groups. Therefore special programs should be conducted with refugees, IDPs and stateless
groups.
ILO: is having a great commitment towards non-discrimination in labour rights: We would
like the ILO to be more involved in education about the unacceptability of child labour, a
problem that exists mostly in minority communities. Education about the
unacceptability of child labour can be included in the curriculum of the schools as well as in
the university. Awareness raising campaigns should be conducted among parents, which will
ultimately help to implement an effective education strategy.
WHO- Taking into account that minorities are one of the vulnerable groups which suffer
from many diseases like HIV/AIDS and TB, the special awareness campaigns should
be conducted among the minority groups of population. We have related “right to
education with respect to health”.
UNICEF- Some programs should be prepared for educating minorities on how to obtain
birth registrations for minority children. If all children will be registered that will help all
the member states also to have consolidated data and ease out the whole process to
take further necessary actions.
UNDP– Programs for the development of culture and tradition through education,
income generating projects. Awareness campaigns for minority population to make
them aware about the relationship between EDUCATION and DEVELOPMENT.
In order to improve the educational situation of minorities, the UN Agencies should closely
cooperate with the respective Government ministries (e.g. UNESCO-Ministry of Education,
WHO-Ministry of Health, and ILO-Ministry of Labour etc.) to achieve constructive
outcomes.
Lastly, as per our understanding, the minority issues are most marginalized within all of the
UN mechanisms. Most international conflicts and disputes involve minorities. It is
extremely important and vital for disadvantaged minorities to be provided with a platform to
speak up and raise their issues within the United Nations System. We all are assured that
this new mechanism (Minority Forum) will address the issues and would be an
opportunity for the minority people to make their voices heard and direct the UN system
and its specialized agencies to work as stated in the “Minority Declaration”. We wish and
request the authorities to give access to all unrepresented and disadvantaged minorities to be
present here in the forum and to give appropriate time to NGOs to speak up, so that
experts would be able to analyse the situation and would be able to make a regional
strategy for further challenges. This is the forum for all of the world’s minorities, to
eliminate the underrepresentation of minority groups here in this forum, we also request the
authorities to make a Voluntary fund for Minorities (just like we have for Indigenous
people), which would facilitate the participation of all minority representatives in the Forum,
from all over the world. Closing our statement, we wish all the success to this Minority
Forum in time ahead.
We would like to thank you again for giving us this opportunity to share our views.