A/HRC/49/46 Understanding between Religions” held in Bologna, Italy. He spoke on the vulnerability of minorities of religion or belief, and how these are overwhelmingly the main targets of hate speech in social media. He also warned of the dangers of dismissing or denying that minorities are disproportionality vulnerable to hate speech, hate crimes and corresponding violence and even atrocities – leading to ineffective measures failing to significantly impact on the growing ‘poisoning of the mind’ and tsunami of hate the world is seeing in social media. 14. On 14 September 2021, the Special Rapporteur on minority issues Dr Fernand de Varennes, was a keynote speaker at a virtual side-event to the 48th session of the UN Human Rights Council side-event sponsored by the World Jewish Council, in collaboration with the Greek, German and Swedish permanent missions to the United Nations in Geneva, to explore the challenges posed by the current climate of misinformation, exacerbated by social media and other platforms, and the rise of hate speech. He discussed ways to redress this phenomenon while ensuring freedom of expression at a panel entitled “Education Against Hate Speech and Discrimination.” 15. On 14 September 2021, the Special Rapporteur on minority issues Dr Fernand de Varennes, was a special guest at the UN Network on Racial Discrimination and Protection of Minorities to share his views on the role of UN agencies and entities in acting to combat racial discrimination and to strengthen minority rights. 16. On 28 September 2021, the Special Rapporteur on minority issues Dr Fernand de Varennes, was keynote speaker for the first International Parliamentary Union’s Global Parliamentary Meeting on Achieving the Social Development Goals. The Special Rapporteur addressed the meeting’s theme ‘Leave no one behind: Are we keeping the promise?’ in the negative, highlighting that inequalities worldwide are growing between the have and have nots, particularly for poorer segments of societies such as minorities and indigenous peoples, as well as between wealthier states and most countries, and this is being exacerbated though not created by the pandemic. He emphasised that many more are now being left behind, in part due to glaring omissions in the SDGs themselves on how to achieve the goals behind Leaving No One Behind such as (1) SDGs are not sufficiently human-centred; (2) SDG targets failing to concentrate on most likely to being left behind, particularly again minorities and indigenous peoples who are almost never mentioned despite being amongst the most vulnerable. It is not surprising that to a large degree – with some notable exceptions in some areas – they are not being fulfilled. He again emphasised that among those most likely left behind are minorities who face multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination. An indigenous, Roma or Dalit woman or girl, for example, may be doubly marginalized and disadvantaged, and even be particularly vulnerable to abuse and denial of basic human rights protection. Whether their station will be improved under the 2030 Agenda or whether they will fall behind when the majority in the country may enjoy fully the benefits of social and economic development is simply not factored in the SDG indicators. 17. On 4 October 2021, the Special Rapporteur Dr Fernand de Varennes was keynote speaker at the virtual meeting of the Global Network of R2P focal points, organised by the Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect, Ralph Bunche Institute for International Studies at CUNY Graduate Center. He highlighted the importance of the Responsibility to Protect principles (R2P) to break the self-reinforcing cycle of ignorance-fear-hate-violence threatening societies – and governments – around the world, and trends in recent years of significant increases in violence and hate speech targeting minorities globally, as well as increasing ethnic conflicts - and therefore higher risks of atrocities. He also warned of a current period where the conditions for atrocity crimes are ever more present and prominent – and the main targets are overwhelmingly minorities. 18. On 8 October 2021, the Special Rapporteur Dr Fernand de Varennes was invited to lead a panel discussion at the Christian Conference of Asia’s Regional Consultation on freedom of religion, the rights of religious minorities, and constitutional guarantees in Asia. Speaking specifically on minority rights by understanding Asia’s majority-minority contexts, he pointed out how the world is experiencing growing inequalities and majoritarian nationalism, to which even the UN itself is not immune, as well as a ‘tsunami’ of hate speech and incitement to violence in social media most of which target minorities, growing numbers of conflicts globally, and potentially millions more individuals becoming stateless because 20