Your intervention must be written and given in one of the six UN languages – Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian or Spanish. The allotted speaking time depends on the meeting; however, no matter the official limit, a short intervention that makes clear, concise recommendations is more likely to be listened to. A rambling intervention with a detailed description of events will send people to sleep, even if you are describing a shocking situation. Practice reading your intervention out loud, slowly, to make sure it is within the time limit. If it is too long, do not just speak faster! You should find a way to make it shorter because if you speak too quickly, people might not be able to understand. If the translators cannot follow you, then a large proportion of the people in the room will not be able to understand and your intervention will be wasted. Generally, you can make one intervention under each of the agenda items, up to a maximum number over the whole meeting. It is possible to make joint interventions with other NGOs, if you have similar issues to raise. Having a number of NGOs making a joint intervention can add weight to the argument. Make sure that your intervention relates closely to the topic of the agenda item. Start by thanking the chair of the meeting for giving you the floor. Say: ‘I speak on behalf of ...’ and name your NGO and the country you are from. Introduce the issue or theme you are going to talk about. Remember that other people may not know much about the situation, so you should briefly give background information and clearly define any names or other terms that are specific to the issue in your intervention. Explain the issue you are concerned with clearly and logically, using facts and concrete examples to support what you are saying. Avoid using highly emotional or political language. Your intervention will be more effective if you use controlled language to emphasize the seriousness of the situation and support your claims with credible information. Unfortunately, the people at UN meetings hear shocking stories of violations and abuses all the time, and become quite immune to them. Their reaction to an outraged description of horrific violations is usually: ‘Oh no, not again’, and they may switch off their attention. This may come as a big shock to minority representatives, many of who have experienced these events first- hand, and for whom they have a keen emotional reality. But this is the reality of the UN, and if you want your intervention to be heard and to lead to change, you need to phrase it in a way that will keep everyone’s attention. States sometimes reply to NGO statements and these replies often consist of denying the NGO claims and attacking the sources of information used by the NGO; therefore you should use reliable sources of information and be very clear about where you got your information. But, having said that, be careful not to quote lots of statistics. Use one or two statistics if they clearly show your arguments; however, people will not be able to follow you, or their attention will wander, if you list lots of statistics. If you think a lot of statistics are important, you can put them in footnotes so people who get a copy of your intervention can read them even if you do not read them out. You can also say in your intervention that you have the information available for anyone who wishes to see it. Use language that empowers your community. Avoid saying: ‘In my country minorities have no rights’ or ‘The government has taken away all of our rights’. Rights can be violated, but they cannot be taken away. In some situations, they are all you have. They represent a symbolic strength, in that they give you the morally superior position, but they may also represent real strength, if an external actor is willing to intervene to protect your rights. Further, saying: ‘We have no rights’ pushes you further into the role of the victim, and may reinforce the government’s attitude that it can do what it wants, because you are weak. Psychologically, it can have a negative effect on the willingness of your potential allies to help, because people prefer to help those who have taken a strong, principled stand against violations. It is much better to use language such as: ‘the government of my country is violating our right to …’. In this way you emphasize your strength (your rights) and the government’s weakness (its illegal and immoral behaviour, in failing to respect the obligations it signed up to). You should link the issue or theme of your intervention to relevant human rights law. This could be the UNDM or other UN human rights treaties or Declarations, or regional treaties. (In the case of a treaty, make sure that you check that your government has ratified it; Declarations, while not legally binding, apply to all states.) However, you should mention only the most important Articles or treaties and specifically say how they relate to your topic, rather than just listing lots of Article numbers or treaties. You could include your country’s Constitution or national laws relevant to the issue. You could also mention what other UN bodies or experts have said about the subject. For example, if an SR has mentioned the issue in a report, it could be useful to say so. MINORITY RIGHTS: A GUIDE TO UNITED NATIONS PROCEDURES AND INSTITUTIONS 41 6.4 Guidelines for interventions at United Nations meetings These guidelines give the basic principles common to NGO interventions at UN meetings; however, you should check the rules for the specific meeting you are attending. Writing your intervention