CONCEPT NOTE 17th session of the UN Forum on Minority Issues 28 – 29 November 2024 Minority representation and self-representation in public spaces and discourses 1. The 17th session of the United Nations Forum on Minority Issues will be convened on 28 and 29 November 2024 at the Palais des Nations in Geneva pursuant to Human Rights Council resolution 6/15 of 28 September 2007 and resolution 19/23 of 23 March 2012. This year, the theme of the UN Forum is the representation and self-representation of minorities in public spaces and discourses. A. Background 2. The 17th UN Forum on Minority Issues focuses on promoting the inclusion of national or ethnic, religious and linguistic minorities through their representation and self-representation in public spaces and discourses. 3. The representation of minorities in society as a whole impacts their effective participation in decision making and in cultural, religious, social, economic and public life, as laid out in the UN Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities. Self-representation of minorities in public spaces is key to the substantial and positive contribution of minorities to society, with a view to change the societal perception of minorities as constitutive and valuable parts of more open, cohesive and diverse societies. 4. Fair representation is twofold. On the one hand, states must ensure that persons belonging to minority groups enjoy equal rights without discrimination on any ground and must take appropriate measures to facilitate the representation of 1