A/80/186 report (see para. 40), it is clear that there is no neglect of minority issues. Awareness of minority issues, however, is not always highlighted. The Special Rapporteur and his research team had to conduct extensive research on the websites of various organizations in order to supplement the information provided by the specialized agencies and the Departments and Offices of the Secretariat. In addition, it appears that minority issues are often mixed with the issues of other marginalized groups, such as Indigenous Peoples, victims of racism, women and young people, and therefore less visible. 51. With regard to the integration of minority issues in country programmes, t he inputs provided by United Nations entities included many tangible examples and encompassed a large geographical scope. The countries of Sub-Saharan Africa were mentioned in 15 submissions. 41 Notably, the Democratic Republic of the Congo seems to be a major focus of the minority-related activities carried out in the region by United Nations entities. In many cases, the countries of sub -Saharan Africa were mentioned in the context of protecting affected ethnic or religious minorities in conflict areas, such as the Sudan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Central African Republic. 52. A total of 12 Asian countries were mentioned in the submissions of United Nations entities. 42 The Philippines, Viet Nam and Thailand seem to be the focus of the minority-related activities carried out in the region by the reporting entities. In addition, United Nations bodies addressed issues related to religious minorities, such as the Muslims of Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao in the Philippines, and linguistic minorities. For example, UNDP carried out a project in Viet Nam that included promoting access to legal information among linguistic minorities through the translation of communication materials into ethnic minority languages. Entities operating in Asia also reported that they addressed gender issues affecting minorities. In that connection, the Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict reported that women and girls from ethnic minorities in Afghanistan are at particular risk of forced marriages. 43 53. Countries and areas from the Eastern Europe region were mentioned in 11 different submissions. 44 Those countries were almost exclusively mentioned in the context of addressing issues affecting the Roma population, such as socioeconomic integration (UNDP), access to public resources (UNICEF) and health (WHO). 54. The countries of the Latin America and Caribbean region, in particular Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guatemala and Peru, were mentioned in 10 submissions. The reporting entities indicated that they focused on addressing the needs of Indigenous Peoples and Afrodescendant communities in those countries. While the examples provided by the entities were of activities dedicated to groups that are designated as Indigenous Peoples or Afrodesecendant, those groups can also be considered minority groups. For example, the Afrodescendant Quilombola people in Brazil, who can be considered an ethnic minority in that country, have been the beneficiaries of many activities carried out by United Nations entities, including UN-Women, WIPO and IFAD. __________________ 41 42 43 44 14/21 Burkina Faso, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, the Niger, Nigeria, Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, Somalia, South Sudan and Sudan. Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Pakistan, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Timor-Leste and Viet Nam. See https://www.refworld.org/reference/themreport/srsgsvc/2023/en/148832 . Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Georgia, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Poland, Serbia and Ukraine, as well as Kosovo. References to Kosovo shall be understood to be in the context of Security Council resolution 1244 (1999). 25-11708