A/67/293 V. The importance of institutional attention to minority issues in conflict prevention and the protection of minorities 37. The prevention of mass atrocities, intergroup tensions and conflict, including when owing to violations of minority rights, is an important impetus for institutionalizing attention to minority issues, particularly where tensions or conflict exists or has previously occurred. The former Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, remarked that “[W]e must protect especially the rights of minorities, since they are genocide’s most frequent targets”. 14 The General Assembly in the preamble to the Declaration considered “that the promotion and protection of the rights of persons belonging to … minorities contribute to the political and social stability of States in which they live”. This statement was echoed by Heads of State and Government in paragraph 130 of the 2005 World Summit Outcome, 15 where they also committed themselves to the responsibility to protect populations from genocide, war crimes and ethnic cleansing (paras. 138 and 139), the importance of which is emphasized by the Independent Expert in relation to minorities at risk. 38. Institutionalizing expertise in minority rights before tensions arise enhances the potential to identify problems early and implement effective prevention measures. Under her mandate, the Independent Expert has noted 16 that among the essential elements of strategies to prevent conflicts involving minorities are: respect for minority rights; dialogue between minorities and majorities; and the constructive development of practices and institutional arrangements to accommodate diversity. In the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action adopted by the World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance, held in Durban, South Africa, from 31 August to 8 September 2001 17 States were urged to recognize that techniques, mechanisms, policies and programmes for reconciling conflicts based on factors related to race, colour, descent, language, religion, or national or ethnic origin and for developing harmonious multiracial and multicultural societies needed to be systematically considered and developed. 39. National institutions with minority rights expertise can facilitate arbitration, dialogue, national debate and activities to prevent and find solutions to ethnic or religion-based tensions. Independent bodies are particularly important when a minority group considers the Government to be the cause of its grievances or to be unresponsive to them, or in situations where an independent intermediary is needed to overcome lack of trust between conflicting groups. Under her mandate, the Independent Expert has noted that sustainable peace is highly dependent on the participation of all population groups in peace negotiations and resulting State institutional arrangements. 18 40. The National Cohesion and Integration Commission of Kenya was created in 2008, following ethnically based election violence, to “facilitate and promote __________________ 14 15 16 17 18 14 See Secretary-General’s press release SG/SM/9126/Rev.1 of 11 February 2004. See General Assembly resolution 60/1 of 16 September 2005. Available from http://www.un.org/summit2005/documents.html/. See the report of the Independent Expert on minority issues (A/65/287), which focuses on the role of minority rights protection in conflict prevention. See A/CONF.189/12 and Corr.1, chap. I. See A/65/287. 12-45950