A/HRC/34/53 their right to enjoy their collective identity and to reject forced assimilation; (c) the guarantee of the rights to non-discrimination and equality, including ending structural or systemic discrimination and the promotion of affirmative action, when required; (d) the right to effective participation of minorities in public life and in decisions that affect them. This approach has served as a fundamental tool in the assessment of States’ compliance with minority standards and in defining specific areas of analysis in the thematic and country reports. 33. During her tenure, from August 2011 to December 2016, the Special Rapporteur focused her thematic reports to the Human Rights Council and the General Assembly on the following topics: the role and activities of national institutional mechanisms in promoting and protecting minority rights; the rights of linguistic minorities; minority rights-based approaches to the protection and promotion of the rights of religious minorities; ensuring the inclusion of minority issues in post-2015 development agendas; preventing and addressing violence and atrocities against minorities; hate speech and incitement to hatred against minorities in the media; minorities in the criminal justice system; minorities and discrimination based on caste and analogous systems of inherited status; and minorities in situations of humanitarian crises. At the invitation of the Council, she prepared a comprehensive study on the human rights situation of Roma worldwide, with a particular focus on the phenomenon of anti-Gypsyism. 34. The Special Rapporteur conducted a total of eight official country visits, to Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Cameroon, Iraq, Nigeria, the Republic of Moldova, Sri Lanka and Ukraine. 35. The Forum on Minority Issues continued to serve as a unique platform for dialogue between minority representatives, civil society, academia, United Nations agencies and Member States on the challenges and progress made relevant to minority rights protection. In section E below the Special Rapporteur discusses the current state of the Forum and makes recommendations on how to improve it further. B. List of priorities identified at the beginning of the mandate and updates on achievements 36. In her first thematic report to the Human Rights Council (A/HRC/19/56), the Special Rapporteur identified, on the basis of the provisions of the Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities, eight thematic priorities to feature in her work during her term as mandate holder. These focus areas reflected some of the priorities that had been brought to her and her predecessor’s attention by minorities themselves. In the present section, the Special Rapporteur summarizes the activities undertaken that are relevant to those priorities. 1. Rights of linguistic minorities 37. Issues and concerns have frequently been raised with the previous mandate holder relating to the rights of linguistic minorities. The Special Rapporteur therefore decided to pay special attention to the rights of and challenges faced by linguistic minorities. In order to examine the problems and to identify positive practices from all regions, she prepared a thematic report (A/HRC/22/49) to the Human Rights Council as well as a practical handbook focusing on the rights of linguistic minorities. 38. In her report, the Special Rapporteur emphasized that for minorities, language was a central element and expression of their identity and of key importance in the preservation of group identity. Language was often particularly important to non-dominant communities seeking to maintain their distinct group and cultural identity, sometimes under conditions of 7