A/HRC/49/46 Regional Forum for Europe and Central Asia on Conflict Prevention and the Protection of the Human Rights of Minorities to be held online on 12-13 October 2021. 7. On 22 August 2021, the Special Rapporteur on minority issues. Dr Fernand de Varennes, was keynote speaker at an online event organised by ADF India to mark the International Day Commemorating the Victims of Acts of Violence Based on Religion or Belief, designated in 2019 by the United Nations General Assembly. The Special Rapporteur addressed the role of the United Nations in protecting and promoting religious minorities and proposed, among others, that the United Nations further develop and use at all levels of its organisation the detailed initiative known as the Rabat Plan of Action on the prohibition of advocacy of national, racial or religious hatred that constitutes incitement to discrimination, hostility or violence which focuses very much on minorities of belief or religion, as well as consider a resolution for a World Day for Celebrating Religious and Belief Diversity as an opportunity to deepen our understanding of the values of religious and belief diversity and to learn to live together in harmony. He also urged that the UN and member states begin work on a new treaty on hate speech in social media to limit and describe how states must address hate without breaching fundamental rights such as freedom of expression while not abusing laws on hate speech to curtail the work of human rights defenders and those who criticise legitimately government policies and even abuses. 8. On 24 August 2021, the Special Rapporteur on minority issues Dr Fernand de Varennes was one of the participants in the OSCE Informal expert consultations on the impact on and response to trafficking in persons belonging to ethnic, national and religious minorities organised by the OSCE Office of the Special Representative and Co-ordinator for Combating Trafficking in Human Beings and the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR). The Special Rapporteur highlighted the need to properly identify, including disaggregated data, who were the main victims of human trafficking in order to be able to target and tailor more effective measures to address their vulnerability and needs. In addition, the emphasized the current ineffectiveness of approaches in a number of countries where there is a failure to appreciate that most trafficked persons in Europe and elsewhere tend to belong to a small number of minority communities – and to understand and address why these tend to be the most vulnerable to trafficking. 9. On 5 September 2021 Dr Fernand de Varennes, Special Rapporteur on minority issues, was the guest speaker at the annual general meeting of the Global Minorities Alliance in Scotland. Held online because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Special Rapporteur spoke on why more needed to be done for the recognition of the human rights of minorities. He in particular referred to the lacklustre acknowledgment and protection of their rights, even at the United Nations, despite most cases of statelessness, of hate speech and hate crimes, and of atrocities and other mass violations of human rights being perpetuated against persons belonging to ethnic, religious or linguistic minorities worldwide, such as with Rohingya, Dalits, Roma, Afro-descendants, etc. 10. On 7 and 8 September 2021, the Asia-Pacific Regional Forum on conflict prevention and the protection of the human rights of minorities was held virtually. This is the third in a line of four regional forums to be held in 2021 on this theme under the mandate of the Special Rapporteur, with the collaboration of the Tom Lantos Institute and regional partners such as IMADR (International Movement against All Forms of Discrimination and Racism) and Forum-Asia, amongst others. 11. On 9 September 2021, the Special Rapporteur on minority issues Dr Fernand de Varennes, was awarded the FUEN 2021 Prize during the annual meeting of the Federalist Union of European Nationalities in Trieste, Italy, for his long-standing and enduring commitment to the protection of the human rights of minorities in Europe and globally. 12. On 13 September 2021, the Special Rapporteur on minority issues Dr Fernand de Varennes, gave a seminar for law students at the Vesalius College of the Free University of Brussels, in Belgium. He touched upon what are the rights of minorities in international law, and the role and limitations of the United Nations special procedures in the protection of international human rights. 13. On 13 September 2021, the Special Rapporteur on minority issues Dr Fernand de Varennes, was a panellist at the G20 Interfaith Forum “Time to Heal: Peace among Cultures, 19