A/HRC/55/51 financing of human rights activities and mechanisms within the United Nations is inadequate.36 In that context, it is the responsibility of the Special Rapporteur, in order to maximize the impact of his actions, to coordinate with other relevant human rights mechanisms and bodies. That starts within the special procedures, where the absence of a clear legal definition of minority issues causes overlapping among the various mandates. The work of most treaty bodies is also relevant for the different categories of minorities. Thus, coordination and cooperation will also be sought. 50. The Special Rapporteur will also try to engage and cooperate with existing regional mechanisms for human rights protection, in all regions of the world. Also, he will seek, as far as possible, cooperation with specialized national bodies that are relevant to the promotion and protection of minorities. The purpose of such an initiative is to rationalize work and to avoid overlapping efforts. Naturally, those efforts will not be detrimental to cooperation and strong interactions with other stakeholders, such as representatives of minorities, nongovernmental organizations and the academic community. 51. Fifth, time is now ripe for a special fund for minorities to be established. Such a permanent funding scheme, allowing and encouraging the meaningful participation of minority representatives in more United Nations activities, is a necessity. It should play a role in the fulfilment of the second priority above, which is the mainstreaming of minority issues on the agenda of the United Nations, through the inclusion of minority concerns in the post-2030 agenda. 52. Sixth, and in contrast to the bleak image of efforts made by the United Nations during the past 30 years on minority issues (see para. 4 above), the Minorities Fellowship Programme,37 run by OHCHR since 2005, has been a success story for the past two decades. It is a comprehensive training programme for human rights and minority rights defenders who belong to national or ethnic, religious and linguistic minorities. The current Special Rapporteur will strengthen the interaction of the mandate with the programme and the network of former minority fellows in the discharge of his functions. 53. Seventh, the Special Rapporteur intends to develop a global academic network on minority issues. Coming himself from academia, he is well aware of the importance of involving younger generations in the advancement of human rights throughout the world. Beyond working with fellow academics, the Special Rapporteur will try to set up a model of “breakthrough workshops on minority issues”, involving students (and their professors) in a network of academic projects to tackle local minority issues (based on the model of law clinics). If financing allows, those most adept at solving minority issues will be invited to participate in United Nations human rights events in Geneva. Efforts at producing and disseminating academic materials on minority issues will also be pursued. VI. Envisaged thematic reports 54. The preparation, drafting, dissemination and discussion of thematic reports is one of the most important contributions of a Special Rapporteur. The three previous Special Rapporteurs contributed greatly to the exploration of the many facets of minority issues. The newly appointed Special Rapporteur has no intention of revisiting the themes that they have already covered, even though many of the issues previously raised and discussed will be examined from a different perspective and under a different light, with the aim of engendering an improved shared understanding of minority issues. The order of the presentation of the themes below is not indicative of the order in which the thematic reports will be submitted to the Human Right Council or the General Assembly. The order in which the reports will be submitted depends on the progress of research and the pertinence of the issues over the coming years. 55. One thematic report will be devoted to the very object of the mandate, that is “minority issues”. Two reasons prompt an exploration of the theme. First, a conceptual reason: as outlined above, in 1948, the General Assembly underlined that the question of minorities was 36 37 GE.24-00944 See www.ohchr.org/en/statements/2023/06/we-need-double-our-budget-high-commissioner-volkerturk. For more information on this programme, see www.ohchr.org/en/about-us/fellowshipprogrammes/minorities-fellowship-programme. 13