humanitarian actors; humanitarian actors do nevertheless have a duty to deliver a principled impartial humanitarian action. Ms Christine Knudsen, The Sphere Project, described how to use legal tenets and tools to bring practical solutions to communities in crisis, including minorities. She presented the work of her organization “Sphere” in this respect, which provides humanitarian practitioners with a manual that seeks to give concrete meaning to the “right to live with dignity” and “right to humanitarian assistance”, by spelling out its implications for humanitarian practice following a rights-based approach. She spoke of the undeniable role of civil society in responding to humanitarian crisis, as it is the combination of formal and voluntary action at the local, national, regional and international levels that provides the best chances for assistance to be provided effectively, efficiently, and delivered in timely manner that responds to the evolving needs on the ground. Sphere standards acknowledge the specific vulnerabilities that may accrue to religious or ethnic minority groups and the specific risks of gender-based violence, which women and girls belonging to minority groups may face. Sphere standards relating to shelter, health, food security and livelihoods all directly or indirectly require specific attention to minority groups. Ms Knudsen concluded by encouraging all to work for stronger application of legal and normative frameworks in practice and to improve the lives of minorities and of all persons most in need. Dr Felipe González, Professor of International law and former President of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, highlighted a number of InterAmerican human rights instruments applying to minorities in situations of displacement, including the American Declaration on the Rights and Duties of Man, which enshrines the right to asylum, and the American Convention on Human Rights, which, inter alia, recognizes the freedom of movement and residency and expressly enshrines the principle of non-refoulement. He also drew attention to the Cartagena Declaration of the rights of refugees, which was endorsed by the OAS General Assembly and has extended the definition of the concept of refugee, going beyond the definition of the 1951 Convention on the status of Refugees. He highlighted a number of decisions and reports in which the Inter-American Court and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights had dealt with the topics of minorities, refugees, migrants and humanitarian crises. He touched on the issue of displacement related to climate change, acknowledged in the Brazil Declaration of 2014, and on the issue of statelessness caused by gaps in nationality legislation. Discussion The following issues were raised during the discussion under Item II: - The need for criminalisation of hate speech to avoid escalation of tensions. - The situation of religious minorities in the middle east, including Yazidis, Kurdish, Christians, - The need to better recognize the vulnerability of minorities in situation of crisis 5