A/78/195 at the country level to combat racial discrimination and advance minority rights, 30 and the release of the #Faith4Rights toolkit in 2019, with training modules that include frequent references to, and strategies aimed at nurturing, tolerance and inclusion of religious minorities and protection of their rights. 31 64. A tool has now been developed to provide greater accessibility to the long legacy of communications, recommendations, resolutions and other initiatives flowing from the work of Special Rapporteurs on minority issues, the Forum on Minority Issues and regional forums. This tool is in the form of a comprehensive, searchable and userfriendly database that contains statements made at the forums, as well as key minority rights standards, reports and recommendations in the field of minority rights. The database was set up by the Tom Lantos Institute in cooperation with the Human Rights Consortium in the School of Advanced Study, University of London in 2018 and is available to minorities, human rights activists and advocates, researchers and other interested parties. 32 65. Lastly, the Minorities Fellowship Programme, the most comprehensive OHCHR training programme for human rights and minority rights defenders belonging to national or ethnic, religious and linguistic minorities, was also reactivated in 2023, having been suspended in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic, though it is to be noted that other fellowship programmes (namely, those for people of African descent and for Indigenous Peoples) have in the meantime been expanded or were not suspended for a similarly extended period. 3. Moratorium on the use of spyware and minorities 66. At times the issuance of communications, whereby a Special Rapporteur can intervene directly with Governments on allegations of violations of human rights by means of letters, may have impacts beyond the individual cases involved. One example that occurred during the Special Rapporteur’s mandate was the decision of the Executive Council of Catalonia, which is the executive branch of the regional government of Catalonia in Spain, to follow the recommendations made by the Special Rapporteur, together with other experts, United Nations entities and international bodies, by adopting a moratorium on the use of targeted surveillance technologies. This was connected specifically with the use of Pegasus and Candiru spyware, which had been used to target Catalan public figures and activists in Spain following the independence bid in 2017. As the Special Rapporteur and colleagues pointed out in the communication, they were concerned by what appeared to be a very troubling interference into the human rights of Catalan leaders and other minority activists to freely hold and express their views, exchange information and ideas, assemble peacefully and participate in associations, and they called for a global moratorium on the sale and transfer of surveillance technology, until robust regulations were in place that would guarantee its use in compliance with international human rights standards. 33 __________________ 30 31 32 33 16/21 United Nations network on racial discrimination and protection of minorities, “Checklist to strengthen UN work at country level to combat racial discrimination and advance minority rights”, 2021. Module 6 on minority rights, available at www.ohchr.org/en/faith-for-rights/faith4rightstoolkit/module-6-minority-rights. See www.minorityforum.info. OHCHR, “Spain: UN experts demand investigation into alleged spying programme targeting Catalan leaders”, press release, 2 February 2023. 23-15818