The Assistant Secretary-General added that this includes aligning our economies with human rights, especially for groups in a vulnerable situation like minorities. In addition, she emphasized that it is time to ground economic choices in human rights principles, norms and obligations and work together towards human rights economies, as a human rights-centred economy focuses on people and the planet, promoting social cohesion by economically including persons belonging to minorities and respecting their rights. She noted that by ensuring that persons belonging to minorities are economically included, and their rights are respected, we can create more stable and harmonious societies where grievances are addressed through peaceful means and she added that we must overcome any “invisibility” of minorities and move towards genuine “indivisibility” of all human rights for everyone, including minority rights for persons belonging to minorities. She concluded by saying that this approach is vital for sustainable development, peace and stability, addressing issues like poverty, inequality and discrimination, and that inclusive and transparent decisionmaking in economic policies is crucial for the effective implementation of these ideals. The OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities H.E. Mr. Kairat Abdrakhmanov referred to his Office’s most recent Recommendations on the Effective Participation of National Minorities in Social and Economic Life, a set of guidelines and recommendations distilling the knowledge and experience that his institution has gathered during the past 30 years about creating opportunities for national minorities and persons belonging to them and increasing their participation in public life. He noted that these recommendations aim to provide guidelines to the OSCE participating States and beyond on how to ensure that everyone in society is included in all aspects of social and economic life, so that no one is left behind. The High Commissioner on National Minorities emphasized the importance of this document in aiding to devise inclusive policies that take everyone’s interests into account, thereby ensuring that everyone participates fully in the respective societies and as such safeguarding and strengthening social cohesion. He equally noted that the document makes a reference to the recommendations issued by this Forum in several sessions throughout the past years. The High Commissioner on National Minorities pointed out that respecting and promoting human rights is essential for his Office’s conflict prevention mandate, as well as for peacebuilding and achieving the SDGs and that he will continue to work with all international actors to seek synergies and explore the complementarity in this field. As an example, he referred to the recent joint event of the OSCE HCNM and UNOG in Geneva on Promoting Conflict Prevention through the Socio-Economic Inclusion of Minorities. The High Commissioner reiterated that sustainable peace and conflict resolution can only be achieved when human rights are respected and when equal opportunities – whether social, economic, or otherwise – are made available to everyone, including persons belonging to national minorities. In this respect, he emphasized the importance of creating an open space for dialogue and sharing good practices are essential for inclusive policies to take hold in order to finally build stronger and resilient societies. The Special Rapporteur on minority issues Prof. Nicolas Levrat noted that, during his mandate, he intends to show and highlight, regarding minorities and cohesive societies, how guaranteeing and promoting minority specific position in national societies will contribute to enhancing the richness and cohesion of national societies. He pointed out that considering the contribution of persons belonging to minorities in cohesive societies, robust social fabric and resilient social systems will in turn benefit the individual situations of persons belonging to minorities. Regarding equality, he also emphasized that non-discrimination not only consists of avoiding treating differently persons in the same situation, but also avoiding treating equally persons in different situations. He emphasized therefore that equality means that persons belonging to a minority should be treated both equally and differently than persons belonging to the majority or the dominant part of society. As for the social inclusion and the socioeconomic participation of persons belonging to minorities, while the Special Rapporteur noted the absence of specific provisions on socio-economic rights of persons belonging to minorities, 3