me from becoming a lawyer given my background. After my graduation, I continued to fight against multi-layered forms of discrimination and barriers. In short, both my personal and professional experience lead me to emphasise that education is both a human right in itself, as well as an indispensable instrument for achieving many other rights, whether civil, cultural, economic, political, or social. This is especially relevant for minority groups. It has been four months since I took up my post as the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. Since then, I have, through my interaction with the experts and with the support of my staff been able to get many additional insights into the multifaceted aspects of work undertaken by the United Nations and its human rights mechanisms, such as the Treaty Bodies and the Special Procedures. Following its establishment the United Nations declared the protection of minorities to be one of the central purposes of its human rights programme. Successive Decades for action to combat racism and racial discrimination have had in view the protection of minorities and other vulnerable groups. The first World Conference to Combat Racisms and Racial Discrimination (1978) urged all States to abolish and prohibit any discrimination among their citizens on the ground of their ethnic or national origin and to protect and promote the human rights of persons belonging to national and ethnic minorities. The Conference recommended that States adopt specific measures in the economic, social, educational, and cultural fields and in the matter of civil and political rights, in order that all persons may enjoy legal and factual equality and that discrimination between majorities and minorities be eliminated. The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights has described education as an ‘empowerment right’. It is the primary vehicle by which economically and socially marginalized adults and children can lift themselves out of poverty and obtain the means to participate fully in their communities. Applying a human rights approach to achieving universal primary education, the second millennium development goal requires incorporating guarantees and positive actions with respect to education in development strategies in order to ensure non-discrimination and equal enjoyment of the right to education. I am also pleased to note that the Human Rights Council has a dedicated a Special Procedures mechanism to address minority issues. The Independent Expert has helped to give the issues facing national or ethnic, religious and linguistic minorities the attention that they deserve throughout the UN system and among UN Member States. Through her thematic work since the beginning of her mandate, the Independent Expert has brought much needed attention to the situation of disadvantaged minorities in the context of poverty alleviation strategies and the Millennium Development Goals. This work has helped to establish clearly that minorities are being left behind or failed by development processes that don't recognize their unique circumstances of poverty, often created and fueled by discrimination and exclusion. Equally, the Independent Expert has recently shed light on the global problem of discriminatory denial or