Opening speech by Ms Soyata Maiga, President of the 5th session of the UN Forum on Minority Issues “Implementing the Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National and Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities: Identifying positive practices and possibilities” Tuesday 27 Novembre 2012, 10:00am Palais des Nations, Room XX Madam President, Distinguished delegates and participants, Ladies and gentlemen, Friends and colleagues, It is an honour for me to speak to you this morning, while we are opening the 5th session of the Forum on Minority Issues on “Implementing the Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National and Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities: Identifying positive practices and possibilities”. I had the pleasure to take part in the 4th session of this Forum on “Guaranteeing the rights of minority women” last year. Hence I am back with you feeling proud and committed, while being entirely aware of the importance of the role I was given. I am particularly happy to chair this session of the Forum which marks the 20th anniversary of this crucial document, namely the Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National and Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities. These coming days should be seen as a celebration of this important Declaration and the positive results that we got since its adoption in December 1992. This is an opportunity for all of us here to reflect on the promotion and protection of the rights of persons belonging to minorities, in particular the space dedicated to minority issues within our programmes and respective activities, as well as to congratulate each other for the progress we did on this issue. Yet this moment of reflection is also an opportunity for us to be more conscious of the persisting challenges and the numerous hurdles – recurrent and new – that hinder the effective implementation of the Declaration as well as the absolute respect for minority rights in all regions. Since its very first session this Forum was able to give a voice to minorities from all over the world, coming from very diverse backgrounds. It was concerned with central themes like the right to education of minorities and the right to their effective participation in political and economic life in the society they live in. The Forum was also able to pay particular attention to the situation of women and girls belonging to minorities who are sometimes victims of multiple forms of discrimination. I take the opportunity here to appeal to all of you to increase the efforts in order to implement the recommendations of the 4th Forum, while making sure that the rights of women and girls belonging to minorities are guaranteed.