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other grounds denies and dismisses the fundamental intersectional significance
of the combining effects of discrimination on the basis of gender and ethnicity,
religion or language for minority women. This surprising and disappointing
failure to measure the impact of efforts towards the Goals on some of the most
marginalized segments of society, such as persons of African descent, Roma or
Dalits, means that the discrimination and exclusion experienced by many of
those groups remain largely invisible and therefore essentially unaddressed – a
direct denial of the stated vision of “leaving no one behind”.
78. This harsh conclusion is nevertheless confirmed in the findings of the study
on the voluntary national reviews outlined in the present report, that the 2030
Agenda remains largely blind with regard to minorities and indigenous peoples,
especially in the lack of targeting of and disaggregating by some of the most
significant vulnerability criteria globally, namely ethnicity and indigenous
status. This can and should, however, be redressed in improving and
strengthening the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals, as
shown by the inclusion and significant focus on the LGBTI community in the
2020 voluntary national reviews synthesis report and many of the 47 voluntary
national reviews, despite none of the measures or indicators of the Goals
referring to this ground. Indeed, such an adjustment was also implicitly called
for by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights in June 2021,
when she urged the collection of comprehensive official disaggregated data – on
the ground of ethnicity – in order to able to identify and more effectively combat
structural racism and the “compounding inequalities” and “stark socioeconomic
and political marginalization” that can “leave behind” Afrodescendent minorities.
Recommendations
79. The Special Rapporteur on minority issues recommends that future
guidance documents on the preparation of voluntary national reviews contain a
dedicated section on progress made in efforts towards “leaving no one behind”
aimed at minorities, and that States be invited to identify their actions and
accomplishments in reaching the Sustainable Development Goals in their
voluntary national reviews, as was done with other marginalized and vulnerable
groups, such as indigenous peoples and LGBTI communities, and that a similar
section also be included in the future in the synthesis report.
80. The Special Rapporteur also recommends that States adopt comprehensive
anti-discrimination legislation on the basis of ethnicity, religion and language,
and all other grounds recognized in international law.
81. As called for by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
in 2021, States should gather data on key economic and social indicators concerning
the social and economic development of persons belonging to minorities to design
appropriate policy responses. Those data should be disaggregated on the basis of
ethnicity, religion and language in addition to gender.
82. The Special Rapporteur recommends that States take legislative and other
steps to eradicate statelessness for all those born or long-time residents in the
country in order to fully comply with the prohibition of discrimination in
international law, one of the most severe barriers to the full and equal
participation of certain minorities in social and economic development.
83. Education is the pathway to the full and equal participation of minorities
in a State’s social and economic development. Minorities and indigenous peoples
have equal rights to quality education. Where minorities are concentrated,
education must be provided in their own language as much and as long as is
practicably possible in order for them to acquire as effectively and early on
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