phase of the research. The research projects and recommendations will be reviewed at the fifth session of the Expert Mechanism in 2012. An issue of the World Conference on Indigenous Peoples (2014) will also be discussed at the forthcoming session. I would like to inform that the Expert Mechanism has proposed to the Human Rights Council to support the full participation of indigenous peoples, including youth and women, at all stages of the preparation of the World Conference on Indigenous Peoples. Another issue on the agenda of the fifth session is the best practices to achieve the goals of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. All the interested indigenous peoples’ organisations, [and] States are invited to cooperate. At the end of my intervention, I would like to distinguish the extreme relevance of today’s forum’s topic. At the recently held 66-th session of the General Assembly, the critical importance of the participation of women in the political, social and economic spheres was underlined. The UN General Assembly called on all States to eliminate laws, regulations and practices that block or restrict women’s participation. The Expert Mechanism supports the draft recommendations on guaranteeing the rights of women belonging to minorities and requests to include in this document provisions obliging States to take measures to achieve the objectives of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. The Declaration contains a clear and consistent framework for the empowerment of indigenous peoples. In the course of implementation of the Declaration specific attention is paid to the rights and special needs of women, youth, [and] indigenous children. States in cooperation with indigenous peoples shall take measures to ensure the protection of rights and interests of women and children against all forms of violence and discrimination.