E/CN.4/2006/74 page 7 13. In 1995, Economic and Social Council resolution 1995/31 established the Working Group on Minorities of the Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights. 14. Between 1995 and 2005 the Working Group on Minorities met in Geneva for five working days each year. At this annual meeting, the Working Group on Minorities served as a forum for dialogue, increasing understanding of minority issues and helping to find solutions to problems involving minorities. In recent years, the Working Group on Minorities proposed, and the Sub-Commission endorsed, the idea of holding subregional seminars on issues facing minorities; the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights has organized three such meetings in Asia: in Chiang Mai, Thailand, in 2002, in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, in 2004, and in Kandy, Sri Lanka, in 2004; three in Africa: in Arusha, Tanzania, in 2000, in Kidal, Mali, in 2001 and in Gaborone, Botswana, in 2002; and two in Latin America and the Caribbean: in La Ceiba, Honduras, in 2002 and in Chincha, Peru, in 2005. The Working Group on Minorities itself proposed a new mandate on minority issues to complement its work. 15. In 2005, the Commission on Human Rights adopted resolution 2005/79, which requested the High Commissioner for Human Rights to appoint, for a period of two years, an independent expert on minority issues. The resolution also amended the mandate of the Working Group on Minorities so that it would meet for three days per year during the session of the Sub-Commission, rather than five, and would focus its work “on interactive dialogue with relevant non-governmental organizations and on conceptual support of, and dialogue with, the independent expert, who shall participate as an observer”. 16. On 29 July 2005, the High Commissioner for Human Rights announced the appointment of Gay McDougall (United States of America) as independent expert on minority issues. II. THE MANDATE OF THE INDEPENDENT EXPERT 17. Commission resolution 2005/79, which establishes the independent expert’s mandate, in paragraph 6 requests the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to appoint an independent expert on minority issues for a period of two years, with the mandate: (a) To promote the implementation of the Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities, including through consultations with Governments, taking into account existing international standards and national legislation concerning minorities; (b) To identify best practices and possibilities for technical cooperation by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights at the request of Governments; (c) To apply a gender perspective in his or her work; (d) To cooperate closely, while avoiding duplication, with existing relevant United Nations bodies, mandates, mechanisms as well as regional organizations; and (e) To take into account the views of non-governmental organizations on matters pertaining to his or her mandate.