A/HRC/61/41 minority issues, they are not under the scope of the mandate 70 and will not be further referenced in the present report. 80. The third wave of decolonization started only after 1990 and concerns the dismantlement of the Russian (or tsarist) Empire. The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, not being based on a logic of national self-determination after the First World War, escaped the nation-building and resulting national minority movements described above in paragraph 75. However, after the decision of the Russian Federation to dissolve the Union in 1991, 15 new States came into being, including the Russian Federation. Most of the Russian-speaking minorities that had spread within the Russian Empire during the colonial period – most of whose members never learned the local languages – remained in the former Russian colonies and claimed their rights to be protected as linguistic minorities. This is consistent with international texts and principles relating to minority rights. However, the Russian Federation also maintained their Russian citizenship and, as unfortunate developments in blatant violation of the most fundamental principles of international law have shown in recent years, has been championing the rights of those persons and has used existing or supposed encroachment of their rights to intervene, up to and including military aggression, in these newly decolonized countries’ affairs. 71 Such behaviour is in clear contravention of Article 2 (7) – and even Article 2 (4) – of the Charter of the United Nations, as well as the principle enshrined in article 8 (4) of the Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities. The Special Rapporteur can only take note that this third wave of decolonization reinstates minority issues as issues linked to peace and security. Such resurgence must be acknowledged as such and resolved by competent bodies within the United Nations system – even beyond the human rights bodies – according to principles consistent with the Charter and the fundamental principles of human rights. 4. Enduring social hierarchies 81. The equal enjoyment of human rights by all human beings is a progressive idea that is enshrined in article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. However, some societies have conserved systems of entrenched social hierarchies, according to which persons belonging to designated groups are systematically discriminated against from birth. Such situations are qualified within the United Nations system as discrimination based on work and descent. This appellation covers the system of castes (present mostly in South Asia and concerning at least 250 million Dalits), as well as some forms of discrimination linked to hereditary occupations, which persist in African countries, such as among the Dime people of Ethiopia, the Osu in Nigeria and the Sab in Somalia.72 These are issues, due to the number of persons concerned and to the intensity of encroachment of their rights (including untouchability and slavery), that must be addressed as a specific minority issue. Societies still based on such entrenched discriminatory systems are not meeting the initial and most basic requirements of human rights, according to which all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. 5. Non-sedentary populations 82. Persons having a non-sedentary lifestyle raise many minority issues that are difficult to resolve. This is the case of Roma worldwide,73 but also of Bedouins in the Middle East 70 71 72 73 GE.25-20927 The Commission on Human Rights, in its resolution2001/57, created a special procedure mandate on Indigenous Peoples in 2001. Kairat Abdrakhmanov, “Instrumentalization of Minorities vs. Instruments of Minority Rights: Conflict Prevention through Integration Based on Respect for Diversity and Minority Rights”, Peace Human Rights Governance vol. 7, No. 1 (2022): 143–147. Minority Rights Group International, “World directory of minorities and Indigenous Peoples”. Available at https://minorityrights.org/world-map/. A/HRC/29/24. 15