A/65/287 74. The mandate of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) does not explicitly encompass conflict prevention; however, UNICEF both generates and monitors country-specific data that reveal situations of emerging conflict. Its activities focusing on the most marginalized and vulnerable women and children position it uniquely to play the kind of early prevention role with respect to minority rights that is contemplated by this report. Given that minority children are often the most disadvantaged, there is a sound basis for the engagement of UNICEF in minority issues. With a wide network of offices worldwide, UNICEF is in an important position to encourage the introduction of minority issues on Government public policy agendas, to support Government efforts and directly deliver assistance to minority children and women. The UNICEF field presence is common in conflict zones, and its focus on protection issues makes it an institution with key relevance to conflict prevention. At UNICEF headquarters, there is a cluster of professionals whose portfolios include minority rights issues. 75. Discussions about pooling the outputs of the early warning systems of the various funds, programmes and specialized agencies of the United Nations and the possible development of a common system have not made significant progress owing to the complexities of the systems and the different needs of each body. An achievable aim could be to pool best practices to be made available to United Nations Headquarters and in-country teams, particularly with regard to innovative new practice using computer technology to compile and process large quantities of context-specific data. 76. The independent expert on minority issues, under the mandate established by the Commission on Human Rights in 2005, has the potential to make a positive contribution to the prevention or peaceful resolution of tensions involving minorities, including by addressing issues of long standing and structural discrimination at the earliest opportunity. In the reports of the independent expert on her missions, she has repeatedly made recommendations to address such situations, based on the concerns voiced by both minority representatives and Government officials. 77. The Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council and the treaty monitoring bodies are well placed to identify the warning signs of impending conflicts, including those affecting minorities. In October 2009, a United Nations round table on Special Procedures entitled “Early Warning and Emerging Issues” 22 was held in New York. The Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief emphasized the contribution that these mechanisms can make to a better understanding of complex situations, for example involving systemic exclusion and discrimination of certain minority groups. Other participants recommended strengthening the capacity of the Special Procedures to contribute to early warning, by ensuring that their recommendations were communicated more effectively to the United Nations field presences, by improving on follow-up to communications to States and by ensuring that data revealing patterns of severe abuses were communicated as early warnings. 78. Historically, channels of communication between the human rights institutions in Geneva and the peace and security bodies in New York have not been optimal. A number of significant improvements have taken place, notably the enhancement of __________________ 22 18 Available from http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/chr/special/docs/BPRoundTable.doc. 10-48298