A/HRC/FMI/2020/1 Documentation The documents for the session will be made available on the website of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/ HRC/Minority/Pages/Session13.aspx). Discussions During the two-day session, participants will be invited to contribute to four panel discussions under the general topic “Hate Speech, Social Media and Minorities”. Each panel discussion will be introduced briefly by a number of experts and facilitated by a moderator, who will guide the discussion towards the formulation of specific recommendations. Recommendations emanating from two regional forums (Asia and the Pacific and Europe) held in 2020 under the mandate of the Special Rapporteur on minority issues will also be considered, in order to include greater regional input and views on the issues to be discussed at the thirteenth session of the Forum. Participants will be encouraged to make statements or comments, to answer questions from the moderator and to suggest recommendations to be included in the outcome document that the Special Rapporteur will present to the Human Rights Council at its forty-sixth session, in March 2021. 2. Causes, scale and impact of hate speech targeting minorities on social media Worldwide on social media, minorities are the target of most of the incitement to discrimination, hostility and violence, and other forms of intolerance and racist expressions that constitute hate speech. Blaming and scapegoating of minorities is at times exploited for political reasons, or it is present owing to longstanding and entrenched stigmatization and marginalization. Hate speech is thus often a manifestation of deep-rooted bias, racism, intolerance and discrimination. Hateful messages may fall on particularly fertile ground where there are wider social, economic or political problems or divisions in society, and they can be an early warning sign of possible aggravation in the form of incitement to violence against minorities and other marginalized groups. Therefore, the advocacy of national, racial or religious hatred may become the principal tools and early warning signs of organized and systematic violence, which may even contribute to conflicts and instability, as well as to enabling and perpetrating atrocity crimes against minorities. Participants will be invited to describe the extent to which hate speech on social media targets minorities in particular, and the causes for the apparent overwhelming targeting of national or ethnic, religious and linguistic minorities. They should also consider how misinformation and disinformation can serve to create conditions conducive to the spread of racism, intolerance and discrimination. Participants will offer recommendations on how to address the root causes and prevent the possible escalations of the scourge of hate speech on social media, and on how to better identify and acknowledge the disproportionate extent to which it affects minorities. Recommendations will also be made as to what initiatives could be put forward in order to focus on efforts to protect the main victims of hate speech, namely minorities. Participants will also discuss the ways to address the consequences of hate speech, bearing in mind a gender perspective, as minority women and girls face multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination, which sometimes makes them more vulnerable to hate speech and its consequences. This is particularly true in situations of conflict, where minority women are at high risk of violence and abuse. 3. International legal and institutional frameworks Although there is no international legal definition of hate speech, international law prohibits advocacy of national, racial or religious hatred that constitutes an incitement to discrimination, hostility and violence. In the absence of such a definition, the term “hate speech” may risk being abused to impose uniformity of views, curtailing dissent and shrinking civic space. It is thus essential to also ensure the protection of the right to freedom 2