A/75/211 I. Introduction 1. The Special Rapporteur on minority issues submits the present report to the General Assembly pursuant to his mandate, as established in Commission on Human Rights resolution 2005/79 and extended most recently by the Human Rights Council in its resolution 43/8. 2. The Special Rapporteur provides a summary of his activities in 2019 and 2020 since his previous report to the General Assembly (A/74/160), then introduces a study on the significance and scope of the four categories of minorities (national or ethnic, religious and linguistic minorities) in international law. The Special Rapporteur intends to use the present study to provide much needed clarity in the understanding of and practice relating to the four categories of minorities for the purposes of his mandate and in the recognition and promotion of the human rights obligations of States. II. Activities of the Special Rapporteur in 2019 and 2020 3. As part of his mandate, the Special Rapporteur has engaged in a number of activities, with the aim of conducting thematic studies; conducting country visits; communicating with Governments and other actors on alleged violations of the rights of minorities; promoting good practices; and increasing awareness and understanding on the human rights of persons belonging to minorities, which underpin his mandate. Some of the focus areas addressed and activities carried out by the Special Rapporteur are highlighted below. A. Activities related to thematic priorities 4. The Special Rapporteur identified four thematic priorities in his first statement to the General Assembly in October 2017. In 2018, he focused on the theme of statelessness as a minority issue, and he often continues to raise this issue in presentations and through his participation in activities around the world, as highlighted in the present report. 5. The Special Rapporteur also engaged in activities in 2019 and 2020 for his second thematic priority on education, language and the human rights of minorit ies, which is an issue of great significance for the identity of linguistic and other minorities. 6. In his 2020 and 2021 activities, the Special Rapporteur will address the third thematic priority of hate speech targeting minorities in social media. As i n the case of statelessness, hate speech in social media tends to overwhelmingly target and have an impact on minorities and is therefore first and foremost a minority issue. B. Regional approaches to mandate 7. In his first report to the Human Rights Council in March 2018, the Special Rapporteur indicated the possibility of a regional approach to the Forum on Minority Issues, in order to make it more accessible to minorities in different parts of the world and better reflect regional concerns and contexts. 1 The first steps towards such an approach were undertaken in 2019, with the organization in May 2019 of a European regional forum at the European Parliament in Brussels, an Asia-Pacific regional forum in Bangkok in September 2019 and a regional forum on Africa and the Middle East and North Africa Region, held in Tunis in October 2019 on the theme of education, language and the human rights of minorities. Although initially planned to be held in four regions __________________ 1 20-09835 See A/HRC/37/66, para. 64. 3/20