A/HRC/19/56 concerned in a constructive dialogue to achieve concrete solutions to problems and allow the independent expert to provide advisory services and identify opportunities for technical cooperation in line with her mandate. During the reporting period the independent expert has sent communications to Bulgaria and the Czech Republic in the form of allegation letters and urgent appeals which will be reflected in the joint communications report to the Human Rights Council covering the reporting period. 16. The independent expert has been encouraged by positive initiatives of Governments, NGOs, minorities themselves and other actors which have succeeded in very concrete ways in protecting the rights of minorities. Numerous such initiatives have been identified during country visits undertaken by the former independent expert. For example, the use of Roma health mediators working with Roma communities in Bulgaria and other European countries was highlighted as a positive practice by Gay McDougall in her report on her visit to Bulgaria. Health mediators working with and in communities build relationships which allow them to assess and respond to health needs. They provide services such as accompanying Roma requiring medical services, providing information and assisting in contacts with general practitioners and health experts, and communicating health education and information for preventative care. 17. The independent expert will seek to raise the profile of the mandate and of minority issues in the media and encourage international media to pursue specific initiatives focused on minorities and/or encourage them to include attention to minority issues in their ongoing and future thematic initiatives. She will also utilize social networking opportunities and has established a Facebook page dedicated to her mandate to assist the widespread dissemination of information relating to the mandate and to ensure ease of access by minorities to the independent expert. III. Priorities for the work of the independent expert, 2012 to 2014 18. Based on the provisions of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities, the independent expert has identified a number of thematic priorities that will feature in her work during her first term as mandate holder. These priorities also reflect some of the priorities that have been brought to her attention, and have been raised with her predecessor, by minorities themselves. The independent expert wishes to emphasize that, to the fullest extent possible and in line with the provisions of her mandate, her work will take into account the views of minorities and NGOs as well as other stakeholders and that she will take every opportunity to respond to the concerns of minorities. A. The rights of linguistic minorities 19. Issues and concerns have frequently been raised with the mandate of the independent expert relating to the rights of linguistic minorities. The Declaration on Minorities establishes that States shall protect the linguistic identity of minorities within their respective territories and shall encourage conditions for the promotion of that identity. It emphasizes that minorities have the right “to use their own language, in private and in public, freely and without interference or any form of discrimination”. Article 4 of the Declaration requires that “States should take appropriate measures so that, wherever possible, persons belonging to minorities may have adequate opportunities to learn their mother tongue or to have instruction in their mother tongue”. 20. The independent expert will build on the earlier reports and findings of her predecessor in which she identified significant challenges faced by minority groups in all regions who speak minority languages as their mother tongue. Minority languages are 7