A/67/293 or trafficking. Specialist units, focal points or consultative bodies within ministries or governmental institutions on women’s issues can be a means of ensuring that their issues are adequately and appropriately addressed within institutional mandates. This may require specialist or minority staff sensitive to minority issues, and gender and cultural or religious sensitivities relating to women and girls. Along the same lines, the Forum has recommended that national human rights institutions consider specific mechanisms in their secretariats for addressing issues relevant to minority women and girls. 24. Children and young people belonging to minority groups may face unique challenges and vulnerability owing to issues including poverty and discrimination. Institutions whose work centres on children’s and youth issues and education should ensure that their mandates and working practices, projects and programme initiatives are relevant and accessible to minorities. Innovative projects can benefit individual children and may provide venues and opportunities for interaction among young people from different communities, particularly when intercultural and integration perspectives are given attention. Governments may consider supporting specialist civil society youth initiatives. Institutions established to support young people, protect them from possible abuse or exploitation, and provide them with information should also ensure that their services reach and are accessible to those from minorities. 25. Institutional attention to minority rights can assist in international cooperation and prevent international tensions relating to the treatment of minorities. The existence of minorities in a State may have cross-border implications, in cases where, for example, they have a “kin” State or external religious ties. Minorities have the right to maintain peaceful contacts across frontiers. Owing to historical or geopolitical factors, the treatment of minorities may be sensitive. The Office of the High Commissioner on National Minorities (HCNM) of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe has produced recommendations on national minorities in inter-State relations. 8 While protection of minorities is primarily the responsibility of the State of residence, States are encouraged to conclude bilateral treaties and arrangements, share information and concerns, pursue interests and ideas, and support minorities on the basis of friendly inter-State relations. States are recommended to use instruments, including advisory and consultative bodies such as minority councils or joint commissions, and establish mediation and arbitration mechanisms. B. Data gathering and analysis 26. Data disaggregated along ethnic and religious lines and sex reveal inequalities and are a vital resource for informing policy and programming on minority issues. Data allow targets and objectives to be established based on identified concerns which may include education access and outcomes, labour-market activity, health and housing and provide justification for targeted programmes. National statistical bodies and other relevant government bodies should be mandated to collect disaggregated data as a good practice and develop internal expertise on minority issues, and utilize data collection and analysis methodologies relevant to ethnicity, __________________ 8 10 The Bolzano/Bozen Recommendations on National Minorities in Inter-State Relations (The Hague, June 2008). 12-45950