A/HRC/61/41 and North Africa region,74 the Traveller communities in Ireland and the United Kingdom 75 and many relatively small population groups worldwide.76 Issues faced by such communities may differ and can be entrenched in prejudice and social discrimination, but also stem from the displacement of hunter-gatherer and pastoralist communities from their territories (such as the Endorois in Kenya77 or the Rautees in Nepal),78 the prohibition of traditional activities (such as hunting for the San in Zimbabwe 79 ) and competition for limited resources with sedentary populations (such as in the Lake Chad region). 80 As the Special Rapporteur explained in a previous report, 81 the principle of non-discrimination requires differential treatments for persons in different situations. This is the case with regard to non-sedentary populations, and the current framework of minority rights is not adapted to the type of minority issues that such populations face. IV. Conclusions 83. In the present thematic report, the Special Rapporteur details the need to better understand the root causes of minority issues, in order to better and more specifically address those issues, for the benefit of persons belonging to minorities, as well as for society as a whole. As was pointed out by the General Assembly in 1948, minority issues have special aspects in each State in which the question arises. The specificity of minority issues is linked not only to the differential forms of issues in different States, but also largely to the different root causes in different contexts. Understanding the root causes and their effects on persons belonging to minorities allows for the design of more specific and targeted instruments and mechanisms to better address and reduce – if not eliminate – the issues faced by persons belonging to minorities. The Special Rapporteur sets out below his recommendations in this regard. V. Recommendations 84. Attempts at exterminating persons belonging to minorities should be qualified as genocide and be treated as such by the international community. 85. Exclusion and invisibilization are severe forms of violation of the rights of persons belonging to minorities. Especially worrying is the invisibilization practised by most States that refuse to collect disaggregated data on minorities. Such disaggregated data would allow for seeing and measuring minority communities and for the design and implementation of policies dealing effectively with minority issues. The Special Rapporteur therefore urges States to collect and use disaggregated data to properly address minority issues. 86. Structural and territorial forms of discrimination, especially through territorial differentiations in investment and development policies, should be identified and monitored, with a view to ensuring better territorial cohesion and justice. 87. With regard to the capacity of persons belonging to minorities to enjoy their rights in community with other members of their group, 82 the Special Rapporteur commends those States whose institutional structures allow for persons belonging to minorities to promote their rights and identity through public mechanisms at the local 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 16 Maisel, Sebastian. “Bedouins: nomadic societies in the Middle East and North Africa entering the 21st century”, The Middle East Journal, vol. 61, No. 2. Amanda Haynes et al., “The significance of the declaration of ethnic minority status for Irish travellers”, Nationalities Papers, vol.49, No. 2. Victoria Reyes-García and Aili Pyhälä (eds.) Hunter-gatherers in a changing world, vol. 737 (Springer, Berlin, 2017). Minority Rights Group International, “Minority and Indigenous trends 2023: focus on water”. See www.undp.org/sites/g/files/zskgke326/files/2024-06/raute.pdf. Ibid. Ibid. A/HRC/55/51. Human Rights Committee, general comment No. 23 (1994). GE.25-20927