A/HRC/61/33 33. In May, in its concluding observations on the combined twenty-fourth to twenty-sixth periodic reports submitted by Ukraine under the Convention, the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination welcomed the adoption of the strategy for promoting the realization of the rights and opportunities of persons belonging to the Roma national minority and related action plans. However, it expressed its concern about the persistent social exclusion of Roma communities, negative stereotypes, low school attendance and high dropout rates among Roma children and the disproportionate impact of the ongoing armed conflict on Roma communities. The Committee urged Ukraine to review its policy framework on Roma communities, allocate adequate resources for its implementation, ensure access to education and social services, register undocumented Roma and adopt measures to combat stereotypes and promote inclusion.31 34. In October, United Nations human rights experts expressed concern over forced evictions and housing demolitions in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, a World Heritage site of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). They noted that the evictions, which displaced over 1,200 residents, primarily members of the Multoni minority, a local Roma community, were carried out without consultation, resettlement planning or adequate compensation. The experts warned that such actions amounted to discrimination and cultural erasure, calling upon UNESCO, its Intergovernmental Committee for the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage and the Uzbek authorities to uphold human rights standards in heritage conservation.32 D. Hate speech against minorities 35. In January, OHCHR participated in the conference entitled “Empower talk: standing against hate and embracing rights” hosted jointly by the Government of Albania and the University of Essex in Tirana. The conference culminated in the adoption of the Tirana Framework for Confronting Intolerance,33 in which participants called upon Governments, private sector actors and civil society organizations to examine the role of education, speech countering and in response to hate speech, emerging technologies and legal tools, including existing frameworks, such as the Beirut Declaration on Faith for Rights,34 in addressing hate speech online and offline. The Framework also included a call for building multi-sector alliances to collaboratively combat intolerance, including antisemitism, Islamophobia/anti-Muslim hate and prejudice against Christian minorities and other religious or belief minorities. Participants called upon technology and social media companies to establish clear, transparent mechanisms to identify and address hate speech while respecting freedom of expression. 36. In January, March and June 2025, OHCHR and the Inter-Parliamentary Union, in cooperation with the International Panel of Parliamentarians for Freedom of Religion or Belief, organized a series of hybrid webinars on crafting pathways to more peaceful, inclusive and just societies. At those peer-to-peer learning events, participants explored the role of parliamentarians, social media platforms and faith-based actors in navigating freedom of expression and hate speech, digital challenges to peace, inclusion and human rights and alternatives to legislation when combating hatred against religious or belief minorities. 37. In February, the High Commissioner delivered a statement at the conference on the role and responsibility of religious leaders in times of war, atrocities and polarization organized by Wilton Park in partnership with the British Embassy to the Holy See and Globethics, in association with OHCHR. The High Commissioner stressed that discrimination, incitement to hatred and violence against Muslims, Jews, Christians and persons belonging to religious minorities were rising across the globe, both online and offline. Those trends, he noted, were often fuelled by politicians, business leaders, media commentators and others drawing from a deep well of historic hatred, atrocity crimes, 31 32 33 34 8 CERD/C/UKR/CO/24-26, paras. 21–24. See www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2025/10/uzbekistan-and-unesco-must-address-forced-evictionsworld-heritage-sites. See www.legal-tools.org/doc/kvj8a9uq/pdf. See www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/documents/press/Faith4Rights.pdf. GE.25-21065