A/HRC/22/27 social services and quality education (ibid., para. 27). With regard to Turkey, the Committee encouraged the State to withdraw its reservations so as to provide better protection and opportunities to all groups of children, especially those of Kurdish origin, who are not recognized as a minority under the Constitution (CRC/C/TUR/CO/2-3, para. 9). 60. Viet Nam was urged by the Committee to distribute the Convention to minority populations, including their children, in their own languages and to eliminate all efforts to assimilate ethnic minority populations with the Kinh majority (CRC/C/VNM/CO/3-4, paras. 22 and 40). The Committee considered Nepal under the Optional Protocol on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography, and recommended that data disaggregated by ethnicity be collected (CRC/C/OPSC/NPL/CO/1, para. 8). V. Special procedures 61. The Independent Expert on minority issues presented her first report to the Human Rights Council (A/HRC/19/56) during its nineteenth session. The Council held a general debate with the Independent Expert on the role of human rights bodies and mechanisms. In this connection, the Independent Expert participated in the Council panel discussion held in March to commemorate the anniversary of the 1992 Declaration on Minorities, where she stated that she was particularly concerned about the situation of religious minorities in all regions, and that she would therefore address the rights and security of religious minorities as a thematic priority in 2012-2014. 62. On 22 February, the Independent Expert encouraged the Government of Latvia to ensure its protection of the rights of the Russian speaking minority and engage in a process of meaningful dialogue, following a referendum on 18 February that had rejected a proposal to recognize Russian as a second official State language. On 2 March, she joined the Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion and belief and the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, Christof Heyns, in urging the Government of Pakistan to respond decisively to end sectarian violence and improve the security of religious minorities. On 20 March, the Independent Expert and the Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance, Mutuma Ruteere, called for an intensified struggle against racism. She joined the statement published on the occasion of International Roma Day (8 April) by a group of seven United Nations human rights experts, stressing that “it is hard for Roma to shake off those negative labels and for wider society to see beyond them” as she called on States to intensify their efforts and “identify, share and put into practice what is known to be working for the inclusion and integration of Roma communities”. 63. On 2 August, the Independent Expert and the Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance called on all countries (particularly those with Roma communities) to mark Roma Holocaust Remembrance Day with a “commitment to confronting modern-day hatred, violence and discrimination against Roma and finding real solutions to their persistent exclusion”. On 9 November the Independent Expert participated in the Fifth Budapest Human Rights Forum in Budapest, and joined a panel to discuss minority issues on the occasion of the commemoration of the twentieth anniversary of the 1992 Declaration on Minorities. The Independent Expert presented her report to the General Assembly (A/67/293) at its sixtyseventh session, on 2 November. The report was the first under the General Assembly requirement, contained in Assembly resolution 66/166 (para. 21), that the mandate holder submit to it reports on an annual basis. In the report, the Independent Expert focused on the role institutional attention could play in advancing minority issues within governmental organs, national human rights institutions and other relevant national bodies. 14