A/70/255 human rights institutions, non-governmental organizations and representatives of national or ethnic, religious and linguistic minorities — is crucial to the achievement of concrete results. VIII. Conclusions 60. Seventy years ago, the founding members of the United Nations committed themselves to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war, to reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights, to establish conditions under which justice and respect for the obligations arising from treaties and other sources of international law could be maintained and to promote social progress and better standards of life in larger freedom. Over the years, that pledge in the Charter of the United Nations has been translated into numerous international and regional treaties on the protection and promotion of human rights for all. 61. However, the increasing number of human rights violations committed against thousands of persons belonging to minorities in different parts of the world in recent months and years shows that those promises remain unfulfilled. Against the backdrop of war and conflict, violence and human rights abuses committed against people on the basis of gender, ethnicity, race, religion or other status have continued, often unabatedly and with impunity. 62. In the face of persisting and, in many cases, systematic discrimination against persons belonging to minorities, and the serious human rights violations to which they are often subjected, the international community has to take stronger action to ensure more effective protection of minorities and their members. The Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities and other international human rights standards provide a solid framework for this imperative task. 63. The initiatives outlined in the present report demonstrate that the United Nations, States and civil society have worked in a range of ways to improve the protection of minority rights. However, the deplorable reality that many minorities face on the ground calls for much more effort: more decisive follow up to human rights recommendations; more inclusion of minority representatives in decision-making, including women; more support to the champions of minority rights at the national and international level; more laws, policies and institutions that address discrimination and impunity and other human rights problems that minorities encounter, and more political will and genuine cooperation to achieve sustainable improvements. Such an agenda would be crucial to counteracting and preventing those who seek to incite hatred and violence by exploiting tensions between groups. Ensuring respect for minority rights and for the principle of non-discrimination is not only a fundamental human rights obligation, but a sine qua non of preventing conflict and violence. 14/14 15-12580