A/HRC/25/56 2. Events, conferences and outreach 20. On 14 and 15 May 2013, the Independent Expert participated in the conference “Right-wing Extremism and Hate Crime: Minorities under Pressure in Europe and Beyond” in Oslo. She spoke about the importance of early action to confront hateful messages. In November, she joined the Sixth Budapest Human Rights Forum as a panellist on issues of freedom of religion and belief. She contributed to several meetings via video messages, including: on 6 March 2013, a meeting organized by the European Union delegation to the United Nations in Geneva addressing freedom of religion or belief for all; on 10 December, the Regional Ministerial Education Conference co-organized by the Ministry of National Education of Turkey and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Regional Office for Central and Eastern Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States on the theme of including all children in quality learning. 21. The Independent Expert has continued to raise awareness about discrimination on the basis of work and descent. On 24 May 2013, she led a joint statement calling for strengthened protection of more than 260 million victims of caste-based discrimination.5 On 16 and 17 December 2013, she participated in the Second South Asia Regional Consultation on Caste Based Discrimination in Kathmandu. The objective was to explore contemporary caste-based discrimination issues in the region, as well as to discuss United Nations action to combat such discrimination in country programmes. 22. The Independent Expert enhanced efforts to reach out to young people belonging to minorities. She gave lectures and presentations to youth and student groups (among others at the Central European University in Budapest and Fordham Law School in New York) and participated in youth events, including a youth festival in Hungary, to discuss minorities and hate speech. She met and participated in the closing of the OHCHR Minority Fellowship Programme and as a former fellow herself, encouraged other fellows to take up leadership roles. 23. On 25 November 2013, prior to the session of the Forum on Minority Issues, the Independent Expert hosted a public event “How can you fight hate and intolerance?” The event included the screening of short films from the project “Not in Our Town”, focused on how different communities have mobilized to confront hatred and intolerance. This wellattended event and discussion presented positive examples of how individuals and communities can take practical action and generated an interesting dialogue and personal reflections from participants. The Independent Expert plans to host a similar event on an annual basis. 24. The Independent Expert used social media, including Facebook and Twitter, to raise awareness of minority issues and the work of her mandate and other relevant international bodies and mechanisms. These social media sites also provided a platform for discussion of minority issues. Notably, the debate on a Dutch cultural tradition of Sinterklaas and Zwarte Piet was followed by some 13,000 people on her Facebook page within just a few days and resulted in around 500 comments and messages being sent to the Independent Expert directly on this matter. 5 Available from www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=13352&LangID=E. 7