A/80/186 statement, he said, “[t]oday, we come to critically assess where we stand in realizing the Declaration […]. The hard truth is that – thirty years on – the world is falling short. Far short. We are not dealing with gaps – we are dealing with outright inaction and negligence in the protection of minority rights. […] Excellencies, it is past time we live up to the commitments made in this very hall in 1992 ”. 5 30. The truth has been and continues to be that minority issues have never really found their place in the United Nations system. Historically, an international regime for the protection of national minorities was set up under the League of Nations, more than 25 years before the international system for the protection of human rights emerged. 6 That may be the reason why the General Assembly, when adopting the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, acknowledged that “that the United Nations cannot remain indifferent to the fate of minorities”, but, “considering the universal character of the Declaration of Human Rights”, decided “not to deal in a specific provision with the question of minorities in the text of this Declaration ”. Minorities are misfits in the United Nations system for the protection of human rights. This situation led the previous mandate holder, Fernand de Varennes, to assert that “many of the United Nations institutions seem indifferent to minority i ssues, with minorities remaining largely ‘left behind’ at the Organization when one considers the various initiatives and measures in place institutionally: no treaty, no permanent forum, no voluntary fund, no international decade or year, no mainstreaming of their human rights, no or little reference to them when they are the most affected or marginalized, and so on.” 7 Although that assessment is not incorrect, the Special Rapporteur will nevertheless show that more than meets the eye is being done for persons belonging to minorities by the institutions and programmes of the United Nations system. 31. While there have been some achievements in that regard, it has been difficult for the United Nations system to properly acknowledge the existence of minorities and take into consideration the specific need of minorities. This is blatantly illustrated by the fact that the word “minority” is not mentioned even once in the Sustainable Development Goals, despite the efforts of the former Independent Expert on minority issues, Rita Izsák-Ndiaye, who included a thematic discussion on “Ensuring the inclusion of minority issues in the post-2015 development agenda” in the report that she presented in March 2014 to the Human Rights Council at its twenty-fifth session. 8 The Special Rapporteur himself had tried, in 2024, to push for the word “minority” to be included in the Pact for the Future, without any success. 9 The failure to mention minorities is all the more disturbing because many other groups, such as children, 10 girls, 11 Indigenous Peoples, 12 migrants, 13 persons with disabilities, 14 older persons, 15 __________________ 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 25-11708 See www.un.org/sg/en/content/sg/speeches/2022-09-21/secretary-generals-remarks-the-high-levelmeeting-the-30th-anniversary-of-the-adoption-of-the-declaration-the-rights-of-persons-belongingnational-or-ethnic-religious. See Joe Verhoeven, “Les principales étapes de la protection internationale des minorités”, Revue trimestrielle des droits de l’homme (1997); and Andre Liebich, “Minority as inferiority: minority rights in historical perspective”, Review of International Studies, vol. 34, No. 2 (April 2008), pp. 243–263. A/HRC/52/27, para. 45. A/HRC/25/56. See the position paper on the issue at www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/documents/issues/ minorities/sr/Position-Paper-Integrating-Minority-Issues-Pact-Future.pdf. See General Assembly resolution 70/1, paras. 8, 16, 23, 25, 27, 51 and 67, and Goals 1.2, 2.2, 3.2, 4.4, 4.5, 4.a, 5.3, 8.7, 11.2, 11.7 and 16.2. Ibid., preamble, and paras. 3, 15 and 20, and Goals 2.1, 4.1, 4.2, 5 and 6.2. Ibid., paras. 23, 25, 52 and 79, and Goals 2.3 and 4.5. Ibid., paras. 23, 25 and 29, and Goal 8.8. Ibid., paras. 23 and 25, and Goals 4.5, 8.5, 11.2 and 11.7. Ibid., para. 23, and Goals 2.2, 11.2 and 11.7. 7/21