A/HRC/25/30 Government. She urged the Government to allow humanitarian assistance and aid to reach the people and communities affected, and to end impunity for all violations of human rights. 6. In July 2013, the High Commissioner urged all parties in Egypt to make a concerted effort to restore calm by ensuring that the human rights of all citizens were respected and protected during that delicate period. She reiterated her concerns about Egypt’s revised Constitution, as well as about a number of laws and draft laws drawn up since the 2011 revolution, relating to issues such as freedom of expression, freedom of assembly, the freedom for civil society organizations to operate freely and effectively, and the rights of women and minorities. 7. The High Commissioner thanked the Government of Sri Lanka for its excellent cooperation during the planning and realization of her 25–31 August 2013 visit. She expressed alarm at the surge of incitement to hatred and violence against religious minorities, including attacks on churches and mosques, and at the lack of swift action against the perpetrators. She welcomed the Government’s policy of introducing trilingualism all across the country. 8. At the opening of the twenty-fourth session of the Council, on 9 September 2013, the High Commissioner expressed her concern about the continued social exclusion and segregation of Roma in many European States. She pointed to worrying reports about Roma increasingly becoming the targets of hate speech, demonstrations and violence by non-State actors, and observed that the authorities themselves had in some cases adopted policies that increased the vulnerability of Roma populations. She noted with concern the findings of the report of the French Ombudsman, issued in July, that showed that forced evictions of Roma in France were taking place in ways that were incompatible with international standards and national legislation, and supported the Ombudsman’s recommendations. 9. During her meeting on the subject of caste-based discrimination in the United Kingdom, organized by the Anti-Caste Discrimination Alliance and held on 6 November 2013, the High Commissioner asserted that caste-based discrimination was of immediate concern to OHCHR “because it is destructive of all that we stand for”. She said that it was estimated that caste-based and other, related forms of discrimination spelt a life of humiliation, exclusion and poverty for about a quarter of a billion women, men and children worldwide, and that the problem was not restricted to one region or one religious community. She made several recommendations and encouraged renewed political and social commitment to legal principles, and underlined the need to engage the international and national working mechanisms in order to advance implementation. 10. On 8 November 2013, the High Commissioner issued a press release warning about the escalating violence in the Central African Republic. She recalled that “for decades, diverse ethnic and religious communities have lived together in this country”, and said that “this escalation of violence and hatred must be halted before it spins completely out of control”. A. Work to strengthen advocacy 11. Whether international, regional or national, minority rights mechanisms are vital for turning rights and obligations laid out in normative standards into reality. As instruments of implementation, mechanisms have varied mandates, ranging from monitoring and reporting, to providing information for thematic discussions and for the sharing of positive practices and follow-up. What is common to all of them is that their impact is conditioned upon close engagement with, and inclusion of, minority rights advocates. The voice of 4