PART THREE: PROTECTING MINORITY RIGHTS Elimination of Racial Discrimination in 2000,888 as well as Human Rights Council resolution 26/4, in which the Council recognized that Roma had, for centuries, faced widespread and enduring human rights violations, discrimination, rejection, social exclusion and marginalization all over the world and in all areas of life, and in which it named a specific form of racism faced by Roma: anti-Gypsyism.889 In the 2010s and 2020s, and particularly in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, United Nations entities, including the Secretary-General, have expressed concerns at discrimination against persons of Asian descent, and at bias-motivated attacks and other forms of exclusion against these diverse categories of people and communities.890 Persons affected by caste- or descent-based discrimination are also the subject of particular concern. Castebased discrimination is the subject of a specific general recommendation by the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.891 PART THREE The United Nations system has also recognized persons with albinism as a group experiencing racial discrimination, among other intersecting factors, which is relevant, among other things, as regards protection under the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination.892 REFUGEES, STATELESS PERSONS AND MIGRANTS Refugees and stateless persons are not necessarily ethnic, religious or linguistic minorities. However, they may be minorities either from within the communities from which they come and/or in their country of exile. Individuals may flee their homeland for a variety of reasons, including for reasons of discrimination on various grounds. In many cases, refugee and stateless communities are also minority groups in the countries in which they settle. Similarly, migrants may be members of the majority ethnic group in the country to which they migrate, although migrants and their descendants frequently constitute ethnic minority communities. As noted above, States have obligations to ensure the enjoyment of human rights by everyone on their territory, irrespective of citizenship; as such, non-citizens have the right to non-discrimination on the basis of their race or ethnicity (and indeed all other grounds), on the same basis as citizens.893 Similarly, in situations in which refugees, stateless persons, migrant workers and their descendants constitute a minority community, they should be afforded the rights guaranteed by article 27 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities. Indeed, as the Human Rights Committee has stated: “migrant workers or even visitors in a State party constituting such minorities are entitled not to be denied the exercise of [minority] rights”.894 In addition to these rights, however, each of these non-citizen groups is the subject of a dedicated, equalitybased protection regime at the international level, which recognizes specific rights existing alongside the human rights guaranteed to all and any rights that may be enjoyed as minorities. The Convention relating to the Status of Refugees, adopted in 1951, defines what constitutes a refugee and establishes the rights of refugees. The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees works to protect and realize these rights and to safeguard refugees more broadly. In addition, it has a mandate to protect stateless 888 Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, general recommendation No. 27 (2000). 889 See also A/HRC/29/24. 890 UN News, “UN chief ‘profoundly concerned’ over rise in violence against Asians”, 22 March 2021. Available at https://news.un.org/en/ story/2021/03/1088002. 891 Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, general comment No. 29 (2002). OHCHR has published a toolkit on tackling descent-based discrimination, which is available at www.ohchr.org/Documents/Issues/Minorities/GuidanceToolDiscrimination.pdf. 892 See, for instance, A/74/190 and Corr.1, para. 5. The web page of the Independent Expert on the rights of persons with albinism is available at www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/Albinism/Pages/IEAlbinism.aspx. 893 See, for example, Human Rights Committee, general comment No. 15 (1986), para. 2. See also the discussion of discrimination against non-citizens above, in section I.A.1(a) of part two of the present guide. 894 Human Rights Committee, general comment No. 23 (1994), para. 5.2. 131