Tegegn concluded by stating that as economic, social and political factors are no longer local issues but global ones, calls for those endeavours devised to advance the empowerment of minorities and persons belonging to them should by necessity be global as well.9 Dr. Jennifer Jackson-Preece recalled that minority rights facilitate economic empowerment by ensuring that persons belonging to minorities are protected from discrimination, exploitation and exclusion, and that they can participate in decision-making processes that affect their lives. An intersectional approach to empowerment is necessary in this context because persons belonging to minorities often face multiple forms of discrimination, exclusion and vulnerability – for example based on gender, age or migrant/refugee status – that produce additional barriers to their social and economic participation. She noted that the socio-economic empowerment of persons belonging to minorities requires equal treatment and equal opportunities and for that comprehensive antidiscrimination legislation and very special measures to ensure proper implementation of such legislation need to be instated. Regarding the challenges of minority youth, Dr. JacksonPreece stressed the lack of access to quality education and skills training, the high unemployment and underemployment, the lack of access to mentorship and role models and the lack of social capital and civic engagement. She emphasized the importance of targeted scholarships, training programmes, internships, teacher incentives or community-specific programmes, as well as multilingual education. As for the obstacles faced by minority migrants and refugees, she noted the lack of identification or proof of residence, financial barriers, the lack of information about the availability of services or benefits in their host countries, and the inability to speak or understand the language of their host countries and suggested, as special empowering measures, taking all available steps to end statelessness, ensuring information about how to access essential services in a language understood by minority migrants and refugees, recognizing skills and qualifications and offering subsidized or free access to language and skills training in the official language of the host state.10 Interactive Dialogue11 In the interactive dialogue part, participants raised numerous concerns related to minority issues and presented various initiatives. The issues raised included that in many parts of the world, persons belonging to minorities experience killings, torture, direct attacks against persons and property, persecution, (intersectional) discrimination, segregation, racial stereotypes, hate speech, displacement and lack of access to resources, livelihood and education. Persons belonging to religious minorities are forced to convert to other religions. Migrants and refugees belonging to minorities have no access to decent work. The laws and the policies at national level do not protect sufficiently minorities and persons belonging to them or they are not enforced. The Sustainable Development Goals do not mention minorities. As for the initiatives presented, among others, participants noted that addressing minority issues is crucial in preventing conflicts. They highlighted the importance of adopting enforceable laws and policies needed to protect minorities and persons belonging to them; the relevance of empowering women, the youth and migrants belonging to minorities; the value of forging partnerships of and mutual understanding between minorities; the importance of preserving minority languages and promoting cultural identities, providing access to education for persons belonging to minorities, as well as educating the broader society about minorities; the need for taking into account social characteristics; the necessity of protecting all minority rights and securing effective access to minority rights; the value of involving persons belonging to minorities, including women, in peace processes. 9 The integral version of the statement of Dr. Melakou Tegegn can be consulted here. The integral version of the statement of Dr. Jennifer Jackson-Preece can be consulted here. 11 Interventions in the interactive dialogue part of item 2 on “Socio-Economic Empowerment” can be consulted on the UN WebTV here. 10 7