minority organisations should take active roles in development planning, implementation and evaluation, and finally, structural change needs strong commitment by policy-makers to produce peace-sensitive policy, but also equal partnership with civil society organisations and a clear National Action Plan providing for implementation of the Declaration. Ms. Atidal Sliman, Project Manager at Ma’an Forum of Arab-Bedouin Women’s Organizations in the Negev, presented on “Awareness-raising to cultural, social, economic and political rights among Arab Bedouin minority women, men and children in the unrecognised villages”. She first highlighted the lack of awareness of minority rights in the context of the unrecognised villages in the Negev and explained the role of her organisation to create a meaningful change in society by enhancing social justice. She gave a brief overview of their projects and activities based on the Declaration, which include the setting up of a legal advocacy support centre providing free legal counselling and representation, awareness-raising through courses and lectures on equality, cultural, political and social rights, and then lobbying at three different levels i.e. at the governmental, decision-making level, public hearing and in local women’s committees and finally through international advocacy including through the submission of reports to human rights treaty bodies. Discussion The following issues were raised during the first segment of the discussion under Item VI: - The importance of raising awareness of the Declaration through active use of social media, campaigns on minority rights and designing of outreach programmes; - The need for States to promote the Declaration, including to institute and promote a national day for minorities; - Examples of measures taken in some States to improve the situation and ensure that the Declaration was implemented in practice; - The need for international exchange mechanisms where different stakeholders could compare existing models and legislative strategies for the protection of the rights of minorities and determine whether such models have been effective; - The need for the Declaration to be implemented not only directly but also indirectly; the direct way encompasses immediate application of its provisions in policy drafting and realisation while the indirect way manifests itself through setting up of such institutional arrangement and work processes and priorities that meet the Declaration standards and further its goals. - The need to remind all stakeholders of the existence of multiple forms of discrimination and violence faced by particular groups, including minority women, amongst the broader minority groups; - The need for further research to be conducted on the impact of the MDGs on minorities and the degree to which they have helped or harmed minority groups as available evidence indicates that minorities have not benefitted equally from the MDGs activities to date; - The need for the post-2015 framework to reflect minority rights standards, including mechanisms for participation of minorities in decision-making on development that affects them and for the framework to also include indicators to monitor the progress of minorities towards the new global goals on development, including analysis of intersecting forms of discrimination; 17