The Acting Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide, Ms. Pramila Patten addressed the Forum through a video message, where sheregretted that reports from around the world reveal that minorities are often marginalized, stigmatized and discriminated against. She stated that minorities often find themselves in conditions of structural vulnerability which can lead to a vicious cycle of discrimination, hostility, insecurity and violence. She was concerned that the situation of minorities remains very precarious in many countries across the globe and that their situation has been further compounded by the COVID-19 pandemic, with an increase of hate speech based on ethnic and religious identity, as well as migration status. She mentioned that in this context, social media platforms have become powder kegs. The Acting Special Adviser referred to the UN Secretary-General, who launched the United Nations Strategy and Plan of Action on Hate Speech stating that it represents the commitment of the organization to counter and address growing global trends of hate speech, in line with international human rights law, and in particular with freedom of opinion and expression. She underlined that her office - the UN Office on Genocide Prevention and the Responsibility to Protect – serves as the UN system-wide focal point for the implementation of this strategy and that they are providing support to UN Country Teams and peace operations to develop country and mission specific plans of action to combat hate speech. She also mentioned that her office has launched a Guidance Note that provides recommendations to political, religious and community leaders, education institutions and tech and social media companies, in order to fight the “tsunami of hate and xenophobia, scapegoating and scaremongering” that the pandemic was unleashing, as stated by the United Nations Secretary General, in May 2020. The Acting Special Adviser reiterated that Member States have the primary responsibility to protect minorities, including by addressing and countering hate speech. She noted that Government leaders need to act decisively and publicly condemn racism. They also have to adopt special public education initiatives, expand public outreach, promote respect for diversity, counter hate speech by disseminating positive and alternative narratives; investigate and prosecute hate crimes; and offer support to victimized communities. She added that all actors, including social media companies must play their part, in particular by protecting users against hateful and xenophobic content and investing adequate resources to addressing it and mitigating its harm. The Special Rapporteur on minority issues, Dr. Fernand de Varennes, emphasized the challenges imposed by the coronavirus pandemic, as well as “the virus of the mind” which is infecting hundreds of millions of people and poisoning societies with misinformation, disinformation and hate. The Special Rapporteur stated that, just as the pandemic does not affect everyone the same, hate speech does not target everyone equally in society: data from a number of countries show that national or ethnic, religious and linguistic minorities are the main targets of hate speech. He specified that in many countries, more than 80% of hate speech target minorities such Jews, Dalits, Muslims, Roma, Travellers and other minorities. He underlined that 4