With this aim in mind, we organized four regional anniversary activities, focusing on some of the most urgent and topical minority rights themes, and explored ways to use the principles of the Declaration to address then. We started these regional activities in Vienna in May with a seminar, organized in cooperation with the government of the Austria, examining the protection of religious minorities, a major challenge in many parts of the world. Participants agreed that while principles of non-discrimination and freedom of religion are central to the protection of religious minorities, the Declaration and other minority rights standards provide important complementary provisions, and that this potential has not been fully exploited in human rights discourse. Participants made a number of concrete proposals, aimed to enhance the work of national human rights institutions, regional organisations, the UN and others to address the critical human rights problems that many religious minorities face. The Vienna seminar was followed by a regional consultation held in Bangkok in September on the role of the United Nations, and other human rights and development actors in advancing the participation of minorities in poverty reduction and development strategies in South East Asia. At the Bangkok consultation, representatives of UN entities, national human rights institutions and non-governmental organizations examined specific challenges that minorities face in participation in, and benefitting from, efforts to achieve in Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Comments and proposals made at the consultation can be useful also in the on-going and future work on the post-2015 MDG agenda, and in the inclusion of equality concerns in this process. In our regional expert workshop organized in Bishkek in October, OHCHR focused on effective participation of persons belonging to minorities in law enforcement and in building an inclusive and responsive police force and judiciary. Building on country experiences, participants formulated a list of recommendations, including calls for concrete measurable action to facilitate minority participation in the judiciary and law-enforcement aiming to ensure that their composition will reflect the linguistic and other diversity present n every society. Our most recent regional consultation took place last week in Doha, with a focus on how to reflect diversity in the process of constitutional reforms. At Doha consultations, experts in the fields of human rights and constitutional law examined rapid constitutional developments, notably in the Middle East and North Africa, and their impact on human rights and minorities. Participants explored ways and means for the UN and other actors to support national efforts to ensure inclusive constitution making processes and to promote constitutional texts that reflect human rights standards and diversity of the countries in question. This is only a sample of the anniversary activities of OHCHR; there are many other initiatives underway, ranging from a specific google hang-out on minority rights next week to incorporating the Declaration more firmly in our minority fellowship programme. 2