A/69/266 violent conflict is higher where there are significant horizontal inequalities in political or economic status between different ethnic or culturally defined groups. 7 Indicators demonstrate how higher rates of educational attainment can lower the risk of internal conflict. In 2009, of the world’s 101 million children out of school, an estimated 50 to 70 per cent were members of minorities or indigenous peoples. It is essential that minorities be integrated and able to benefit from development policies. The Special Rapporteur dedicated her annual report to the Human Rights Council in 2014 (A/HRC/25/56) to the importance of including minorities in the planning, implementation and evaluation of new development goals in the post-2015 development agenda, as a means to reduce inequalities. B. Deficits of democracy, good governance and rule of law 19. While violence can occur in any country, those in which there is a function ing democracy, good governance and the rule of law are less likely to experience violence against specific communities. Competition for resources and positions are natural in all societies and should pose no threat to any community. However, where democracy, rule of law and governance deficits are coupled with competition over territory, resources and power, where bias politics and favouritism along ethnic or religious lines appear, and where minority rights are denied, violated or neglected, tensions between communities can evolve, threatening peace and stability and sometimes resulting in violence. Strong institutions and independent, efficient law enforcement and judicial bodies, as well as independent national human rights institutions, can act against corruption and exclusion before misuse of power starts to fuel community tensions. 20. The peoples under threat index of Minority Rights Group International is based on known antecedents to mass violence, including indicators of good governance, rule of law, prevailing conflict and previous mass killings. It was found that communities are more at risk in closed States that have poor governance, are prone to conflict and have a record of previous killing. In three quarters of recent conflicts, much of the killing has been targeted by ethnicity or religion. While ethnic diversity in a State is not positively correlated with risk of conflict, risks rise sharply when sociopolitical divisions in society fall along ethnic or religious lines. 8 21. After her visit to Nigeria in February 2014, the Special Rapporteur on minority issues noted that some of the tensions and conflicts that had erupted in Nigeria’s northern states and states in the country’s middle belt had been depicted as religious or ethnic conflicts. However, she found that, while the tensions and conflicts had obvious religious and ethnic dimensions, their root causes lay also with other factors, including poor governance, competition for or unequal allocation of resources, land issues, political manipulation of ethnic and religious issues, population movement and migration. She considered that, while enhancing the capacity, training and resources of the security forces in regions where violence had broken out was essential, sustainable solutions to commu nal violence must also __________________ 7 8 14-58850 Frances Stewart, “Crisis prevention: tackling horizontal inequalities”, Oxford Development Studies, vol. 28, No. 3 (2000), pp. 245-262. Available from www.unicef.org/socialpolicy/files/ Crisis_Prevention_Tackling_Horizontal_Inequalities.pdf. Peoples under Threat 2011. Available from www.minorityrights.org/10744/peoples-underthreat/peoples-under-threat-2011.html#downloads. 7/24