A/HRC/55/35 the fact that “vicious hate speech is not only directed at women and girls, but also people of African descent, Jews, Muslims, LGBTIQ+ people, refugees, migrants, and many other people from minority groups”.18 15. The fifth annual report of the Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar highlighted the escalation of violence in Myanmar. The Mechanism continued to actively monitor the deteriorating situation in Myanmar and to collect, analyse and share evidence of the most serious international crimes committed. A major focus remained on investigating crimes against the Rohingya, especially those committed during the 2016 and 2017 “clearance operations” carried out by security forces of Myanmar in Rakhine State. The Mechanism was also supporting three jurisdictions pursuing investigations or proceedings related to crimes committed against the Rohingya.19 16. In September, in relation to the situation in Azerbaijan/Armenia, the High Commissioner commented that each State should protect the existence and the national or ethnic, cultural, religious and linguistic identity of minorities within its territory and encourage conditions for promoting that identity.20 The Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions urged Azerbaijan to guarantee the rights of ethnic Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh and to ensure that the lives of civilians, detained persons or those otherwise hors de combat were respected and protected in line with its international obligations.21 17. In October, OHCHR held a workshop at the 2023 Geneva Peace Week with the African Union and the World Bank on early warning systems in Africa. A key takeaway from the workshop was the recognition of the important role played by community actors in providing primary data to support early warning and risk analysis, as well as to bridge the gap between early warning and early response at the national level. Some participants representing faith-based organizations and minorities raised the need to strengthen community-based structures that had traditionally served as peace mechanisms. The workshop also focused on the need to protect minorities from online attacks, marginalization and hate speech.22 18. In its concluding observations on the Islamic Republic of Iran, the Human Rights Committee questioned the disproportionate use of the death penalty against members of minorities and called upon the authorities to ensure that the death penalty was imposed only for the most serious crimes and to give due consideration to establishing a moratorium on the death penalty. It also remained concerned by lengthy detention periods without trial, incommunicado detention in unacknowledged detention centres, and the lack of access to lawyers and communication with families, in particular with regard to human rights defenders and members of minority groups. C. Preventing and addressing acts of discrimination 19. In his 2023 report to the General Assembly, the Special Rapporteur on minority issues highlighted the rise of hate speech, hate crimes, and new record levels of antisemitism, Islamophobia, anti-Black racism, xenophobia and intolerance, with social media becoming a platform for the spread of dehumanizing language usually targeting minorities, often minority women, even normalizing violence against them. He called upon the United Nations to – inter alia – address what he described as “inaction and negligence” in relation to the protection of the rights of minorities when compared to the initiatives provided for other vulnerable groups, concentrate efforts on conflict prevention rather than on conflict 18 19 20 21 22 GE.23-26212 See https://www.ohchr.org/en/statements-and-speeches/2023/03/global-update-high-commissioneroutlines-concerns-over-40-countries. A/HRC/54/19, paras. 3, 12–21 and 67. See https://www.ohchr.org/en/statements-and-speeches/2023/09/azerbaijan-armenia-comment-unhuman-rights-chief-volker-turk. See https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2023/09/azerbaijan-must-respect-and-protect-livesethnic-armenians-nagorno-karabakh. See https://www.genevapeaceweek.ch/en/programme/schedule/how-can-early-warning-systems-inafrica-address-inequalities-and-build-trust-with-human-rights-at-the-center-a-peer-to-peer-exchange. 5