Gay McDougall Opening Remarks have the effect of preventing them from fully exercising their economic and social rights and restricting their opportunities to participate fully in economic life. In each case the solutions may be different and finding sustainable solutions requires a detailed understanding of the challenges and the daily lives and circumstances of members of specific communities. We will learn about positive practices that can help to guide us efforts by States and others who have recognized that discrimination and exclusion exist, and that have put in place measures, legislation and practical initiatives to promote nondiscrimination and inclusion of minorities in economic life. Some fundamental principles underpin our work to address the exclusion of minorities from full and effective participation in economic life. Firstly, the right to nondiscrimination and the obligation of States and others to combat both direct and indirect discrimination in order to ensure the enjoyment of a range of economic and social rights. A second essential principle is the right to effective participation of minorities in decision-making and in decisions that affect them and the regions in which they live. Thirdly, I wish to highlight the need for implementation of special measures or affirmative action to address the effects of long-standing and entrenched discrimination on certain minority groups. Previous sessions of this Forum have focused on two issues that are highly relevant to economic participation of minorities, namely education and political participation. The recommendations emerging from those sessions provide an important resource to draw upon and will inform our work, while allowing us over the next days to move beyond those issues and focus our attention towards shaping our recommendations clearly in the area of minorities and effective participation in economic life. In addition to many distinguished delegates from Member States, whom I warmly welcome and thank for their participation, we are joined at this session by experts in the field of economic participation who are themselves from minority communities in every region of the world. They bring with them a wealth of experience across the spectrum of issues that we will discuss during our work together. I am also happy to see 5|Page