A/HRC/37/73 V. Recommendations regarding the challenges and opportunities for minority youth in media in the digital age A. Discussion 64. The panel discussion on minority youth in media in the digital age was introduced by Marina Shupac, journalist and Minority Fellow Coordinator at the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (Republic of Moldova); Jonathan Jackson, co-founder of Blavity.com (United States of America); and Anju Singh, leader of the All India Dalit Mahila Adhikar Manch (India). The panellists shared their experiences in creating media platforms to amplify the voices of their communities and mobilize youth to be aware of the human rights of their communities. The panellists shared the challenges and opportunities they had encountered using digital media technologies for use by young people in their communities, and young women in particular, to exercise and defend their rights. They referred to the difficulty they had experienced in accessing sources of funding for media initiatives and projects as young persons belonging to minorities. They also referred to the negative online rhetoric against minorities, in particular minority women. However, the panellists described social media as a tool for social change. For instance, appropriate use of social media could contribute to creating new solidarities between different minority communities and with the rest of society, pushing for new narratives that could combat misrepresentations of minorities in mainstream media and giving minority youth a unique means of expressing themselves freely in a manner that could not be easily obtained through other platforms. 65. The discussion was moderated by Rita Izsák-Ndiaye, former Special Rapporteur on minority issues and member-elect of the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (Hungary). A number of participants noted that many minority communities, and in particular young women, did not have effective access to the Internet, and that a large portion of today’s minority youth were excluded from the online world. Participants defined the Internet as having contributed to empowering youth by building bridges between communities and increasing their education and awareness about their rights and well-being. Participants spoke of their own minority-led media initiatives and about the tendency for minority media to be overshadowed by major media corporations, often because of a lack of financial resources. Participants described the issue of hate speech against minorities in the media as extremely damaging, shaping public opinion and deterring legislative bodies from adopting laws to help improve minority rights. Participants shared good practices in relation to the promotion of cultural diversity and inclusion in the media, for example government initiatives such as journalism awards for journalists who worked to promote a better understanding of diversity in societies. B. Recommendations 66. States should guarantee the right to freedom of expression within the media for all, in particular for young digital media users belonging to minorities. The right to freedom of expression of minority youth must be guaranteed online. At the same time, States should take effective measures to prevent and protect minorities against hate speech online. 67. States should refrain from curtailing access to social networks and blocking access to websites or restricting access to digital media by any other means, particularly in ways that have an arbitrary or disproportionate impact on minority youth. National human rights institutions can play an important role in providing independent oversight to ensure that no abusive blockage or censorship occurs and to ensure the safety of digital media users and any other young persons belonging to minorities who wish to be part of these discussions. 68. States should seek to proactively counter hate speech against minority youth, populism and xenophobia with a national strategy to combat hate speech on social media. States have a critical role to play in the promotion of positive images of 11