A/75/211 the organization of regional forums on minority issues in order to complement and enrich the work and recommendations of the Forum on Minority Issues, and by providing regional contributions and insights that are more contextualized and more accessible for stakeholders in other regions. 76. The Special Rapporteur invites United Nations entities and Member States to take note of the following categories of minorities, as well as the various elements of the concept of a minority as formulated in his 2019 report to the General Assembly, in order to adopt and apply more consistently a common understanding so as to more effectively ensure the full and effective realization of the human rights of persons belonging to minorities: (a) Linguistic minorities. A linguistic minority exists objectively regardless of constitutional or legal status or recognition. Languages include non -verbal languages, such as sign languages, as well as languages that may have little or no literary tradition or even alphabet or script, and may be orally unintelligible from others, even if they share an identical script. Dialects within a same language according to prevailing scientific views do not constitute distinct languages; (b) Religious or belief minorities. This category includes a wide range of religious, non-religious, non-theistic and other beliefs, such as unrecognized and non-traditional religions or beliefs, including animists, atheists, agnostics, humanists, “new religions”, etc. The Special Rapporteur recommends that, wherever possible, United Nations entities and others should replace the term “religious minorities” with “religious or belief minorities”; (c) National or ethnic minorities. An ethnic minority is a broad, inclusive, category bringing together individuals on the basis of origin, lineage or culture and therefore includes nomadic and caste-based groups. A national minority seems to refer to an ethnic or linguistic minority with traditional or long-standing presence on the territory of a State. 77. The Special Rapporteur emphasizes the importance of the free selfidentification of individuals for all of the above categories, that none of them are exclusive, and that they may overlap or change over time. 78. The Special Rapporteur recommends in particular that OHCHR, the United Nations Development Programme, treaty bodies and the special procedure mandate holders of the Human Rights Council review their approaches in relation to the above categories so as to avoid confusion and contradictions. In particular, he urges the avoidance of the use of definitions previously rejected by the Commission on Human Rights. 79. He invites States and other parties to take cognisance of his analysis and conclusions on the concept of a minority and the applicable categories in instruments. 20/20 20-09835