A/68/268 B. Communications 7. The Independent Expert receives information from diverse sources about human rights violations perpetrated against national, ethnic, religious and linguistic minorities. She has regularly sent communications — letters of allegation and urgent action letters — to Member States relating to a wide variety of minority issues and allegations. Those communications are publicly available, together with responses received from concerned Governments, in the special procedures communications reports. She notes with particular concern the number of allegations of violations of the rights and security of religious minorities. C. Forum on Minority Issues 8. The Independent Expert is required by Human Rights Council resolution 19/23 to guide the work of the Forum on Minority Issues and prepare its annual meeting. The fifth session of the Forum was held on 27 and 28 November 2012. To mark the twentieth anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration, the Forum focused on practical and concrete measures and recommendations aimed at ensuring its implementation in practice. The more than 400 participants included representatives of Governments, minority communities, United Nations specialized agencies, regional intergovernmental bodies, national human rights institutions and civil society. The recommendations of the Forum (A/HRC/22/60) are available from http://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/HRC/Minority/Pages/Session5.aspx. 9. The sixth session of the Forum will take place on 26 and 27 November 2013, with a thematic focus on “Beyond freedom of religion or belief: guaranteeing the rights of religious minorities” (see http://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/HRC/ Minority/Pages/Session6.aspx). It will give a high priority to the identification of positive and effective practices that have been implemented by countries in different regions to protect and promote the rights of persons belonging to religious minorities. The present report will contribute to and inform the discussions within the Forum. III. Minority rights-based approaches to the protection and promotion of the rights of religious minorities A. Introduction 10. In all regions of the world, persons belonging to religious minorities face daily human rights violations. These range from violations of their individual rights and discrimination on the basis of their religious or belief identities to attacks on their community activities and violence against them, their places of worship or homes. They are targeted on the basis of discriminatory national laws and as State policy, and they suffer violations resulting from the disparate impact of apparently neutral laws, from the actions of non-State actors and from the impact of intercommunal tensions. There are millions of persons belonging to religious minorities globally who suffer human rights violations from birth until death. 11. The Expert is deeply concerned about information that she receives from religious minorities that reveals widespread violations of their civil, cultural, 4/23 13-41869