A/77/246 Nations and voluntary funds created for their activities. Permanent forums for the first two groups, which share similar experiences in terms of economic, social, cultural and political marginalization, for example, meet for several weeks per year and include a governing body comprising elected representatives of indigenous peoples and people of African descent from all regions, as well as significant financial and institutional support from the United Nations and through voluntary funds. These groups have benefited from a United Nations decade to focus attention on their needs, as well as United Nations resolutions aimed at enhancing their participation in United Nations bodies. Voluntary funds are also in place for refugees, victims of torture, women, people with disabilities, etc. People with disabilities have similarly seen the creation of a specific treaty and implementation process, with a working group and so on. There has in other words been a plethora of United Nations structures, commissions, voluntary funds, programmes and initiatives too numerous to enumerate dealing with groups such as indigenous peoples, 22 people of African descent, 23 children, 24 women 25 and refugees 26. Minorities have not benefited in any such significant developments. The extent to which minorities have been omitted or ignored – and in some times intentionally excluded – remains disturbing and hard to reconcile with the principles of equal respect of human rights for all. As stated in one of the submissions made to the Special Rapporteur, there is only one space at the United Nations specifically dedicated to dialogue on minority rights, and o nly for two days: the Forum on Minority Issues. 62. Despite the efforts of the members of the former Working Group on Minorities and a recommendation of the Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights in 2003, 27 two important initiatives recommended to the Commission on Human Rights – the creation of a voluntary fund on minority-related activities at the United Nations and the proclamation of an international year for the world’s minorities, to be followed by a decade 28 – would not be approved by the Commission. Almost 20 years later, these initiatives have still not moved forward, while voluntary funds have been established for numerous others (indigenous peoples, people of African descent, etc.), even when the initial proposals for these funds came much later, and despite recent efforts that could eventually lead to such a fund. However, there appears to be the belief that, institutionally, the United Nations may not be able to move forward because of the hostility of some key and powerful Member States at and a consensus at the General Assembly – or at least among a majority of Member States. 29 63. In the field of conflict prevention, which was a major impulse in the 1990s and early 2000s to further develop initiatives for the recognition and protection of the rights of minorities, minority issues seem to have been largely “purged” from most of the United Nations efforts, as the Special Rapporteur highlights in his 2022 report on __________________ 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 22-11516 See www.un.org/development/desa/indigenouspeoples/about-us.html. See www.ohchr.org/en/racism/international-decade-african-descent. See www.un.org/en/global-issues/children. See www.unwomen.org/en/about-us/about-un-women. See www.unhcr.org/. See Sub-Commission resolution 2003/23, para. 15. Available from www.refworld.org/pdfid/ 416409524.pdf. See E/CN.4/2004/2, chap. 13. See J. Packer and E. Friberg (Minority Rights Group International), “Genocide and Minorities: Preventing the Preventable” (London, 2004). “[Some States] believe that implementing the rights of persons belonging to minorities may fuel conflicts, and that the best way to maintain unity is to suppress minority identities, limit their participation and hope their voices will fade as they are absorbed or overwhelmed by the majority.” On the contrary, this more likely may lead to growing grievances and conflicts, according to the authors. 17/21