A/HRC/19/27 discriminated against and lack the protection of adults responsible for defending their rights and best interests, including minority children. The groups of children likely to be exposed to violence include those who are from other ethnic minorities and minority religious or linguistic groups. C. Statements 81. On 2 March 2011, the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination expressed alarm at the violent clashes taking place in the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya and their impact on the situation of foreign citizens and minority groups living in the country. The Committee drew attention to the excessive use of force against the civilian population in the country and acts of violence against foreigners, as well as the reported exodus of populations from neighbouring countries. It also called on the international community and the United Nations system to seek urgent measures to protect non-citizens, migrant populations, migrant workers, refugees and other minority groups in the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya and avoid the risk of inter-ethnic violence and divisions. IV. Special procedures 82. In its resolution 16/6, the Human Rights Council extended the mandate of the independent expert on minority issues for three years. 83. The independent expert conducted a mission to Rwanda from 31 January to 7 February 2011, after which she emphasized that Government efforts to forge unity and social cohesion behind a Rwandan national identity and to diminish ethnicity as a mobilizing and destructive force in society should not in any way restrict, and were not incompatible with, the rights of individuals and communities to freedom of expression and to freely identify as belonging to an ethnic group. She also conducted an official visit to Bulgaria from 4 to 11 July 2011, where she called upon the Government of Bulgaria to match European Union and non-governmental organization-inspired policies on Roma integration with Government-led implementation and the financial resources necessary to improve living conditions of the Roma in Bulgaria. 84. At its seventeenth session, the Human Rights Council appointed Rita Izsak as the new independent expert on minority issues. She succeeded Gay MacDougall, who was appointed as the first mandate holder in 2005 and whose mandate was renewed in 2008. 85. During the reporting period, other special procedures mandate holders also looked into the situation of minorities within their respective mandates, as seen in the recent report of the Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression presented to the General Assembly at its sixty-sixth session (A/66/290). In his report, the Special Rapporteur pointed out that the strategic response to expressions deemed as offensive or intolerant was more speech that educates about cultural differences; that promotes diversity and understanding; more speech to empower and give voice to minorities, for example, through the support of community media and their representation in mainstream media. Expressions of opinion and dissent, religion and belief, including by persons belonging to minorities or vulnerable groups, should never be subject to restrictions. 86. In his report submitted to the Human Rights Council (A/HRC/17/40), the Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance addressed the human rights situation of Roma. In his report, the Special Rapporteur aimed to show that, despite the wide range of measures taken by States to eliminate racism and racial discrimination against Roma, the Roma continued to be 16