A/HRC/40/71 United Nations General Assembly Distr.: General 28 January 2019 Original: English Human Rights Council Fortieth session 25 February–22 March 2019 Agenda item 5 Human rights bodies and mechanisms Recommendations of the Forum on Minority Issues at its eleventh session on the theme “Statelessness: a minority issue”* Report of the Special Rapporteur on minority issues Summary The recommendations in the present report draw primarily from the discussions and contributions made by participants at the eleventh session of the Forum on Minority Issues, held on 29 and 30 November 2018 on the theme “Stateless: a minority issue” and conducted under four thematic panel discussions on (a) root causes and consequences of statelessness affecting minorities: preventing statelessness through a human rights approach; (b) statelessness resulting from conflicts, forced population movements and migration affecting minorities: main challenges and possible solutions; (c) ensuring the right to a nationality for persons belonging to minorities through facilitation of birth registration, naturalization and citizenship for stateless minorities; and (d) minority women and children affected by statelessness: advancing gender equality in nationality laws. The recommendations are based on international law and standards. They aim to provide guidance to further implement the Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities. * Agreement was reached to publish the present report after the standard publication date owing to circumstances beyond the submitter’s control. GE.19-01246(E) 