A/HRC/25/30 participants came from Canada, Colombia, Egypt, Ethiopia, India, Iraq, Latvia, Libya, Nepal, Nigeria, the Sudan and the Syrian Arab Republic. The fellowship enables individuals from minority groups to gain knowledge about the United Nations human rights machinery and to strengthen their advocacy skills. Furthermore, the senior Minority Fellowship Programme brought to Geneva a minority advocate who worked within the Indigenous Peoples and Minorities Section of OHCHR in order to gain specialized knowledge that she could take back to her community. 18. Through its Minorities Fellowship Programme, and in partnerships with NGOs, OHCHR is building the capacity of minorities to make full use of the Forum on Minority Issues and other human rights mechanisms, and to take the knowledge acquired back to their respective communities. Former OHCHR minorities fellows have become leaders in minority rights advocacy, as exemplified by Rita Izsák, the Independent Expert on minority issues. C. Forum on Minority Issues 19. At its sixth session, which was held on 26 and 27 November 2013 under the theme “Beyond freedom of religion or belief: guaranteeing the rights of religious minorities”, the Forum on Minority Issues addressed challenges related to religious minorities, including from the perspective of respect for the right to freedom of religion or belief. In her opening speech, the Chair of the session, Ms. Hedina Sijerčić, reiterated that the goal of the session was to identify measures to guarantee the rights of members of religious minorities to security. The discussions at the Forum covered various minority rights issues, but they focused on the rising tide of violent attacks against members of religious minorities. 20. In keeping with past practice, the sixth session provided a platform for promoting dialogue and cooperation while allowing stakeholders involved in the promotion and protection of minority rights in various regions to meet, exchange ideas and share knowledge. The draft recommendations from the sixth session emphasized the implementation of measures that could address, inter alia, acts of violence and incitement to religious hatred. In this connection, the security of members of religious minorities requires positive and preventative actions, particularly involving States and regional and international organizations, as well as members of the minorities themselves. The role of interfaith dialogue, aimed at promoting interreligious, intercultural and interfaith harmony to combat discrimination and exclusion based on religion or belief, was emphasized. D. Regional and country engagement activities 21. Throughout 2013, the OHCHR Regional Office for Europe continued engaging on the rights of Roma in Europe. In February, the Regional Office hosted the Task Force on Roma, of the United Nations Regional Directors’ Team. The same month, the European Commission adopted its main social policy document of the current term — the Social Investment Package — consisting, inter alia, of a recommendation on investing in children as well as on Roma and migrant children, to which OHCHR contributed and which will potentially be useful for further advocacy. In June 2012, the Regional Office organized the second meeting of the Roma Civil Society Group on the Right to Health (part of the InterAgency Coordination Initiative on Roma Health). Participants from civil society, the United Nations system, the European Commission and the Council of Europe discussed specific issues, including the involuntary sterilization of Roma women and racial segregation in maternity wards, as well as developments in national Roma integration policies since the first meeting of the Group in January 2012. 6