A/48/509/Add.1 English Page 3 should be encouraged to cooperate actively in such endeavours, to appoint officers to work closely with operational personnel and to allocate funds to the preparation of educational material relevant to the Declaration. 7. Each of the specialized agencies and other organizations and programmes of the United Nations system should be asked to appoint one or more persons to be responsible for that agency’s contribution to the full realization of the rights and principles set forth in the Declaration in accordance with its article 9 and its fulfilment of paragraph 3 of resolution 47/135 of 18 December 1992. Among the responsibilities of such "focal point" should be the assessment and evaluation of the effect of relevant programmes on minority communities. 8. Sensitivity to minority issues is crucially relevant to peace-keeping and post-conflict peace-building. There is a special need to train peace-keepers and others involved in national reconciliation programmes about the rights of minorities and other non-discrimination instruments. Special efforts should be made in the field of post-conflict peace-building to develop cross-community programmes. 9. Greater use should be made of the Voluntary Fund for Technical Cooperation in the Field of Human Rights of the Centre for Human Rights with regard to the rights of persons belonging to minorities, as recommended by the World Conference on Human Rights, held at Vienna in 1993. These and other parts of the United Nations system should offer assistance to Governments in protecting diversity. 10. There is a critical need to insure the perspectives and participation of persons belonging to minorities in the deliberations and activities of the United Nations system. Participation should be encouraged in all areas where the interests of minority groups are at stake. 11. One mechanism for raising minority concerns, encouraging participation and addressing grievances should be to establish a working group, perhaps within the human rights programme, to examine questions related to the implementation of the Declaration. The working group should be empowered to receive credible and reliable reports from all appropriate sources, including governmental, intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations, and should have the capacity to respond effectively to credible and reliable information affecting cases and situations involving the rights of persons belonging to minorities and to make urgent inquiries with the aim of the humanitarian resolution of problems. It should promote positive measures to implement the Declaration. The working group could invite persons to present testimony in person and might dispatch members of the group of their representatives to examine situations. The working group should submit regular reports, as information warrants, regarding the implementation of the Declaration, including the occurrence and extent of incidents inconsistent with the provision therein, together with conclusions and recommendations. 12. Annual reporting by the Secretary-General to the General Assembly on the implementation of the Declaration should become a regular practice. -----