A/HRC/40/71 Report of the Special Rapporteur on minority issues on recommendations made by the Forum on Minority Issues at its eleventh session on the theme “Statelessness: a minority issue” I. Introduction 1. In its resolutions 6/15 and 19/23, the Human Rights Council decided that the Independent Expert on minority issues should guide the work of the Forum on Minority Issues and prepare its annual meetings, and invited him/her to include in his/her report thematic recommendations of the Forum and recommendations for future thematic subjects, for consideration by the Council. In its resolution 25/5, the Council decided to extend the mandate of the mandate holder as Special Rapporteur on minority issues. The present report, which was prepared pursuant to resolutions 6/15 and 19/23, contains the recommendations of the eleventh session of the Forum, held on 29 and 30 November 2018. At its eleventh session, the Forum considered the theme “Statelessness: a minority issue”. The work of the Forum was guided by the Special Rapporteur on minority issues, Fernand de Varennes. The Chair of the session was Rita Izsák-Ndiaye (Hungary). About 600 participants attended, including representatives of Member States, United Nations mechanisms, bodies and specialized agencies, funds and programmes, intergovernmental and regional organizations and mechanisms in the field of human rights, national human rights institutions and other relevant national bodies and non-governmental organizations, and representatives of minorities, academics and experts on minority issues. 2. The recommendations in the present report draw primarily from the discussions and contributions made by participants at the eleventh session of the Forum. 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. 3. Key elements of the legal and normative framework include the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women, the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the Council of Europe Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities. Specifically on the topic of minority rights with regard to statelessness, the following instruments are of reference: the 1954 Convention Relating to the Status of Stateless Persons and the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness. 4. The recommendations of the eleventh session of the Forum are organized under the four agenda items that framed the discussion during the session. The recommendations: (a) Aim to address a wide range of situations faced by stateless people from minority communities around the world; (b) Highlight the primary responsibility of the State to prevent and combat statelessness by promoting and protecting the human rights of persons belonging to national or ethnic, religious and linguistic minorities; (c) Emphasize the importance of combating discrimination and stigma against minorities, as well as the need to address their systematic marginalization and exclusion; (d) Stress the importance of inclusion of stateless minorities and their representatives in policy and decision-making processes affecting them; (e) Reaffirm that, regardless of their nationality status or statelessness, everyone must enjoy human rights and fundamental freedoms without discrimination and recognize the importance of the realization of the right to a nationality to guarantee access to those rights. 3