how preexisting obstacles, which were expanded by the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, have made the implementation gaps even wider, in particular for women belonging to minority groups. They were also invited to take into consideration the conclusions of the Special Rapporteur on minority issues about world’s stateless, minorities as targets of hate speech and hate crimes, and even prohibition from, being educated in their own languages and that, in most violent conflicts in recent decades, minorities have faced the exclusion or denial of their rights. In addition, participants were invited to consider the Special Rapporteur’s recent report, in which he urged the Human Rights Council to initiate a study on how to strengthen the protection of minority rights, including through a new United Nations treaty, and how to operationalize the Secretary-General’s call, in 2013, to mainstream and integrate minority rights across all pillars and activities of the United Nations. Participants were invited to consider whether additional instruments at the international or regional levels are needed, whether existing norms should be strengthened through better implementation, oversight and enforcement, whether businesses or other international economic institutions, including development aid, should be better included in the efforts to protect the rights of minorities, the role of the media in the protection and promotion of minority rights, and in addressing the gaps in the minority protection regime identified during the two days of discussions of the Forum, and how the Declaration can be used to respond to the new challenges that have appeared since its adoption. Presentations on the topic under discussion were made by the following panelists: Ms. Dafina Savic, Founder of non-profit organization Romanipe and cofounder of Uena; Mr. Kwadwo Appiagyei-Atua, Associate Professor of School of Law, University of Ghana; Ms. Farah Mihlar, Senior Lecturer at the Centre for Emergency and Development at Oxford Brookes; and Mr. Lorant Vincze, Member of the European Parliament. Ms. Dafina Savic stated that reform requires innovation. She provided examples of people who were left behind due to gaps in the protection of minorities with focus on persecution, segregation and discrimination. She called upon OHCHR to establish an online global platform which would allow civil society organizations to connect, to be informed about existing initiatives and ultimately to create opportunities to build solidarity. She also proposed to put together the forum on business and human rights forum and the minority forums for a joint discussion on the rights of minorities17. Mr. Kwadwo Appiagyei-Atua called for the need of a legally binding instrument. He stressed that the framework should be founded on the pluralization of human rights approach to promote equality between minorities and mainstream society. He added that any legally binding instrument on minorities should include the right to self-identification and the right to self-governance and should be a duty of States18. Ms. Farah Mihlar stressed that three decades after the adoption of the Declaration, minorities continue to face violations, such as torture, persecution, hatred, discrimination, and displacement violations. She evoked the need to put in place a 17 The integral version of the statements can be consulted on the Human Rights Council Extranet: Pages - 15th session (ohchr.org) 18 The integral version of the statements can be consulted on the Human Rights Council Extranet: Pages - 15th session (ohchr.org)