A/HRC/40/71 B. Recommendations Eliminating all forms of discrimination 35. States should take legislative and policy measures to combat discrimination against minorities and ensure equal access to human rights and fundamental freedoms, including the right to a nationality for all without any form of discrimination. 36. States should combat discrimination against minorities through education and awareness-raising activities. Civil society representatives can also play an important role in this regard. 37. States should ensure that birth registration, civil registration and national identification documents are provided without discrimination on any ground, in particular race, ethnicity, religion and language. Multiple forms of discrimination, including on the basis of gender or disability, should also be addressed by recognizing the cumulative and aggravated impact of discrimination on several grounds. 38. States should ensure the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals without any form of discrimination against minorities and stateless people, and in particular target 16.9 to provide legal identity for all. 39. States and the international community are encouraged to establish a global programme of action on the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals for minorities, in particular target 16.9. 40. States should ensure that human rights protection applies to stateless minorities, regardless of their legal status and even before they obtain a nationality, as human rights are universal and apply to everyone, regardless of their nationality status. 41. States should include minorities, including stateless minorities, their representatives and organizations in decision-making processes affecting them and strategies and action plans to combat and prevent statelessness. These decisions should be made and steps taken in consultation with and with the participation of minorities. 42. States should consider adopting national action plans to combat statelessness of minorities that should, inter alia, include provisions to eliminate the root causes of statelessness such as racial discrimination, hate propaganda, intolerance and stigmatization. Access to justice 43. States should ensure that all instances of discrimination, hate crime, violence, abuse and persecution of stateless minorities and the defenders of their rights are properly investigated and punished. 44. States should ensure that stateless minorities have access to justice and remedy for human rights violations and that stateless minorities can appeal to relevant judicial and administrative bodies in case of denial or deprivation of nationality. 45. States should ensure that judicial and administrative institutions view such cases in a transparent and fair manner, with no prejudice or discrimination on the grounds of the nationality, ethnicity, religion or language of stateless minorities. 7