Mr Chair, Mr President, Madam Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights, Distinguished Delegates, Ladies and Gentlemen, It is my great pleasure to be with you and to welcome you all to this eighth session of the Forum on Minority Issues. This year’s session will address the issue of minorities and the criminal justice process. It is a very relevant topic: during the course of my mandate I have received numerous allegations of human rights violations committed against minorities in all stages of the criminal justice system as a result of their minority status, extending from police stops, through pre-trial detention to sentencing. These allegations have prompted me to devote particular attention to this issue not only by dedicating this session to the topic, but also my report to the UN General Assembly which I had the honour to present a few weeks ago. International law protects persons in contact with the criminal justice system who belong to national or ethnic, religious and linguistic minorities. It prohibits discrimination in the administration of justice and creates positive obligations to ensure that justice systems are sensitive to, and facilitate effective participation of, minorities. However, other specific rights gain particular importance with respect to particular stages of criminal justice: for instance, the right to life, the right to liberty and security of person, the prohibition of torture and other forms of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, the right to a fair trial and the right to privacy are relevant to surveillance, stop and search, use of force, arrest, questioning, pre-trial detention and criminal trial and sentencing. For minority victims of crime, standards on the right to effective remedy and reparation, and to participation and protection in the criminal justice process, are relevant. Human rights standards also affirm that members of minorities must have equal access to training and service as law enforcement officials, including within the police, prosecution, judiciary and legal profession. Let me highlight some specific concerns for minorities in the various stages of the criminal justice process. The exercise of police powers bears a special importance: should a disproportionate number of individuals from a minority group find themselves in contact with the police as a result of discrimination, then even if, formally, every other step of the process functions impartially, minorities will be disproportionately represented throughout that process. This underscores the importance of strict non-discrimination at the policing stage. The risk of discrimination further increases when police forces do not reflect the diversity within the population. Police often have wide-ranging discretionary powers. Some discretion may be necessary owing to the nature of their work. However, the broader the discretion, the greater the risk of its arbitrary or