Item III. Perspectives from young minority rights advocates on the Declaration Under this agenda item, young minority rights advocates shared their views on what the Declaration means to them and their lives in diverse and multicultural societies. They discussed whether the Declaration is still relevant and meaningful to their context, as well as creative ideas to help raising awareness of the Declaration and ensure its implementation in their own societies and globally. Mr Issa Al-Hewetat, presented on “Minorities and the right to education” calling on all States to translate the principles of the Declaration into realistic and concrete actions and promote them widely, including by: incorporating minority rights in the curriculum, developing educational human rights material and programmes with a focus on minority issues, organising awareness-raising campaigns, giving space to minorities to learn, teach and communicate in their mother tongue and establishing special centres for literacy and adult education, especially in remote areas. Ms. Mabruka Sebit and Ms. Rasha Qass, presented on “Minorities and Effective Political Participation” calling upon participants to find new and effective ways to implement the Declaration, and underlining the need to pay specific attention to the situation of young minority women. Stressing that the Declaration would need more visibility, they recommended inter alia that all stakeholders should address this by preparing specific tools, including simplified versions of the Declaration in minority languages, that social media should be used more widely to increase knowledge of the Declaration and awareness of minority rights among the youth and the opening of resource centres to reach out to both the minority and majority population. With a view to strengthen the effective political participation of minorities, they called on Governments to develop tools to promote the inclusion of minority youth in political decision-making. Mr Iurie Caldarari and Ms. Kandya Gissela Obezo Casseres, presented on “Minorities and Effective Participation in Economic Life” first highlighting that, despite existing legal standards, disadvantaged minority groups in all regions still face discrimination and disproportionate levels of poverty. They indicated that people of African descent in Latin America still suffer from racism, discrimination and social exclusion, despite special measures developed in some countries. They pointed to the need for increased investment to improve access to quality education for minority empowerment. With a view to strengthen attention to the effective participation of minorities in economic life, they provided the Forum with a few recommendations, including: for all interested parties to invest more in training young people belonging to minorities by funding regional networks as well as innovative initiatives to promote economic participation, and the need for Government to prioritize the development of sustainable work plans to improve access to micro-credits supporting small and medium companies ran by minorities. They finally advocated for the use of social networks to raise awareness of the Declaration. 6