A/HRC/58/54 public spaces and discourses”. The event gathered more than 790 participants from 96 countries, including representatives of States, United Nations mechanisms, bodies, specialized agencies, funds and programmes, intergovernmental organizations, regional organizations, and entities in the field of human rights, national human rights institutions and other relevant national bodies, minority groups, non-governmental organizations and academic experts on minority issues. 34. The seventeenth session of the Forum aimed at empowering minorities in their representation in society, which impacts their effective participation in decision-making and cultural, religious, social, economic and public life, as laid out in the Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities. The related recommendations of the Special Rapporteur will be presented to the Human Rights Council at its fifty-eighth session. III. The right to identity of persons belonging to minorities A. Introduction 35. Article 1 of the Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious or Linguistic Minorities reads: “States shall protect the existence and the national or ethnic, cultural, religious and linguistic identity of minorities within their respective territories and shall encourage conditions for the promotion of that identity.” The present thematic report will be devoted to analysing and better understanding the meaning of article 1. 36. A systematic analysis of the Declaration leads to the easy conclusion that the most defining element of minorities is their identity, an element linked to their very existence. The Special Rapporteur would like to emphasize this point, as the United Nations unfortunately and systematically ignores minorities in its programmatic documents. The word minority does not even appear in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development or its Sustainable Development Goals,5 nor does it appear in the Pact for the Future, despite my best effort to underscore the importance of reflecting minority issues therein.6 The dominant discourse in the United Nations is that minorities are covered by the pledge that “no one will be left behind”,7 the commitment to endeavour to reach “the furthest behind first”8 and the emphasis on “people in vulnerable situations”.9 However, as much as addressing socioeconomic needs and avoiding discrimination against persons belonging to minorities is necessary, it is not sufficient. 37. Persons belonging to a minority group should not only have their socioeconomic situation improved and have the opportunity to fully enjoy their human rights without discrimination, they also need to have their identity recognized. This is important both as regards their full enjoyment of human rights, including their right to a minority identity, and as a pacifying and stabilizing factor of society within a State.10 Failing to properly recognize such identity may (and unfortunately does) lead to tensions within national societies and at the international level. This is why minorities should be treated as such by the United Nations, and not just included in other larger groups of discriminated peoples, which actually constitutes a denial of their identity at the international level. The Special Rapporteur is fully aware that the wording of article 1 of the Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities concerns the existence and identity 5 6 7 8 9 10 GE.25-00509 General Assembly resolution 70/1. See https://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/documents/issues/minorities/sr/Position-PaperIntegrating-Minority-Issues-Pact-Future.pdf. General Assembly resolution 70/1, preamble and paras. 4, 26, 48 and 72. Ibid., paras. 4 and 74 (e). General Assembly resolution 79/1, para. 25. The fifth preambular paragraph of the Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities reads: “considering that the promotion and protection of the rights of persons belonging to national or ethnic, religious and linguistic minorities contribute to the political and social stability of States in which they live”. On this point, see also my report to the General Assembly in 2024 (A/79/169), especially paragraphs 19 and 20 thereof. 5