A/HRC/25/30 22. In 2013, OHCHR’s Human Rights Adviser in Serbia started a Roma housing project and developed criteria for the evaluation of locations for social housing for Roma in Belgrade. In coordination with the project team and Serbian human rights NGOs, OHCHR assisted in developing the methodology for community consultations that will guide consultative processes throughout the implementation of the project. In the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, OHCHR has promoted the “Guidance note of the Secretary-General on racial discrimination and protection of minorities”, since its endorsement in March 2013, among the United Nations country team’s staff. 23. OHCHR undertook a number of activities focusing on the rights of minorities in the South Caucasus. A conference on freedom of religion or belief, which addressed the rights of religious minorities, was organized jointly by OHCHR, the European Centre for Minority Issues and the Embassy of the Netherlands in Tbilisi and was held in Armenia and Georgia. In addition, OHCHR provided a grant to a Georgian NGO, the Levan Mikeladze Foundation, to research the human rights situation of Armenian minorities in Georgia, and to another NGO, the Eurasia Partnership Foundation, to research the implementation of the recommendations of the United Nations human rights mechanisms on freedom of religion or belief in Armenia, in particular with regard to minorities. 24. OHCHR undertook a number of activities in the Republic of Moldova concerning minority rights protection and racial discrimination. It worked with the Prime Minister’s Adviser on Roma Community Issues to resolve issues regarding the segregated education of Roma children in a number of municipalities; it also carried out seminars on minority rights issues in the framework of the Government’s Bureau on Inter-Ethnic Relations. OHCHR began working more systematically to support the ability of the Bureau and the NGOs affiliated with the House of Nationalities to monitor and report on minority rights issues, in particular in the field of education. 25. In early 2013, OHCHR’s regional office for Central Asia provided expertise to the Presidential Administration in Kyrgyzstan for the drafting of a policy document on interethnic issues and minority rights. In March, the Parliament approved the Concept on Strengthening the Unity of People and Inter-Ethnic Relations in the Kyrgyz Republic, which included provisions aimed at improving the representation of minorities in State bodies and at the preservation of minority languages. OHCHR is now advising the Presidential Administration on implementation of the Concept and its provisions. 26. In October 2013, OHCHR’s regional office for Central Asia presented the findings of research undertaken on the rights of minorities in the areas of education, the media, and public and political participation, in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. Particular improvements are to be made in legislation, policies and practices, and the outcome recommendations of the regional seminar will form the basis for future work on minority rights protection in the region. 27. The United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) has continued to support the Article 125 Committee of the Iraqi Council of Representatives to ensure that the law for the protection of the rights of ethnic and religious minority communities meets international standards. In October 2013, UNAMI facilitated the second dialogue on the draft law. The first dialogue had been convened in September 2013 under the auspices of the Article 125 Committee, the UNAMI Political Affairs Office and the UNAMI Human Rights Office. The participants examined comments from various civil society organizations and revised the draft law article by article. The Article 125 Committee is still facing challenges with regard to the structure of the draft law, its terminology and its implementing mechanism. The Committee was named after Article 125 of the Constitution, which guarantees the administrative, political, cultural and educational rights for minorities. 7