A/HRC/25/30 minority representatives and other minority rights advocates is essential in order for mechanisms to be able to focus on the most pressing issues and to formulate recommendations that address the key human rights challenges that minorities face. The OHCHR publication entitled Promoting and Protecting Minority Rights: A Guide for Advocates reflects the organization’s experience in the field of minority rights, and offers an important tool for the activities of minority rights advocates worldwide as they seek to protect their rights and participate in the societies in which they live. 12. As part of the launching of the above-mentioned publication, OHCHR held, on 28 November 2013 in Geneva, an expert panel meeting entitled “Strengthening minority rights advocacy through implementation mechanisms”. The meeting examined strategies and practical measures for reinforcing the capacity of minority rights activists to engage with mechanisms at the international, regional and national levels to ensure better protection of minority rights. 13. Under international human rights law, persons belonging to minority groups are to enjoy individual rights derived from universal human rights standards. Article 27 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and article 30 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child both offer binding provisions, while the Declaration offers guidance to States in adopting measures to secure minority rights for all, including women and girls. These and other normative sources of minority rights provide the bedrock for minority rights advocates to claim their rights. These standards would, however, have only a limited impact without the mechanisms created to facilitate their implementation. 14. The panel meeting brought together minority rights experts and advocates to discuss how international and regional mechanisms can be used more effectively to bring about awareness and strengthen capacity to protect. The panel discussions provided an opportunity for participants to share information on how the Guide could reinforce strategies and better empower minorities, including women, to claim their rights through strengthened advocacy and to secure roles in decision-making. 15. As part of the launching, OHCHR also held, on the same day, an expert panel meeting entitled “Rights of linguistic minorities in a digital era”. The panel used as a premise the tension that exists between the usefulness of rapid developments in information and communications technology, and in particular social media, which can facilitate the effective engagement of minorities and strengthen the protection of their languages, on the one hand, and the risk of minorities being negatively affected by the “digital divide”, and the domination of majority languages in the new media landscape, on the other hand. 16. During the discussions, experts on linguistic rights and new media explored opportunities and challenges and discussed how minority rights advocates and human rights mechanisms can work to ensure that the linguistic and other rights of minorities are fully guaranteed in a digital era. The participants included representatives of various United Nations entities, regional organizations, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and minorities, as well as experts on minority rights and on new information technologies. They explored how the rapidly growing digital media and other developments in information technology create new opportunities for minorities, and also looked at challenges that may require a revisiting of the measures needed to protect language rights, freedom of expression, the right to information and the right to participate in decision-making. B. Minorities Fellowship Programme 17. The annual Minorities Fellowship Programme, for persons belonging to national, ethnic, religious or linguistic minorities, was held on 29 October and 30 November 2013. The programme comprised two linguistic components (Arabic and English), and the 5