for different stakeholders - including States, civil society, the media, and the international community - to prevent incitement to violence based on ethnic or religious hatred. The policy options stem directly from the Rabat Plan of Action and call in particular for States to build resilience against incitement to violence, counter hate speech with positive messages, and encourage the use of positive and alternative speech by political, religious and other community leaders. Given the particularly important role that religious leaders can play in today’s crises, our Office has also decided to organise a forum with senior religious leaders from across different faiths to explore the specific contribution they can make to preventing atrocity crimes. We hope that this Forum will take place in the first half of 2015. States, international organizations, regional organizations, and other actors can also play an important role by offering assistance to national authorities to help them protect their minority populations. Pillar II of the Responsibility to Protect identifies three main forms of support. First, States can encourage each other to address the threats minority community face. This could entail the dissemination of relevant law and norms, as well as education and training. But in situations where tensions are rising, encouragement can take the form of informal political dialogue, preventive diplomacy, or mediation. It also encompasses peer-review processes, such as the Universal Periodic Review, which provide a vital forum for identifying risks relating to minorities and proposing preventive action at an early stage. Second, international actors can help build national capacities that inhibit atrocity crimes. National minorities will particularly benefit from a professional and accountable security sector, impartial institutions that provide oversight for political transitions (especially elections), independent justice and human rights mechanisms, national and sub-national capacity to identify and resolve inter-communal conflicts, a media prepared and capable of counteracting hate-speech and incitement, and effective transitional justice arrangements following instances of widespread violence. Third, the international community can provide temporary military, civilian, and humanitarian assistance at the request of a State struggling to manage an ongoing or impending crisis. This may take the form of specialized civilian expertise, peacekeeping support to establish basic security and protect vulnerable minority populations, or emergency assistance to avoid an escalation of the crisis related to unmet humanitarian needs.