A/HRC/28/64/Add.1 I. Introduction 1. The Special Rapporteur on minority issues, Rita Izsák, conducted an official visit to Ukraine between 7 and 14 April 2014, at the invitation of the Government. She visited Donetsk, Kyiv, Odesa and Uzhgorod. She consulted widely with hundreds of stakeholders, including senior government officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Culture, representatives of civil society and minority communities, religious leaders, political actors, academics, journalists and internally displaced persons (IDPs), the diplomatic community, United Nations bodies and other national and international actors. She thanks the Government and all of those who consulted with her and provided information. 2. Key objectives of her visit were to hear the voices of minorities and to understand their issues and concerns, both long-standing and current. The Special Rapporteur met representatives of communities including those who identified as ethnic Armenians, Azerbaijanis, Bulgarians, Crimean Tatars, Gagauzis, Germans, Greeks, Hungarians, Moldovans, Poles, Roma, Romanians, Russians, Ruthenians, Slovaks, Vietnamese and members of Jewish communities. She also met ethnic Ukrainians to learn about their situation as de facto minorities in some localities including the Autonomous Republic of Crimea. 3. The most recent census was conducted in 2001. The main minority groups recorded include Russians 8,334,100 (17.3 per cent), Belarusians 275,800 (0.6 per cent), Moldovans 258,600 (0.5 per cent), Crimean Tatars 248,200 (0.5 per cent) and Bulgarians 204,600 (0.4 per cent). There are smaller populations of Armenians, Hungarians, Jews, Poles, Romanians and other nationalities. II. Methodology 4. The Special Rapporteur’s evaluation is based on the provisions of the Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities and other relevant international standards, from which she has identified four broad areas of global concern: (a) the protection of a minority’s survival by combating violence against it and preventing genocide; (b) the protection and promotion of the cultural identity of minority groups, and their right to enjoy their collective identity and to reject forced assimilation; (c) the guarantee of the rights to non-discrimination and to equality, including ending structural or systemic discrimination and the promotion of affirmative action, when required; and (d) the right to the effective participation of minorities in public life and in decisions that affect them. 5. The Special Rapporteur focuses her work on minority groups whose generally nondominant situations require measures to allow them to exercise all their rights, including minority rights, to the fullest. Apart from the national dimensions, minority issues have regional and local dimensions. A group that may constitute a dominant majority or a significant proportion of the population nationally or in a particular region may be numerically smaller and non-dominant in another region. Minority rights protection must also be applied fully for those who find themselves in the situation of being de facto minorities in the localities in which they live. 6. In view of the current political situation in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and eastern Ukraine, the Special Rapporteur notes that ethnic Ukrainians may constitute de facto minorities in some regions where they live. Some communities, notably Crimean Tatars, self-identify as indigenous peoples. Their engagement with her mandate on minority 4