A/HRC/4/9 page 18 a sensitive issue”. However in 2005 UNDP published the MDG Monitoring and Reporting: A Review of Good Practices, wherein it recommends that, “wherever possible, disaggregated data should be used to highlight disparities across gender, ethnicity, geographical location, age or other dimensions of inequality”.26 73. The EU Race Directive, designed to address direct and indirect discrimination on the basis of racial or ethnic origin, indicates that discrimination may be monitored using statistical evidence (para. 15). However, many EU studies on social exclusion and poverty have not generally disaggregated data by ethnicity. EUROSTAT, the body that aids States with data collection, does not advocate strongly for ethnic data in its Income and Living Conditions Survey, which is the main source for social exclusion data and provides the basis for policy design.27 D. Promising practices in development policies 74. There are some good policy practices in evidence, although much remains to be done if minorities are to see significant poverty alleviation by 2015. The process is as important as the outcome. Where minorities are not consulted on poverty reduction strategies that will affect them, the outcome of well-intentioned programmes may be a null change or even a decline in human development. Minorities have a right to participate in decision-making that will affect them and respecting this right is paramount for development interventions. 75. There is no one-size fits all for successful poverty reduction, including for minorities. Nevertheless, it is useful to share experiences across countries with a view to stimulating successful practice, beginning with a focus on data collection. The Independent Expert welcomes additional information from States on their experiences and examples of successful practice in minority sensitive poverty reduction strategies. 76. The Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues has taken important steps to engage intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations and Governments in dialogue on improving data collection on indigenous peoples’ issues. This work has been undertaken in the context of strategies to achieve the MDGs for indigenous peoples, a major focus of recent sessions. The United Nations system, through the Inter-Agency Support Group on Indigenous Issues, has undertaken a review of existing indicators that may directly or indirectly concern or relate to indigenous peoples. Workshops were organized to feed into this process.28 26 MDG Monitoring and Reporting: A Review of Good Practices (UNDP Bureau for Development Policy, Poverty Reduction Group, August 2005): p. 18. 27 Kathryn Ramsay, Disaggregated Data Collection: A Precondition for Effective Protection of Minority Rights in South East Europe (London: Minority Rights Group International, 2006): p. 6. 28 See www.un.org/esa/socdev/unpfii/news/news_workshop_doc.htm.