A/80/186 Special Rapporteur also finds it regrettable that United Nations entities do not participate more regularly and actively in the Forum. Over the past five years, engagement in the Forum by the various constituents of the United Nations system has been minimal. Of the more than 190 speakers who have delivered a statement at each the past five Forums, only a handful have been from the United Nations system, mostly from OHCHR. 52 In fact, the pattern has been trending downward, with engagement by the United Nations steadily decreasing over the past five years. This failure to participate more actively in the Forum represents a missed opportunity for the United Nations system to engage with minority groups from all over the world and draw the attention of civil society organizations and Member States to the work that the United Nations is carrying out to address the many grievances that minorities raise at the Forum. 59. The Minorities Fellowship Programme was launched in 2005 and is run by OHCHR. It is the most comprehensive training programme for human rights and minority rights defenders belonging to national or ethnic, religious and linguistic minorities. After a month-long training session in Geneva, the fellows gain general knowledge of the United Nations system, international human rights instruments and mechanisms that are specifically relevant to minorities issues. Fellows are expected to disseminate the knowledge that they gain to their communities and organizations. The Programme also serves as an opportunity for human rights activists involved protecting and promoting minority rights to expand their network by engaging in strategic dialogue with fellow activists from across the globe, relevant actors from the United Nations system and relevant non-governmental organizations, among other partners. The Programme is offered in Arabic, English and Russian. Since 2005, 264 minority fellows (144 men and 120 women) from 70 countries have participated in the Programme. Former minority fellows also constitute a network that can usefully support the Special Rapporteur in his enquiries concerning violations of minority rights or in preparations for country visits. Despite the severe budgetary restrictions affecting OHCHR, the Special Rapporteur wishes to emphasize that this programme must not be curtailed in any way, because it is the main United Nations -led initiative aimed at addressing the rights of persons belonging to minorities. 60. More than 20 United Nations departments, agencies, programmes and funds 53 collaborate through the United Nations network on racial discrimination and protection of minorities. It is currently co-chaired by OHCHR, one of the network’s permanent co-chairs, and UNFPA. The network is a United Nations inter-agency platform that carries out awareness-raising, advocacy and capacity-building on issues related to racial discrimination and the protection of national or ethnic, linguistic and religious minorities, including issues of multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination. 54 The network was established in 2012 by a decision of the Secretary General as a platform for addressing racial discrimination, including multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination, and the protection of national or ethnic, linguistic and religious minorities, and for enhancing dialogue and cooperation between United Nations departments, agencies, programmes and funds. In recent years, the network has published a number of documents that support the United __________________ 52 53 54 16/21 The Special Rapporteur on racism, the Indigenous Peoples and Minorities Section of OHCHR and minority fellows from the Minorities Fellowship Programme. Members of the network include the Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Department of Global Communications, Development Coordination Office, Department of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs, ILO, Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, OHCHR, Office on Genocide Prevention and the Responsibility to Protect, Peacebuilding Support Office, Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS, United Nations Alliance of Civilizations, UNDP, UNEP, UNHCR, UNESCO, UNFPA, UNICEF, United Nations Institute for Training and Research, UNODC, UN-Women, WFP and WHO. See www.ohchr.org/en/minorities/un-network-racial-discrimination-and-protection-minorities. 25-11708