A/78/195 officials, but even at times among United Nations officials. 25 Examples would emerge of such negation in the case of unrecognized minority communities, of denial that a new or non-traditional religious community could be a minority, of minorities deemed “unprotected” because they were not citizens, or even at times claims that one particular community was “not marginalized enough” or were not really a d istinct community from the majority population in terms of language, religion or culture. 54. Through his thematic report on the four categories of minorities in the United Nations system, the Special Rapporteur is helping to surmount uncertainties or obstacles caused by a lack of guidance on the significance of these categories and how these affect the groups that can claim to objectively exist. 55. In that report, the Special Rapporteur clarifies how descent-based or “lifestyle” groups can constitute ethnic minorities under international law, with the former including such groups as Dalits, the Burakumin and so-called caste communities, while the latter can include seafaring and nomadic groups, such as Dao, Moken, Tuaregs and Bedouins, and Travellers and Roma (ibid., para. 70 (a)). 56. It is also finally clear that religious or belief minorities in the United Nations system can be made up of persons who belong to non-hierarchical or non-formalized religions or beliefs (such as Falun Gong, shamanism, brujería, Rastafari or böö mörgöl), or of non-believers and new faiths (atheists, agnostics, Scientologists, Baha’i, Ahmadis or Mormons) or sects or divisions within mainstream majority religions in a State (Shi’a Islam, Shaktism, Haredi Judaism or Ahmadiy ya) (ibid., para. 59 (a)). 57. Similarly, the clarifications made regarding the content of the categories provide greater certainty in language matters. There is now no doubt that the users of sign languages can be considered members of a linguistic minori ty, since sign languages are objectively natural languages. There is also more than one sign language worldwide, and each of the users of each of these sign languages can be considered to be members of distinct linguistic minorities. The Special Rapporteur has consistently included these people as persons who belong to linguistic minorities throughout the period of his mandate. 58. There is also now finally a firm basis for understanding and accepting as linguistic minorities those communities whose speech involves full-fledged languages in linguistic terms, such as Haitian Creole (kreyòl ayisyen), Cantonese and other non-majority Han languages in China, as well as speakers of languages that have an official status or of migrants who represent less than half the population of a State. This is also true of Indigenous languages in States where the Indigenous Peoples are also not a majority (ibid., para. 50). D. Developments at the legal and institutional levels 1. Impact of the recommendations of the Forum on Minority Issues 59. As part of their Human Rights Council mandates, Special rapporteurs – in addition to providing a complaints mechanism for alleged violations of human rights – contribute to the development of international human rights standards, engage in advocacy and raise public awareness. The mandate on minority issues additionally includes coordination of and support for the Forum on Minority Issues __________________ 25 14/21 In one internal United Nations document, it is suggested that there is a widespread lack of acknowledgement of minority issues in United Nations country missions, even to the point of ignorance or denial of the existence of any minority in a given country. See, United Nations network on racial discrimination and protection of minorities, consolidated revisions for February 2023 senior meeting, annex: scan of UN Country Level Programming Documents. 23-15818