A/HRC/13/25 20. Civic education programmes specifically directed at informing minorities about how they can have access to the electoral system should be developed and tailored, as far as possible, to every minority group present in the State. Civic education should be a central component of all public education curricula, describing citizens’ roles and responsibilities and encouraging broad-based political participation for all. Governments should sponsor projects to boost political participation, enhance civic activism and education and promote issue-based advocacy, particularly within minority communities. Efforts should be made to ensure that qualified minorities are hired to develop, manage and/or implement government programmes targeted towards minorities. 21. Positive measures should be taken to overcome specific difficulties, such as illiteracy, language barriers, poverty or impediments to freedom of movement, which prevent people entitled to vote from exercising their rights effectively. 22. Governments and parliaments should ensure the effective functioning and funding of national agencies, institutions and/or mechanisms with responsibility for promoting minority political participation. Effective coordination between ministries and with all governmental institutions dealing with issues related to effective participation of minorities should be ensured. 23. States should ensure that all mechanisms, procedures and institutions established to promote and increase the political participation of persons belonging to minorities take into account the specific needs of minority women, as well as those of other groups within minority communities potentially subjected to intersectional discrimination, such as minorities with disabilities. 24. States should consider what special arrangements are necessary to secure the right of minorities to political participation at different stages of a country’s transition, from situations of gross human rights violations and armed conflict, particularly with regard to refugees and internally displaced persons. 25. States should also consider what special arrangements are necessary to guarantee the right to effective political participation for persons belonging to nomadic communities who are least likely to have traditional documentation or proof of long-term residency in electoral districts. 26. Where citizenship is a requirement for voting, election to political office or appointment to a position in the public service, there should be a reasonable process for attaining such citizenship that is clearly defined, widely communicated and nondiscriminatory with regard to race, ethnicity or religion. The process should not be prohibitive or present deterrents, such as being unduly lengthy, costly or otherwise burdensome for persons who meet the requirements. 27. Efforts should be made to accommodate the political participation of documented and regular migrant workers at the municipal level. This may include recognition of voting rights in municipal elections or the creation of special consultative bodies at the municipal level for enabling dialogue on issues of concern to migrants. 28. Respect for individual human rights must be the context within which measures to promote minority participation are taken; no one should suffer any detriment due to his or her membership or non-membership in a minority, including in systems of regional autonomy. 29. Parliaments are encouraged to establish special parliamentary committees to address issues of particular importance to minorities, and to enhance legislative attention to these issues. GE.10-10615 5