A/80/186
71. The Special Rapporteur calls upon the General Assembly to request the
International Law Commission, in the context of the progressive development of
international law and in accordance with article 16 of the Statute of the
Commission, to include in its programme of work the issue of the protection of
minorities and persons belonging to minorities, with the view to producing a
draft multilateral treaty.
72. The Special Rapporteur calls upon Member States to guarantee
appropriate funding, despite the dire fiscal situation, for the Forum on Minority
Issues, with a view to ensuring the equitable and broadest possible participation
of stakeholders, including by means of a permanent fund. 69
73. The Special Rapporteur urges Member States to strengthen funding the
Minorities Fellowship Programme and urges OHCHR to avoid making cuts to
this unique, successful and essential programme that is specifically designed for
persons belonging to minorities.
74. The Special Rapporteur encourages United Nations entities, funds,
programmes, specialized agencies and related organizations to explicitly mention
in their programmatic documents the work and activities carried out by the
United Nations to address minority issues and protect minority rights.
75. The Special Rapporteur recommends that specialized agencies, other
entities, the United Nations Secretariat, funds and programmes designate, at a
relevant level, a focal point on minority issues whose focus is designing and
reporting on minority-related strategies or projects. These focal points should
actively participate in the network on racial discrimination and protection of
minorities.
76. The Special Rapporteur strongly recommends that resources be allocated
to the network on racial discrimination and protection of minorities, with a view
to enabling the network to hold an in-person meeting at least once a year in
Geneva on the day before the Forum on Minority Issues and ensure the active
participation of network members in the Forum. The Special Rapporteur
recommends that the network organize a specific side event in order to present
to minority representatives information on the salient aspects of the work of the
United Nations for the benefit of persons belonging to minorities.
77. The Special Rapporteur recommends that the network on racial
discrimination and protection of minorities, in partnership with his mandate,
update the Guidance Note of the Secretary-General on Racial Discrimination
and Protection of Minorities, with a view to enabling the Secretary-General to
publish a revised or a new version of the Guidance Note.
78. The Special Rapporteur calls upon resident coordinators and United
Nations country teams to thoroughly implement, in their common country
analyses and in United Nations Sustainable Development Cooperation
Frameworks, the Guidance Note of the Secretary-General on Racial
Discrimination and Protection of Minorities and the recommendations of the
network on racial discrimination and protection of minorities, with a view to
improving their focus on racial, ethnic and other minorities. In that connection,
resident coordinators and country teams are called upon to recognize in their
work the intersectional nature of discrimination that many minorities face, while
addressing the root causes of their marginalization in the United Nations
programmatic activities.
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20/21
Currently, the Forum can only be organized thanks to voluntary contributions from Austria and the
voluntary and unpaid work of interns.
25-11708