Dr Ojot Miro Ojulu Final Remarks Item III 9th session of the Forum on Minority Issues - ohchr 24/25 November 2016 Unites Nations - Geneva Thank you Mr Chair for giving me the opportunity to react to some of the statements and reactions made by distinguished delegates and distinguished representatives of civil society and international organisations. Listening to the experiences and recommendations given from the floor, I think, many of them re-enforce the recommendations already included in the Draft by the Special Rapporteur and I could only note some […] few areas what I think of what I think quite strongly. And the first one deals with the issues around the existing situation of minorities that if we have to work of prevention of humanitarian crisis in most cases before crisis happens minorities are already in weaker positions. Politically they are disenfranchised, economically they are marginalised, and socially they are also discriminated against and this does not only contribute to conflict situations, which might then contribute to humanitarian crisis. But when crisis happens, it also makes it very difficult in having disproportionate impact on minorities and, I think, that calls for states and relevant [actors] around issues of empowerment of minorities politically, economically, and also socially. We also heard issues around linguistic rights that if minorities don’t enjoy the right to their language, then when crisis happens then there would be communication barriers and again they would be disproportionately affected by those crises. So I found these points to be quite important. Thank you Mr Chair.