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I. Opening meeting
Video-message (and pdf version)
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon
Statement by President of the Human Rights Council
H.E. Ambassador Laura Dupuy Lasserre
Statement by the High Commissioner for Human Rights
Ms. Navanethem Pillay
Remarks by the Independent Expert on Minority Issues
Ms. Rita Izsák
Remarks by the Chair of the Forum on Minority Issues
Ms. Soyata Maiga
II. The Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities: 20 years on
Assigned Speakers
Mr Patrick THORNBERRY, Member of the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD), presented on “Some Controversies in the Drafting of the Declaration: A Personal Recollection”
Mr Asbjorn Eide, former Chairman of the United Nations Working Group on Minorities, presented on “The Declaration and its Commentary”
Ms. Gay McDougall, former Independent Expert on minority issues, presented on “The First Mandate: Experiences and Lessons Learned”
Participants
III. Perspectives from young minority rights advocates on the Declaration
Mr. Issa Hamad Salim Al-Hewetat, OHCHR Minority Fellows, presented on “Minorities and the right to education”
Ms. Mabruka Abdulmajid Sebit and Ms. Rasha Qass Yousef, OHCHR Minority Fellows, presented on “Minorities and Effective Political Participation”
Mr. Iurie Caldarari and Ms. Kandya Gisella Obezo Casseres, OHCHR Minority Fellows, presented on “Religious Minorities”
Mr. Irad Beldjebel and Mr. Jugal Kishore Ranajit, OHCHR Minority Fellows, presented on “Religious Minorities”
IV. Practical use of the Declaration: identification of good practices and positive measures
Assigned Speakers - Part A
Mr Antti Korkeakivi, Chief of the Indigenous Peoples and Minorities Section-OHCHR, presented an “Overview of activities conducted to mark the 20th anniversary of the Declaration on Minority Rights by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and way forward”
Ms. Lotta Sylwander, Representative of UNICEF in Viet Nam, presented on “UNICEF’s Ethnic Minority Strategy and Mother Tongue Bilingual Education programme”
Mr Alexey Kozhemyakov, Head of National Minorities and Antidiscrimination Department of the Council of Europe, presented on “The work of the Advisory Committee on the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities”
Mr Heiner Bielefeldt, Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief, presented on “The rights of religious minorities”
Participants - Part A
Assigned Speakers – Part B
Ms. Ilze Brands Kehris, Director of the Office of the OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities, presented on “The work of the HCNM to implement the Declaration in practice”
Ms. Lydia Saleshando, presented on “National Reforms on Minority Issues in Botswana: Implementing the Declaration”
Ms. Anna Rothery Fox, presented on “Liverpool-A case study on minorities and effective political participation” (see also Power Point Presentation)
Ms. Belma Podrug, presented on “Minority Issues on the Rise: A Canadian Prairie Perspective”
Mr Carl Soderbergh, Director of Policy and Communications with Minority Rights Group International, presented on their “Compilation of Good Practices in relation to the implementation of the Declaration”
Participants - Part B
V. Challenges and problems encountered in the practical implementation of the Declaration
Assigned Speakers – Part A
Ms. Leydi Pérez Venté, presented on the “Reality of ethnic rights in Afro black people facing the Declaration on the rights of minorities, 20 years later”
Mr Melakou Tegegn, presented on “Minorities and the African context”
Ms. Carla Amina Baghajati, presented on “Raising awareness for minority rights – How to pave a way from a regulatory framework to broad public support (with special attention to the situation of Muslims in Austria/Europe)”
Mr Jafar Al-Shayeb, presented on “Challenges facing Implementation of the Declaration: Regional Perspectives”
Participants – Part A
Mr Martin Chungong, Deputy Secretary-General of the Inter-Parliamentary Union presented on “Challenges faced by the IPU in its efforts aimed at implementing the Declaration”
Ms. Zola Kondur, presented on “The challenges faced by the Roma communities in effective participation in cultural, religious, social, economic and public life”
Mr Jakob Finci, presented on “Implementation of ECfHR Grand Chamber Judgment dated 22 December 2009 in Case Sejdic & Finci v Bosnia and Herzegovina”
Ms. Punam Sijapati, presented on “The challenges faced by Dalit women in Nepal”
Participants – Part B
VI. Consideration of future opportunities, initiatives and further possibilities for raising awareness of the Declaration, and ensuring its practical implementation
International Chief Littlechild, Chair of the Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples presented on “Good practices in the work of the Expert Mechanism”
Ms. Dwi Rubiyanti, presented on “Confronting Fundamentalism, Raising Awareness on Minority Rights in Indonesia”
Ms. Atidal Sliman, presented on “Awareness-raising to cultural, social, economic and political rights among Arab Bedouin minority women, men and children in the unrecognised villages”
Mr Endeko Charles Endeko, presented on “Minority political participation: the situation of the Hadzabe in Tanzania”
Ms. Risha Syed, presented on “Moving forward: a way ahead”
VIII. Concluding remarks
Remarks by the Chairperson of the Forum on Minority Issues
Introduction
Feature stories
Human Rights Council
Thirteenth session of the Forum on Minority Issues
Previous sessions
UN Forum on Minority Issues database
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