Romania on item V 9th session of the Forum on Minority Issues - ohchr 24/25 November 2016 Unites Nations - Geneva Thank you Mr President. Romania strongly believes states have a special duty to protect all their citizens against discrimination and marginalisation. It also believes that it is even more important in cases of crises. When persons belonging to national, ethnic, religious and linguistic minorities should be prevented from being socially and economically left behind. As we could have seen from the forum emerged discussion yesterday and today, the best way to deal with crises is to prevent it. For this to happen a series of steps should be undertaken. Romania, since the reestablishment of the democratic system has been concerned with fair representation of its public life of all of its citizens including those belonging to various minorities. All national minorities have been represented in the Romanian parliament since 1990. Mr President, we solute the presence of NGOs in this session of the forum, as we attach a high importance to the voice of civil society. We encourage the open dialogue, sharing of opinions and experiences. This is the only way to advance the discussion in this field and in this respect Romania will always support the participation of NGOs in meetings having a human rights agenda. We also encourage the NGOs, which have expressed their concerns regarding Romania’s policy on persons belonging to national minorities to also convey their messages to the relevant authorities in Romania. Namely the Council of National Minorities as well as the National Council of Combating Discrimination, which is an independent institution that has a strong knowledge and record of addressing the complaints against actions on discrimination by central and local authorities. Thank you.