A/HRC/40/30 33. In August 2018, OHCHR participated in the running of the second minority rights summer school, held in Gagauzia, Republic of Moldova, and organized by the Moldovan youth platform for inter-ethnic solidarity and the Ukrainian Romani youth organization. Around 20 minority young people from different ethno-linguistic and religious communities of the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine attended the event. Young people from the majority community and former OHCHR minority fellows from Georgia, the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine also participated in the summer school. E. Empowerment and participation 34. International minority rights standards emphasize the effective participation of persons belonging to minorities in decisions that affect them, and their full participation in all aspects of public life. In this context, OHCHR engaged in strategies and activities to promote the empowerment and participation of minorities. 35. Established in 2005, the OHCHR Minorities Fellowship Programme is the most comprehensive training and capacity-building programme for minority youth in the United Nations system. Offered in Arabic, English and Russian, the programme aims to provide young people from minority communities with an in-depth knowledge of the United Nations human rights mechanisms and reinforce their advocacy skills to better promote international human rights standards. In 2018, the programme was held from 4 to 30 November with the participation of 40 fellows from 36 countries. While the programme is organized by OHCHR, several other United Nations agencies are also involved, such as the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the United Nations Institute for Training and Research, the International Labour Organization, the United Nations Development Programme, the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN-Women) and the United Nations Children’s Fund. It is run in close collaboration with Geneva-based civil society and NGO partners, and other international and regional bodies such as the Permanent Delegation of the European Union to the United Nations Office and other international organizations in Geneva, and the Council of Europe. 36. To ensure the complementarity and sustainability of work on minority issues at both the global and country levels, the national and regional components of the fellowship programme were held in the OHCHR office in Tunisia, and in the OHCHR Regional Offices for Europe and for the Middle East and North Africa. In addition, two senior minority fellows joined OHCHR at its headquarters in Geneva and contributed directly to its programmes and activities on minority issues. Such exposure also allowed the fellows to develop an extensive contact network with OHCHR staff in general, and with other United Nations departments or agencies, State representatives and human rights NGOs in Geneva. 37. Throughout 2018, the OHCHR country office in Colombia supported the work of the National Afro-Colombian Peace Council, the National Association for Displaced AfroColombians and the National Conference of Afro-Colombian Organizations. The country office provided concrete policy recommendations on collective land rights and reparations for Afro-Colombian peoples to several State institutions. The office also provided continuous technical advisory services to a wide range of ethnic leaders throughout the country. 38. As mentioned above, the Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights conducted a three-day visit to Kyrgyzstan in May 2018, concluding that fair and equal treatment of ethnic minorities was a prerequisite for a just society. He also stressed the need to ensure that ethnic minorities were fully represented in the civil service, judiciary and law enforcement at both the local and national levels. 17 39. In September 2018, in Herat Province, Afghanistan, UNAMA organized a meeting with civil society representatives to discuss challenges faced by minority groups, with particular regard to their participation in the parliamentary and district council elections that 17 See www.ohchr.org/en/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=23109&LangID=E. 9