12  •  Guidance Note of the Secretary-General on Racial Discrimination and Protection of Minorities 3. Crime prevention, access to justice and fighting impunity 32. Minorities and other common targets of racial discrimination are often excluded from administrative and political positions, employment and education, resulting in poverty and their higher vulnerability to crime, including transnational organized crimes such as human trafficking. The UN must support various international, national and local evidence-based crime prevention efforts including measures such as socioeconomic integration of minorities and special protection for those most vulnerable to crime. 33. Minorities and other common targets of racial discrimination also have problems in accessing justice because of discrimination, language, educational and financial barriers, low confidence, and the lack of judicial facilities in regions where they live. Areas of UN action include support to national justice or security sector reform plans that encourage recruitment of male and female law-enforcement officers, prosecutors, judges, lawyers and other personnel from minority groups, providing training on minority rights to such personnel, supporting revision of legislation, reviewing sentencing practices to address any discriminatory practices, providing legal aid and other assistance and services in minority languages and addressing concerns of minorities when designing reintegration programmes. Measures to guarantee an independent oversight and accountability for the police are also essential. 34. In order to fight impunity for violations of minority rights, the UN should also provide legal assistance to review criminal legislation, including to make racial and other forms of discrimination an aggravating factor in criminal cases; support investigation, prosecution and sentencing of persons having committed racist or other discriminatory acts through mentoring and capacity-building; and support research and data gathering to inform policy. 4. Development programming 35. As is noted in the UN Statement of Common Understanding on Human Rights-Based Approaches to Development Cooperation and Programming, all programmes of development cooperation, policies and technical assist­ ance should further the realization of human rights as laid down in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other international human rights instruments. This includes non-discrimination standards and minority rights, which are critical to the fulfilment of a human rights–based approach. 36. Discrimination and marginalization of national or ethnic, religious and linguistic minorities has a significant detrimental impact on poverty reduction, health outcomes and MDGs, democratic governance, environmental sustainability, conflict prevention, and, ultimately, sustainable human development. Persons belonging to minority groups make a fundamental contribution to human development as strategic partners and as actors of change, and overcoming their marginalization—including through addressing existing inequalities in power and entrenched structures of discrimination—had direct benefits for national development processes and the achievement of inclusive growth. Minorities have different perspectives that enrich the