A/HRC/46/58 United Nations General Assembly Distr.: General 26 January 2021 Original: English Human Rights Council Forty-sixth session 22 February–19 March 2021 Agenda item 5 Human rights bodies and mechanisms Recommendations made by the Forum on Minority Issues at its thirteenth session on the theme “Hate speech, social media and minorities” Report of the Special Rapporteur on minority issues, Fernand de Varennes* Summary The recommendations in the present report draw primarily from the discussions and contributions made by participants at the thirteenth session of the Forum on Minority Issues, held on 19 and 20 November 2020 on the theme “Hate speech, social media and minorities” and conducted under four thematic panel discussions on (a) causes, scale and impact of hate speech targeting minorities on social media; (b) international legal and institutional framework; (c) regulation of online hate speech: the role and responsibility of intergovernmental organizations, States, Internet companies and social media platforms; and (d) towards a safer space for minorities: positive initiatives to address online hate speech, and the role of national human rights institutions, human rights organizations, civil society and other stakeholders. They also draw from two regional forums, for Asia and the Pacific and for Europe, organized under the mandate of the Special Rapporteur on minority issues on the same theme in 2020. The recommendations are based on international human rights law and standards. They are aimed at providing guidance to further implement the Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities. * Agreement was reached to publish the present report after the standard publication date owing to circumstances beyond the submitter’s control. GE.21-00963(E)