Check against delivery Statement by Rita Izsák United Nations Independent Expert on minority issues Opening of the fifth session of the Forum on Minority Issues Tuesday, 27 November 2012, 10:00 a.m. Palais des Nations, Salle XX Madam Chair, Madam President Madam Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights, Distinguished delegates and participants, Ladies and Gentlemen, It is my great pleasure to be with you and to welcome you all to this very special session of the Forum on Minority Issues which marks the 20th anniversary of the Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities. In this 20th anniversary year we rightly celebrate the Declaration which remains an essential international standard for minorities globally. But this is also an opportunity for us to reinforce the messages and principles that the Declaration contains and to remind UN Member States and all other stakeholders that its implementation is as important today as ever. It is a time to reflect on the positives, but also to acknowledge the many problems that remain in every region. I am concerned by some negative trends that we are witnessing globally and by the information I receive from minorities on a daily basis that demonstrates to me that we cannot relax our efforts to protect the rights of minorities, but rather we must intensify them. In some countries affected by conflict and communal tensions minority families and communities are at risk of violence in their everyday lives. Today the rights and security of religious minorities is perhaps of particular concern in all regions and attacks on individuals, communities and their places of worship have increased alarmingly. Racist and xenophobic attacks are on the rise in some countries, sometimes inspired by a political and social discourse of “them and us” in which minorities, migrants and those with another faith, color, language or culture are portrayed negatively including in the media and particularly in these