A/HRC/10/38 page 12 39. From 26 to 28 November 2008, OHCHR also held a training workshop in Addis Ababa on the promotion and protection of the human rights of minorities and indigenous peoples for OHCHR staff in Africa. A total of 21 staff members from 14 field presences participated in the workshop. In November 2008, OHCHR published an information note on minorities online, entitled “Towards developing country engagement strategies on minorities”, to assist OHCHR staff, United Nations partners and other practitioners.1 The note answers commonly-asked questions about minorities and identifies elements that should be included in strategies to address the situation of minorities in United Nations country programmes. The note is now being tested by OHCHR staff and other practitioners in the field with a view to finalizing a publication at the end of 2009. 40. OHCHR also organized the fifth consultation of the Inter-Agency Group on Minority Issues on 15 October 2008 in Geneva, with the participation of representatives of OHCHR, the International Labour Organization, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, UNICEF, the World Health Organization, the United Nations Institute for Training and Research and the independent expert on minority issues. The agenda items discussed included the information note on minorities: launch, dissemination and further steps; OHCHR minority fellowships and inter-agency cooperation; recent developments at the Human Rights Council, particularly the universal periodic review and its consideration of minority issues during the first cycle and discussion of inter-agency cooperation for future review cycle and in follow-up processes; the UNDP/Inter-Parliamentary Union project entitled “Promoting inclusive parliaments: the representation of minorities and indigenous peoples in Parliament”; and the inaugural session of the Forum on Minority Issues. 41. In terms of bilateral inter-agency cooperation, OHCHR has been conducting a joint initiative with UNDP and the independent expert on minority issues on developing a UNDP resource guide on minorities in development, which was validated through a consultation held on 2 and 3 December 2008 in New York. III. CONCLUSIONS 42. The Council is invited to consider whether it should request that future annual reports submitted to the Council provide information on OHCHR activities related to minorities, both at headquarters and in the field, and a review of relevant developments arising out of the work of the treaty bodies and special procedures. The Council might also consider whether it would be more appropriate for further reports to be submitted by the High Commissioner instead of the Secretary-General. Lastly, the Council might want to consider grouping all reports on minorities, including that of the independent expert on minority issues, the Forum on Minority Issues and the High Commissioner at one time of the year in order to facilitate governmental delegations and permit greater participation by minority organizations in the work of the Council on this issue, if they so wish. ----- 1 Available at www.ohchr.org/Documents/Publications/Strategies_on_minoritiesEN.pdf and www.ohchr.org/Documents/Publications/Strategies_on_minoritiesEN.pdf.

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