A/HRC/19/27 release wherein they urged the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland to find a negotiated settlement to the eviction stand-off with 86 Irish Traveller families. They called on the Government of the United Kingdom to find a peaceful and appropriate solution, and adequate alternative housing for the Traveller families faced with forced eviction from Dale Farm, Essex, before the end of August. More than 300 people, a third of the Dale Farm Traveller community, including 110 children, were facing the imminent threat of forced eviction. On 19 October 2011, the forced eviction took place in a context of violence. 94. On 1 November 2011, a group of special procedures mandate holders, including the independent expert on minority issues, voiced grave concern over reports of heavy security measures in and around the area of the Tibetan Buddhist Kirti monastery, which houses some 2,500 monks, and other monasteries in Aba County, an area of Sichuan province inhabited by many ethnic Tibetans in south-west China. The mandate holders also called on the Chinese authorities to respect fully and uphold the rights of minorities, including their rights to freely practice their religion and culture. V. Universal periodic review 95. At its sixteenth, seventeenth and eighteenth sessions, the Human Rights Council adopted the reports of the Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review on various countries. 96. Issues concerning minorities were raised, and recommendations included, inter alia, the adoption of concrete measures to avoid discrimination, exclusion and marginalization and to protect the rights of minorities and eliminate discrimination against religious minorities; effective measures to increase the political participation of minorities, including in public administration, and the participation of minorities in cultural, social and economic life; the participation of minority women; and the adoption of measures to guarantee the rights of minorities to education in their own language and to have equal access to quality education. VI. Conclusions 97. The present report reflects the important developments evident in the implementation of article 27 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, article 30 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities, and with regard to the promotion and protection of minority rights in general. The findings of human rights mechanisms, however, show the numerous challenges and obstacles that impede full implementation. The international community must recognize that the protection of minority rights is not only a human rights imperative but constitutes a key element in conflict prevention. States should remove obstacles to the establishment of conditions for the expression and promotion of the identity of minorities and ensure that such conditions are in line with the Declaration on Minorities and other key international standards. 98. The commemoration of the twentieth anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration on Minorities in 2012 will provide an opportunity to draw attention to the importance of the Declaration while assessing challenges and obstacles to its implementation, and to identify effective practices for implementation of the Declaration and the promotion and protection of the rights of persons belonging to minorities. 18