A/HRC/19/71 46. Treaty bodies should continue to develop and embrace a systematic approach to their consideration of multiple forms of discrimination, involving not only rural or vulnerable women but also minority women. They should ensure analysis of intersectional discrimination in all their work so that it reflects the realities of minority women, and should consider adopting general recommendations on minorities and minority women. 47. Treaty bodies should systematically consider cases where harmful practices breach the principle of equality, including family law, land, property and inheritance rights, and marital rights, and cases where other human rights of minority women and girls, such as the rights to life, health, dignity, education and physical integrity, may have been violated. 48. Within the context of the universal periodic review, all stakeholders, including Member States, non-governmental organizations and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, should require specific information relating to the situation of minority women in countries under review and make recommendations aimed at guaranteeing the rights of minority women. 49. A United Nations voluntary fund for minorities should be created to enable minority representatives, to participate in, assist and use the human rights mechanisms of the United Nations system. This fund should ensure that its composition be gender-balanced. The voluntary fund should also provide funding for projects managed by minority groups in general and minority women’s groups in particular, aimed at guaranteeing the enjoyment of their rights by minority women, and strengthening their effective participation in all spheres of life. E. Media 50. Private and public media actors should avoid perpetuating existing misconceptions and stereotypes about minority women and ensure that they conform fully to legislation and guidelines for the media with regard to non-discrimination and the appropriateness of references and language. Media reports should be monitored by independent oversight bodies to ensure compliance with standards, and penalties should be imposed for breach of standards. Media should evaluate and, where necessary, increase the representation of minority women in their staff and in all categories. Efforts should be made to ensure positive representation of minority women in broadcast programming; this includes programme content that portrays minority women positively and raises awareness of the diversity of minority women’s perspectives and personal experiences. IV. Thematic recommendations A. Minority women and girls and the right to education 51. Access to education for minority girls may pose particular challenges, especially in highly patriarchal family and community structures where gendered societal roles persist. Lack of education represents an absolute barrier to their progress and empowerment in every region of the world. In some cases, where barriers to access are compounded for girls, sometimes owing to the prioritization given to the education of boys, this results in a vicious circle leading to severe educational exclusion and diminished opportunities for girls to take part fully in economic, social, cultural and political life. As a consequence, some minority girls and women excluded from education suffer from high illiteracy levels. 52. To warrant equal opportunity for women belonging to minorities, it is essential that they and their children be offered the opportunity, upon their request, to have access to 10