A/77/246 internally displaced persons and protected populations under occupation or conflict areas”, and similar listings. 33 68. In the same field, the recently adopted road map for the next decade on the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights 34 mentions on numerous occasions those who may be at heightened risk of vulnerability, such as women; lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex persons; children; persons with disabilities; indigenous peoples; peoples of African descent; migrants; and refugee workers. Minorities are never mentioned. Nor again is this an omission: minorities were referred to in earlier drafts and removed, while tellingly new vulnerable groups were included in later drafts. 69. Information collected by the Special Rapporteur points to other areas within the United Nations of insensitivity, misconceptions and even perceived opposition from United Nations staff as to the rights of minorities. While holding regional forums under his mandate in different parts of the world, the Special Rapporteur was informed by local civil society organizations and persons belonging to minorities of numerous instances of staff in United Nations country missions and field operations dismissing minority concerns or denying even the existence of minorities. These included refusals to collaborate on minority issues because a particular group was either not considered by United Nations staff as a minority or because minority claims involving minorities were considered too politically sensitive or complex to be addressed officially. Among examples, it was suggested to the Special Rapporteur that Tigrayans in Ethiopia and Shia Muslims in Yemen could not be considered as minorities. Other occurrences have involved the Afrikaans in South Africa, Bedouins and Arabs in Israel and Amazigh in Tunisia. IV. Conclusion and recommendations 70. There has been a near complete failure to mainstream and integrate the rights of minorities at the United Nations, despite the call to do so by the Secretary-General in his 2013 Guidance Note, while there has been significant progress for the mainstreaming of racial anti-discrimination. 71. The Special Rapporteur strongly urges the Human Rights Council to initiate a study on how to strengthen the protection of minority rights, including through a new United Nations treaty, and how to operationalize the Secretary General’s call in 2013 to mainstream and integrate minority rights across all pillars and activities of the United Nations, and also urges the United Nations system to reactivate and implement the integration of minority rights into its work at the global, regional and country levels. Many submissions to the Special Rapporteur and even recommendations made at the regional forums and the Forum on Minority Issues have included calls for the United Nations to launch a process such a treaty as a legitimate area of international cooperation in a climate where there has been a regression in the international protection of minority rights. 72. The Special Rapporteur recommends that United Nations agencies and entities, especially OHCHR and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), also prepare strategic plans to mainstream and integrate minority rights into their work. United Nations agencies should prioritize the inclusion of __________________ 33 34 22-11516 See article 6 (4) (c), available at www.ohchr.org/Documents/HRBodies/HRCouncil/ WGTransCorp/Session6/LBI3rdDRAFT.pdf. Available at www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/2021-12/ungps10plusroadmap.pdf. 19/21