Lothar Krappmann Rapporteur of the Committee on the Rights of the Child December 2008 Statement at the First Session of the Forum on Minority Issues "Minorities and the Right to Education" Geneva, 15 and 16 December 2008 Madame chair, distinguished audience, I would like to thank the organizers for the opportunity to address this Forum on Minority Issues on behalf of the Committee on the Rights of the Child. The Committee is very pleased at being present here. We have to establish close cooperation, since the monitoring work of the Committee very much focuses on those groups of children who are in danger to be left behind. Children from minority groups are one of these groups, which need the committee's utmost attention. The issue most frequently addressed with regard to children from minorities in the Concluding Observations of the Committee is education. This must not be explained in length here today: So many children from minorities are excluded from education. This is a fundamental human rights violation as education is the gateway to empowering children, women and men to strive for their rights and also to enjoy their lives, when these rights are realized. The second commonest issue in the Concluding Observations with respect to children from minorities are serious concerns about violations of the rights to equality and non-discrimination. The Convention has not only article 2, which ensures all rights of the Convention to