In 2004, the UN Secretary-General created the office of the Special Advisor to the SecretaryGeneral on the Prevention of Genocide. The Special Advisor has a mandate to collect information, in particular from within the UN system, on massive and serious violations of human rights and international humanitarian law of ethnic and racial origin that, if not prevented or halted, might lead to genocide. This provides an earlywarning mechanism to the Secretary–General and to the Security Council, and liaises with the UN system on activities to prevent genocide. The CERD Indicators of Genocide serve as a tool for the Committee, when examining the situation in a State party under one of its procedures, to assess the existence of factors known to be important components of situations leading to conflict and genocide. If one or more of the indicators are present, this is to be stated clearly in the concluding observations or decision, and the Committee shall recommend that the State party report, within a fixed deadline, to the Committee under the followup procedure on what it intends to do to ameliorate the situation. 142 Several CSOs are engaged in early warning monitoring. The International Crisis Group monitors conflict in over 60 countries or situations of actual or potential conflict. Minority Rights Group International hosts a database on the situation of minority groups worldwide that is regularly updated. The Minorities At Risk project is a university-based monitoring mechanism that monitors and analyzes the status and conflicts of politically-active communal groups in all countries with a current population of at least 500,000. (See Annex V of this Guide for website details). M A R G I N A L I S E D M I N O R I T I E S I N D E V E LO P M E N T P R O G R A M M I N g