A/HRC/FMI/2017/1 Discussions During the two-day session, participants will be invited to contribute to four panel discussions under the general topic “Minority youth: towards diverse and inclusive societies”. Each panel discussion will be introduced briefly by a number of experts and facilitated by a moderator, who will guide the discussion towards the formulation of specific recommendations. Participants will be encouraged to make statements or comments, to answer questions from the moderator and to suggest recommendations to be included in the outcome document that the Special Rapporteur will present to the Human Rights Council at its thirty-seventh session, in March 2018. 2. Inclusive education to empower minority youth Participants will build on and update the recommendations prepared at the first session of the Forum on Minority Issues regarding access to quality and inclusive education (see A/HRC/10/11/Add.1), and discuss the challenges faced in adapting education systems to ethnically diverse societies. They will further discuss the provisions of the Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities, in particular those pertaining to the right of persons belonging to minorities to learn or to have instruction in their mother tongue. They may reflect on the longer-term benefits of higher education free from discrimination and of study environments that accommodate diversity. They will share good practices regarding access to education that is respectful of minority identities and the promotion of minority youth participation in student life through the formation of groups, clubs or associations so they can practise their religion, enjoy their culture or speak their language. With reference to standards such as the Hague Recommendations Regarding the Education Rights of National Minorities of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe or the Guidelines on Intercultural Education of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, participants will be encouraged to reflect on specific measures and initiatives, including outreach programmes, targeted scholarships, quotas and other initiatives such as financial and other support, as a means of addressing exclusion, underrepresentation and/or dropout of minority youth — specifically young minority women — in higher education. Finally, participants may wish to discuss the importance of human rights education from a young age for both majority and minority youth in order to further awareness and understanding of minority rights. Participants may wish to explore ways in which minority youth can be encouraged to engage, early on, in being advocates for human rights, within or on behalf of their communities. 3. Participation of minority youth in public life Participants will reflect on the responsibility of Member States, with regard to the Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities, in relation to the right of young persons belonging to minorities to participate effectively in public life, including in the political, civil, social, cultural and economic spheres. Participants will examine how encouraging the participation of minority youth in public life can lead to more cohesion and to the normalization of diversity in society more broadly. Good integration policies can create a society in which everyone has a sense of belonging and of contributing, regardless of their linguistic, cultural or religious background, and which is respectful of these important aspects of their identity. Participants will have the opportunity to consider the role of policies and programmes that are inclusive of the identities of minority youth. In particular, they will consider how raising awareness of and celebrating cultural, religious and linguistic diversity among young people may promote positive attitudes on the part of the majority. This may facilitate inclusion and the realization of the educational, creative and professional potential of minority youth in the wider society. Consideration will also be given to other State practices that have succeeded in developing the potential of minority youth to become 2