A/HRC/16/45/Add.2 D. Political participation 98. The Government has demonstrated positive practice in promoting the representation of ethnic minorities in the National Assembly. Nevertheless, a number of challenges remain to ensure the effective political participation of minorities at all levels of government. 99. Importantly, ethnic minority communities should in all instances freely select, in a genuinely participatory process, those who will represent them, thereby empowering leaders to take office with the full confidence of their communities. Methods should be sought to integrate the customary governance structures with the process of selection for leadership roles in State structures. 100. The Council on Ethnic Minorities of the National Assembly should enhance its oversight of the work of the Government’s Committee on Ethnic Minorities, and members of the Council should receive training in mainstreaming minority issues into legislation and public policies to make them effective in carrying out their responsibilities. E. Further engagement with United Nations human rights mechanisms 101. The independent expert welcomes the Government’s undertaking to extend further invitations to other United Nations human rights experts in the months ahead. She hopes that these will include invitations to a wide range of special procedures mandate holders, including those with mandates in the area of civil and political rights. Specifically, she recommends that the Government invite the Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief, the Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression, the Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association and the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention. These mandates should be allowed free and unfettered access to all parties they wish to meet and to all regions of the country. 102. The independent expert encourages the Government of Viet Nam to consider possibilities for technical cooperation in the field of human rights, including the rights of minorities, with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. 22