A/HRC/52/27 I. Introduction 1. The mandate of the Special Rapporteur on minority issues was established by the Commission on Human Rights in its resolution 2005/79 of 21 April 2005, and subsequently extended by the Human Rights Council in successive resolutions. 2. The current Special Rapporteur, Fernand de Varennes, was appointed by the Human Rights Council in June 2017, and assumed his functions on 1 August 2017. The mandate was extended in 2020 for a three-year period by the Council in its resolution 43/8. 3. The Special Rapporteur is honoured to be entrusted with the mandate and thanks the Human Rights Council for its trust in him. He also wishes to thank the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) for its support in the implementation of the mandate. II. Activities of the Special Rapporteur 4. The Special Rapporteur wishes to draw the attention of the Human Rights Council to the mandate’s web page, where general information is provided on the activities associated with the mandate, including communications, press statements, public appearances, country visits and thematic reports.1 An overview of the activities of the mandate holder between 1 January and 1 July 2022 is provided in the report presented to the General Assembly at its seventy-seventh session.2 5. The Special Rapporteur has continued to focus on increasing the visibility and raising awareness of minority issues – particularly related to his thematic priorities (statelessness; education, language and the human rights of minorities; hate speech targeting minorities in social media; and the prevention of ethnic conflicts) – among United Nations institutions and Member States, and more generally among the general public and other regional and international organizations. He has also focused on new approaches in order to improve the accessibility of activities under the mandate such as the Forum on Minority Issues and on the gaps in efforts to better protect the rights of minorities in the institutions, structures and initiatives of the United Nations. 6. This work has included three main initiatives: (a) Consolidating, in cooperation with the Tom Lantos Institute and numerous regional minority and human rights organizations, the continued organization of regional forums each year on the same themes as the Forum on Minority Issues. This has led, since 2019, to the organization of 13 regional forums on minority issues held in Africa, the Middle East, the Americas, Asia and the Pacific, Europe and Central Asia, with more than 1,600 participants; (b) Clarifying, for the purposes of the mandate, a working definition of the concept of a minority, and the significance and scope of the four categories of minorities recognized in United Nations instruments (national or ethnic, religious and linguistic minorities); (c) Holding a high-level General Assembly event to mark the thirtieth anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities during the seventy-seventh session of the General Assembly in New York, and a series of associated activities. A. Country visit 7. The Special Rapporteur looks forward to continuing dialogue with Cameroon, India, Jordan, Kenya, Nepal, the Russian Federation, South Africa, South Sudan, the Syrian Arab Republic, Timor-Leste and Vanuatu, to which he has made requests to visit. 1 2 2 See www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/Minorities/SRMinorities/Pages/SRminorityissuesIndex.aspx. A/77/246.