• contribute to efforts to improve cooperation among United Nations mechanisms, bodies and specialized agencies, funds and programmes on activities related to the promotion and protection of the rights of persons belonging to minorities, including at the regional level. The Chair explained the format of the discussions and underlined that all interventions should be focused on the draft recommendations and the identification of challenges and problems facing minority women and States, good practices and the consideration of opportunities, initiatives and solutions. She also encouraged everybody to show respect for others’ views while inviting all participants to exercise decorum, avoid abusive or inflammatory language and uphold United Nations standards when referring to countries and territories. She further reminded participants that given that the principal nature of the Forum is to be a platform for dialogue, as in previous years, the organisers would not seek to negotiate or adopt the final content of the recommendations, rather all contributions would be collected and considered in detail and the final thematic recommendations presented to the Human Rights Council at its 19th Regular Session in March 2012. Item II. International and regional human rights frameworks and recent global initiatives relating to minority women’s rights5 This short session provided participants with a brief overview of existing international standards and principles and recent global initiatives relating to the rights of minority women with a view to set the framework for the ensuing discussions. Ms. Anastasia Crickley, member of the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD), underlined that this session of the Forum was an opportunity to directly assert minority women’s rights. She highlighted relevant international instruments addressing the multiple intersecting discriminations experienced by minority women, including the International Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. She emphasized that the task of ensuring that women from minorities are fully integrated, and that the multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination they experience are adequately and consistently considered by both Treaty Bodies and enshrined in all instruments of the United Nations, was still work in progress, CERD Recommendation No. 25 on gender related dimension of racial discrimination recognises the need for disaggregated data to help in establishing the position of minority women and creating the conditions for addressing discrimination. At the regional level, she reminded participants of ground-breaking precedents for the reproductive rights of minority women established through the European Court for Human Rights. She further mentioned the significant and on-going importance of minority women’s organizations had played a significant role in realising their rights and moving their agendas forward. 5 The full text of the presentations is available on the Forum’s website: http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/hrcouncil/minority/session4.htm 5