16  •  Guidance Note of the Secretary-General on Racial Discrimination and Protection of Minorities peacebuilding, and this implies that peacekeepers must reach out also to minorities.14 9. Humanitarian assistance 46. Humanitarian assistance must be carried out in compliance with the principles of humanity, impartiality and neutrality embodied in General Assembly resolutions 46/182 and 59/141 and the Statutes of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement. Humanitarian assistance must be based on identified needs and carried out in a non-discriminatory manner. Minority groups are often marginalized within communities and less represented in formal decision-making structures. Therefore, their specific concerns may be overlooked in needs assessments and programme planning. Failure to acknowledge particular risks faced by persons belonging to minorities not only results in a failure to address those concerns, but it might also lead to actions that inadvertently increase these risks and reinforce discrimination and exclusion.15 Pursuing an age, gender and diversity mainstreaming approach can further contribute to the efforts to prevent such exclusion. 10. Support to media and awareness-raising initiatives 47. Supporting equal access to the media is an important element of minority protection. Such efforts contribute to the participation of persons belonging to minorities and other common targets of racial discrimination in political and other decision-making and to the implementation of their freedom of expression and the right to use their own language and to enjoy their culture. Efforts to assist independent media and public service broadcasting could include targeted programmes for the development of media outlets servicing minority groups, including through allocation of subsidies, broadcasting frequencies and capacity-building. The UN should support efforts to adopt measures to combat hate speech in the media—including anti-hate speech legislation and self-regulation mechanisms by media outlets—and promote balanced reporting on minorities. 48. To promote the rights of persons belonging to minorities and strengthen advocacy against racial discrimination, it is necessary to conduct outreach campaigns and activities. These campaigns should be directed at Member States, governmental institutions, civil society groups and other stakeholders, including women, youth, the poor—and minorities and victims of racial discrimination themselves. The UN should both conduct its own outreach campaigns to achieve these ends and support the existing and planned campaigns of other groups, such as governments, the media and civil society. 14 See also UN DPKO/DFS Civil Affairs Handbook, 2012 and “The Contribution of UN Peacekeeping to Early UN Peacebuilding: a DPKO/DFS Strategy for Peacekeepers”, 27 June 2011. 15 Handbook for the Protection of Internally Displaced Persons, Inter-Agency Standing Committee, June 2010