A/70/255 11. Through the Senior Minority Fellowship Programme, a minority advocate from Lithuania was brought to Geneva to work within the Indigenous Peoples and Minorities Section of OHCHR in order to gain specialized knowledge that she could later use to benefit her community. In parallel, as part of the National Minority Fellowship Programme, two minority fellows were offered further training opportunities by OHCHR in Colombia and Nigeria. 12. On 8 April 2014, on the occasion of International Roma Day, OHCHR organized an expert panel discussion on the theme “Exposed and excluded: addressing forced eviction and the housing rights of Roma ”. Discussions highlighted that the forced evictions of Roma from their homes, the destruction of their property and the deportations they faced amounted to violations of the right to adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living and led directly and indirectly to violations of a range of other civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights. 13. The event raised the profile and visibility of International Roma Day and allowed for the sharing of experiences. Advocates for the rights of Roma explored key challenges and highlighted the risks faced by Romani women and children, who are particularly vulnerable to tenure insecurity and to being subject to human rights violations after forced eviction. Participants highlighted intersecting forms of discrimination faced by Romani women and stressed that stigmatization, marginalization and sexual violence increased as a result of evictions. They pointed out that ensuring women’s security of tenure was crucial regardless of age, marital, civil or social status, and of their relationships with male household or community members. The experts also identified good practices in preventing forced evictions. B. Regional and country engagement: selected areas of focus 14. During the reporting period, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights spoke out against a range of human rights violations targeting minorities and urged States and international actors to address them at an early stage. For example, at the Security Council open debate in March 2015 on the victims of attacks and abuses on ethnic or religious grounds in the Middle Eas t, the High Commissioner stressed that the attention granted by the international community to the human rights of minorities was too often both partial and sporadic, and that the rights of minorities were often highlighted only after the outbreak of extreme violence, even though that eruption was virtually always preceded by years of exclusion. 15. Such statements were often linked with the corresponding work of OHCHR. For example, the High Commissioner called upon Myanmar to enhance its legislation and policies to protect the Rohingyas and other minorities. The message was reinforced by advocacy efforts by OHCHR with legislative and executive authorities, contributing towards an increased understanding within the Government and parliament in Myanmar regarding the need to adopt legislation in compliance with international standards. In collaboration with the United Nations country team, OHCHR supported technical analysis and developed advocacy strategies on four proposed bills relating to religious conversion, interfaith marriage, monogamy and population. 4/14 15-12580