services sensitive to cultural issues. This requires policy makers to understand and
incorporate the different challenges minorities face in accessing social services.
c) Complying with the standards of accessibility and availability
The principle of equality and non discrimination also requires States to ensure that social
protection benefits are physically and culturally accessible to all including persons
belonging to minorities
Accessibility requires, for example, that States must remove administrative barriers that
prevent persons belonging to minorities from accessing social protections, such as
requiring identification documents for registration when such documents are costly or may
not exist in countries where many minorities are not registered at birth. Administrative
requirements often affect women disproportionately as they are less likely to have identity
cards and have been registered at birth.
Cultural accessibility requires that outreach and information on social protection
programmes must be specifically designed to reach excluded segments of society (e.g.
radio announcements, talk shows, community plays, etc.). Outreach must also overcome
linguistic barriers that may impair the access of some people from minorities, as well as
indigenous or migrant communities (e.g. by making information available in languages
used by minorities and indigenous peoples).
Social protection programmes should not be restricted only to monetary support they must
be complemented by various social services in particular access to education and health
care specifically designed to reach minorities and overcome the specific challenges that
they may face..