A/HRC/34/53 C. Major challenges identified 57. In the following paragraphs, the Special Rapporteur highlights issues that have consistently emerged during the course of her work, including country visits, which she considers as requiring greater attention by Governments, the international community and minority groups. 1. Major barriers to the effective promotion and protection of minority rights 58. The Special Rapporteur wishes to state at the outset that she is of the view that the progress achieved in the last decades in the field of minority rights protection is under threat, and that there is a serious risk that guarantees that have been put in place could be reversed. In recent years, protracted and recent conflicts of various kinds around the globe have led to an unprecedented number of internally displaced persons, migrants and refugees, many of whom belong to minority groups. Increasing hate speech, xenophobic rhetoric and incitement to hatred against minorities have been coupled with the rise of farright and extremist political parties that are using minorities as scapegoats to divert domestic attention from entrenched and structural problems. Developments in the field of counter-terrorism legislation, discrimination and lack of representation of minorities in governmental structures and within the administration of justice globally have resulted in minorities being increasingly targeted. Widespread attacks against minority individuals and communities, perpetrated with total impunity in different regions, demonstrate the continuing vulnerability faced by minorities around the globe. 59. The Special Rapporteur is alarmed at the rise of populism, which hampers efforts to include minorities in the national psyche in their respective countries. She is concerned that even the very notion of democracy is being challenged and that there are views that are widely shared, especially on social media, that a democratically elected political leadership has the power to take any decision freely, without, and even against, minorities because minorities — usually being inferior in number — are subject to the will of the majority. The Special Rapporteur stresses that democracy requires good and inclusive governance under which legal, administrative and territorial arrangements are made to allow peaceful and constructive group accommodation on the basis of equality in dignity and rights for all and that allows for the pluralism necessary to enable persons belonging to different groups to preserve and develop their identity (see E/CN.4/Sub.2/AC.5/2005/2, Commentary, para. 13). 60. The Special Rapporteur is concerned that in some regions and in several countries, minority rights protection is not seen to be important, or even relevant, owing to deliberate denial or lack of understanding of its legitimacy. There is a need for stronger awarenessraising on what the entire minority rights protection regime entails, that it also includes wide-ranging issues around religious and linguistic identity, and that the effective promotion and protection of the rights of minorities contribute to the political and social stability of States and, therefore, are always timely and important. It is essential to understand that majority-minority relations should be assessed not only from a national perspective but also specifically in the context of smaller territorial and local levels, where the dynamics and dimensions of identity, ethnicity, religion, language and access to power and resources are frequently more important and play a greater role in the daily lives of individuals and communities. The notions of “majority” and “minority” may be interchangeable and depend on the particular context, as a group that constitutes a dominant majority nationally or regionally may be numerically inferior and non-dominant in another region. Therefore, minority rights standards must also be applied to those groups constituting de facto minorities in the localities where they live. 12