This lack of UN space for minorities also impacts on policy development. For example, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development mentions Indigenous peoples six times but does not mention minorities even once. Indigenous Peoples constitute one of the so-called Major Groups with a structural platform to engage with the High-Level Political Forum on the SDGs. Minorities do not constitute a Major Group, despite specific measures in article 9 of the UN Declaration on Minorities for UN agency action. With Major Group status, Indigenous peoples have provided strong policy guidance on SDGs implementation.2 There is a direct connection between strong structures for participation and inclusion in global policy. The UN is mobilising now around a ‘Summit for the Future’ to be held in 2024. The UN is using the Major Groups as a platform for civil society input. With no Major Group for minorities, minorities could be left out of the planned outcome document, the ‘Pact for the Future’. The same summit will consider the UN Secretary-General’s Roadmap for Digital Cooperation, which prioritises ensuring ‘digital inclusion for all’. The Roadmap specifically mentions many groups, including Indigenous peoples, but not minorities. Digital inclusion is vital for cultural rights, combating hate speech and equal economic opportunities for minorities. The plan for a Global Digital Compact should reflect these minority issues. These examples show that the absence of structures for minorities at the UN are impacting negatively on their inclusion across many crucial areas of global governance. This can decrease the opportunities for minorities to be involved in legislation and policy development at the national level that follow these global initiatives. What can be done to change this? First, this Forum can be strengthened. The former Special Rapporteur and minority groups have called for reform during the 30th anniversary of the Declaration on Minorities in 2022.3 Minorities should participate in planning the next steps. My first recommendation would be to conduct a review of the modalities of the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues and of the Permanent Forum on People of African Descent that could be adopted in a future reform of this Forum. Particular consideration can be given to the representation of minorities in the Forum and how the Forum networks with other work of the UN on development and conflict prevention. Second, we have seen since 2020 an increased coordination among UN agencies under the UN Network on Racial Discrimination and Protection of Minorities. My second recommendation would be for the Network to facilitate the creation of a Major Group platform for minorities. My final recommendation would be to ensure that legislation and policy development names minorities and moves beyond a narrow focus on non-discrimination, to incorporate also measures on cultural rights and the rights of minorities to participate in decision-making. Thank you. 2 See, for example, the work of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues on the SDGs. See also, Jérémie Gilbert and Corinne Lennox (2019) ‘Towards new development paradigms: the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples as a tool to support self-determined development’, The International Journal of Human Rights, 23:1-2, 104-124. 3 See Human Rights Council, Strengthening and mainstreaming the protection of the rights of minorities at the United Nations: an assessment of the implementation of the Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities; Report of the Special Rapporteur on minority issues, Fernand de Varennes, UN Doc. A/HRC/52/27 (26 January 2023).