A/HRC/52/27 were still fresh in people’s minds when the General Assembly first adopted a resolution on this issue of global concern.4 26. There were high hopes 30 years ago for steady implementation of the rights of minorities, of their human rights, which would effect a major shift in the lives of many communities and millions of people around the world. The protection of minority rights was seen as vital to conflict prevention, the achievement of sustainable development and the fulfilment of human rights, as the President of the General Assembly recognized in his remarks at the high-level event commemorating the adoption of the Declaration. 5 The Secretary-General also emphasized that minority rights were human rights, that the protection of minorities was integral to the United Nation’s mission and that promotion of those rights was vital to advancing political and social stability and preventing conflict. 27. The verdict from the Secretary-General on 21 September 2022 was not optimistic when he concluded that “thirty years on – the world is falling short. Far short. We are not dealing with gaps – we are dealing with outright inaction and negligence in the protection of minority rights”. The Special Rapporteur also painted a rather dark picture of surging conflicts involving minorities, of disproportionate and increasing levels of hate speech, racist and prejudiced hate speech in social media and hate crimes and attacks fuelled by growing intolerance targeting national or ethnic, religious and linguistic minorities, or growing restrictions on their human rights, including in the use of minority languages in education, and restrictions on the rights of religious minorities, and even increasing numbers of stateless persons in the world – overwhelmingly so because some States exclude particular minority groups from citizenship. 28. Some 30 years later, the question therefore remains how and to which extent, or even whether, the recognition and protection of the rights of minorities at the United Nations have moved forward. B. The recognition and protection of the rights of minorities at the United Nations: a less than glowing record 29. In its resolution of 1948, the General Assembly had clearly indicated that the United Nations could not remain indifferent to the fate of minorities and that it would need to take effective measures for the protection of racial, national, religious or linguistic minorities. 30. An outside observer could be forgiven for concluding that the United Nations has remained largely indifferent: no treaty on the rights of minorities was ever adopted after the creation of the United Nations, while from the 1950s onwards the international community embarked on an extensive period of standard-setting for human rights in international law, as shown chronologically by the following treaties: Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (1951); Convention relating to the Status of Refugees (1951); Convention on the Political Rights of Women (1952); Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons (1954); Supplementary Convention on the Abolition of Slavery, the Slave Trade, and Institutions and Practices Similar to Slavery (1956); Abolition of Forced Labour Convention, 1957 (No. 105); International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (1965); International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (1966); International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (1966); International Convention on the Suppression and Punishment of the Crime of Apartheid (1973); Migrant Workers (Supplementary Provisions) Convention, 1975 (No. 143); Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (1984); Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989); International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families (1990); and Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (2006). 4 5 6 In 1948, the General Assembly declared in a resolution that the United Nations could not “remain indifferent to the fate of minorities” and that it would need “to take effective measures for the protection of racial, national, religious or linguistic minorities”. See General Assembly resolution 217 (III) C of 10 December 1948. See https://media.un.org/en/asset/k1s/k1sd1c79hy.