18  •  Guidance Note of the Secretary-General on Racial Discrimination and Protection of Minorities proving participants’ knowledge on racial discrimination and protection of minorities, among other human rights issues, empowering rights-holders, including disadvantaged groups, as well as at developing the capacity of duty-bearers to meet their human rights obligations. 54. Relevant UN training materials should include explicit information on racial discrimination and minorities, including multiple forms of discrimination, highlighting the vulnerability of groups discriminated against on the basis of race, colour, descent, national or ethnic origin, in addition to their other status or gender. General references to human rights or the principle of non-discrimination only are not sufficient for effective training; while consistent references to the relevant human rights instruments and mechanisms will enable the participants to acquire a better understanding of racial discrimination and protection of minorities. 55. UN training initiatives should ensure equal and active participation of ­women and members of minority groups and facilitate their active participation, as they might be accustomed to discrimination within their societies and professional setting. Moreover, the learning environment should be in line with human rights values and be free from discriminatory, intolerant, racist and sexist language and gestures. 13. Support to NHRIs and other national mechanisms 56. National Human Rights Institutions (NHRIs) and specialized bodies have in many cases played an instrumental role in combatting racial discrimination and advancing minority rights. The UN system should support efforts to ensure that they have the resources, competency and capacity to pursue such work in an effective manner. This can include, for example, promoting dialogue between NHRIs and minorities, as well as initiatives aimed to ensure that persons belonging to minorities and other common targets of racial discrimination have access to such bodies in the regions in which they reside, without linguistic or other obstacles, and that the composition of NHRIs is established in accordance with a procedure that affords all necessary guarantees to ensure the pluralist representation in line with the Paris Principles. In order to do so, it is important that UN staff are provided with information on how best to support NHRIs and specialized bodies with policy advice, technical assistance, and capacity development, as well as how to assist stakeholders at the national level with the establishment of such institutions in the States where they do not yet exist.16 14. Engagement with UN human rights mechanisms 57. Recommendations from the Universal Period Review (UPR), human rights treaty bodies and special procedures—including, inter alia, the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, the Independent Expert on 16 See also UNDP-OHCHR Toolkit for Collaboration with National Human Rights Institutions, December 2010.