A/HRC/4/9 page 2 Summary The mandate of the Independent Expert on minority issues was established by the Commission on Human Rights in its resolution 2005/79. The Independent Expert is required inter alia to promote implementation of the Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious or Linguistic Minorities, to identify best practices by States and possibilities for technical cooperation by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. The Independent Expert submitted her initial report to the Human Rights Council in January 2006, in which she addressed the scope of her mandate, her methods of work, and identified key thematic priorities for the initial period of her mandate: minorities in the context of poverty alleviation and the MDGs; and promoting inclusion and stability. In the period following submission of her initial annual report the Independent Expert has undertaken two official country missions, to Hungary (25 June-3 July 2006), and to the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia (28 November-12 December 2006), to consult on minority issues and consider national legislation, policy and practice relating to national or ethnic, religious and linguistic minorities. The Independent Expert has conducted extensive consultations in regard to all elements of her mandate. She has attended expert seminars and conferences, has convened consultations, held bilateral and multilateral discussions, including with Member States of the United Nations, engaged with agencies of the United Nations system and regional intergovernmental organizations, and consulted widely with civil society and directly with minority communities. She has prioritized gender issues related to her mandate and has held dedicated forums for minority women during her country missions. She has conducted focused consultations and research on the key thematic priorities identified in her initial report. In every region of the world, there are minorities that are the poorest of the poor, often having faced long-standing discrimination, exclusion, denial of their basic rights, and sometimes violence. Minorities face high and disproportionate levels of poverty and the dynamics of that poverty are often more complex in nature for minority groups and defy the rationale of common denominator policies of poverty alleviation. Often minorities are neglected or excluded from efforts to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Recognizing the urgent need to address the situations of minorities more fully in international and national efforts to alleviate poverty and achieve the Goals, the Independent Expert has decided to focus her second annual report on this subject. Targeted as well as mainstreamed approaches and policies are required to address the particular circumstances of poverty experienced by persons belonging to national or ethnic, religious and linguistic minorities. Governments in designing, planning and implementing poverty alleviation and MDG policies, must give high priority to ensuring that disadvantaged minorities are considered in relation to their unique conditions of exclusion and discrimination, and consequent high levels of extreme and persistent poverty. To assist such efforts, in the contexts of MDG Country Reports and in Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSPs), Governments are urged to provide detailed consideration of the situations of minority groups and statistical data that helps to reveal the status of minorities in relation to other groups.