Agenda Item 2: “Legal framework and key concepts” Delivered by the Delegation of the United States of America Sixth Forum on Minority Issues Geneva, November 26, 2013 Thank you, Madam Chairperson. The United States is honored to participate in the Sixth Forum on Minority Issues. We look forward to a productive and meaningful exchange of ideas and best practices over the next two days on efforts that States can take to address the important concerns of individuals belonging to religious minorities. The United States strongly supports freedom of religion for all individuals around the world. Respect for religious diversity is an essential element of any peaceful society, and religious freedom is a universal human right that all states have a responsibility to uphold. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights enshrines the right of everyone to freedom of thought, conscience, and religion, and the United States is committed to promoting these universal human rights—including the freedom not to believe. We would underscore that the ICCPR and the Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities, speak of the individual rights of “persons belonging to minorities. For example, Article 27 of the ICCPR says that “persons belonging to [ethnic, religious or linguistic] minorities shall not be denied the right, in community with the other members of their group, to enjoy their own culture, to profess and practice their own religion, or to use their own language,” and Article 3 of the Declaration says that “persons belonging to minorities may exercise their rights…individually as well as in community with other members of their group, without any discrimination.” To that end, the United States expresses its profound appreciation for the Special Rapporteur’s emphasis on the importance of recognizing the diversity that exists within religious minority groups, as well as the need to take a gender perspective into account in this context. The United States lends its support to the statement that “the rights of every single member of such minority groups must be respected fully.”