A/HRC/46/44 on COVID-19 and minorities. A total of 1,197 people were consulted; this number included members of ethnic minority groups and Dalits, among many others. In Serbia, OHCHR, jointly with the Government and the Association of Roma Coordinators, began the process of mapping substandard settlements inhabited mainly by Roma, using the criteria of risks and access to rights during the COVID-19 pandemic, and access to clean drinking water and sanitation, electricity and sustainable sources of income. OHCHR secured additional resources in order to expand the scope of the project to assess the impact of COVID-19 on the inhabitants of these settlements. The completed mapping covered 702 substandard settlements, with around 170,000 people from 94 local selfgovernments across Serbia. It provided, for the first time, reliable and cross-checked data that will inform and better guide tailored and sustainable interventions, beyond the COVID-19 crisis. Restrictive measures and the COVID-19 response disproportionately and negatively affected Roma women and girls through additional burdens in their traditional daily activities, and school-age children, who often lacked access to digital schooling offered on national broadcast channels due to limited access to electricity and technological equipment. Many residents of substandard settlements were denied timely and adequate information regarding the disease of COVID-19 and government measures aimed at preserving public health. In Iraq, following the launch by the Office of the Prime Minister of an online drive for families economically affected by the COVID-19 curfew to apply for a temporary financial grant, the UNAMI human rights office assisted 47 individuals from 10 Roma households in Baghdad in April to register online for the grant and ensured that other minority communities seized the opportunity. Of the 2.1 million households considered eligible, 1.1 million have received the grant, including some minority households, but no breakdown was available. The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights issued a statement in April on the COVID-19 pandemic, in which it recommended that all States parties adopt special, targeted measures to protect, and mitigate the impact on, vulnerable groups as well as those subject to structural discrimination and disadvantage. Such measures include – among others – targeted programmes to protect the jobs, wages and benefits of all workers; imposing a moratorium on evictions or mortgage bond foreclosures against people’s homes during the pandemic; and providing social relief and income-support programmes and tailored measures to protect the health and livelihoods of vulnerable minority groups. In April, the Working Group on discrimination against women and girls recalled that measures to mitigate the risks to health and life posed by COVID-19 must take account of the specific risks faced by women and girls, based on factors such as their sex, gender, age, disability, ethnic origin, and immigration or residence status, among others. For example, women, including minority women, are disproportionately represented in informal sector jobs that are more vulnerable to disruption and fail to provide health coverage or paid leave.33 H. Empowerment and participation Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, in 2020 OHCHR had to redesign its Minorities Fellowship Programme and Indigenous Fellowship Programme, which otherwise are held annually in Geneva, into a country-based programme, which saw 34 former fellows posted as “senior fellows” in OHCHR country and regional offices, United Nations country teams and United Nations peacekeeping operations, in 29 locations in all regions. The main objective was to place the most successful former fellows in order for them to receive onthe-job training and to build their capacity to develop advocacy and leadership skills. At the same time, OHCHR and other United Nations entities benefited from the senior fellows’ expertise, knowledge and experience, which helped to expand diversity and ensure greater inclusion within United Nations structures. During this period, several former OHCHR minority fellows launched a joint artistic campaign entitled “When the World Pauses, Music and Dance Continue”. The initiative has 33 10 See www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=25809&LangID=E.