the importance of the Forum and this year’s thematic. He stressed that combating violence and atrocity crimes is a prime example of where UN entities cannot work in isolation and joint efforts throughout the system are required to have an impact. He stressed that systemic discrimination is often at the root of identity-related tensions and that such tensions can develop into crises that can lead to conflict, forced displacement and, in the worst cases, to atrocity crimes, including genocide. He articulated how racial discrimination undermines human rights protection, efforts to secure peace, security and sustainable development. He underlined the need for coordinated efforts to prevent and address violence and atrocity crimes targeted against minorities. Furthermore he stressed that it is very important to take into account the fact that minority women and girls are often targeted, including for sexual violence in detention or in armed conflicts. He concluded by emphasising the need to focus on those minorities who are the most politically, economically and/or socially marginalised and to further develop national and international dialogue. UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD), Ms. Anastasia Crickley Ms. Crickley started by giving an overview of legal standards, including the Declaration, relevant to the protection of minorities and stressed that issues pertaining to minority protection are of central importance to the work of CERD. She discussed CERD’s long established Early Warning and Urgent Action Procedure, which seeks to find possible measures to prevent and respond more effectively to violations of the Convention. She discussed how this tool can be important for alerting the international community, to prevent existing problems from escalating into conflicts and to prevent, or limit, the scale of serious violations of the Convention. She stressed that in February 2005 the Committee adopted the Declaration on the Prevention of Genocide and later that year developed a set of indicators to assess components of situations leading to conflict and genocide. She highlighted the importance of monitoring State parties’ compliance with their treaty obligations and the inclusion of analysis relating to the above-mentioned indicators within Concluding Observations. She noted that systematic discrimination, disregard for minority rights and exclusion are often among the root causes of conflict and stressed the importance of effective implementation of these recommendations within Member States. She also emphasised that responding effectively to violence and atrocity causes also requires initiatives by Treaty Bodies Committees, in line with their Conventions. United Nations Secretary-General’s Special Adviser on the Responsibility to Protect. Ms. Simona Cruciani on behalf of Ms. Jennifer Welsh Ms. Cruciani began by reminding the Forum of commitments made by States in 2005 to protect their populations from genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity. Following a short overview of the Declaration, she stressed the critical situation 6