Minorities to continue to promote and protect the rights of persons belonging to minorities, referring to a number of specific areas of activity. It also requested the Secretary-General to report to the General Assembly at its sixtieth session on the implementation of the resolution. The present report is submitted in compliance with that request. II. Provision of qualified expertise on minority issues 2. With regard to the importance of the United Nations and its bodies assisting Governments in finding expertise necessary for addressing minority issues, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) organized a Workshop on Minorities and Conflict Prevention and Resolution on 26 and 27 May 2005 in Geneva. Minority experts, United Nations organizations, representatives of communities and Governments participated in this seminar. The workshop considered such matters as the root causes of conflict affecting or involving minorities, opportunities for the participation of minorities in the work of the United Nations, opportunities for action to be taken by the United Nations and Member States to protect minorities, suggestions for preventing rather than reacting to problems, and concluding observations. Many of the root causes identified related to structural problems such as poor governance, corruption, lack of effective participation in decision-making, lack of institutional frameworks to resolve conflict, socio-economic inequalities, as well as conflicts over natural resources. Suggestions made for improving the capacity of the United Nations to prevent conflict through effective early warning and action included establishing consultative frameworks between civil society and the United Nations at the national level, and linking the promotion and protection of the rights of persons belonging to minorities to the work of different United Nations organizations dealing with humanitarian, development, peace and security and human rights issues at the country level. In this regard, reference was made to the possible development of a minority profile and matrix, which could serve as a conflict prevention and resolution tool as well as a tool for minorities, Governments and United Nations agencies and organizations at the country level, to contextualize the principles and provisions of the Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities (“the Declaration”). Discussion also focused on autonomy and integration measures in addressing specific minority situations. Information relating to the workshop is available on the web site of OHCHR (www.ohchr.org). 3. In cooperation with the Working Group on Minorities, OHCHR has continued to organize subregional meetings on minority issues. It has been acknowledged that these meetings are important as they utilize regional and subregional expertise on minority issues with a view to contributing to a greater understanding of the subregional aspects of these issues and to sharing experiences in the protection and promotion of minority rights; promote dialogue between and among minorities and the majority population; offer an opportunity for strengthening networking among minorities and supporting their empowerment, including through raising awareness 4 05-48136