Forum on Minority Issues

Second Session of the Forum on Minority Issues
12 and 13 November 2009

About the Forum on Minority Issues

Pursuant to Human Rights Council resolution 6/15 of 28 September 2007 , a forum on minority issues has been established to provide a platform for promoting dialogue and cooperation on issues pertaining to national or ethnic, religious and linguistic minorities, as well as thematic contributions and expertise to the work of the independent expert on minority issues . The Forum shall identify and analyze best practices, challenges, opportunities and initiatives for the further implementation of the Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities .

The Forum meets annually for two working days allocated to thematic discussions. The independent expert on minority issues, Ms Gay McDougall, shall guide the work of the Forum, prepare its annual meetings and report on the thematic recommendations of the Forum to the Human Rights Council.

The same resolution has requested the President of the Human Rights Council to appoint for each session, on the basis of regional rotation, and in consultation with regional groups, a chairperson of the Forum among experts on minority issues.

Second session of the Forum on Minority Issues

The second session of the Forum took place on 12 and 13 November 2009 in Room XX of the Palais des Nations in Geneva , Switzerland . Ms. Barbara Lee, member of the United States House of Representatives, was appointed as Chairperson for this second session of the Forum focusing on: Minorities and Effective Political Participation.

Forum participants

As required by resolution 6/15, the Forum achieved the active participation of representatives of Member States, United Nations mechanisms, bodies and specialized agencies, funds and programmes, intergovernmental organizations, regional organizations and mechanisms in the field of human rights, national human rights institutions and other relevant national bodies, academics and experts on minority issues and NGOs. In addition to this wide range of stakeholders, this session of the Forum brought together members of minority populations from all regions of the world, who were either elected officials or had been candidates at national or local levels, engaged in political parties, or who were actively engaged in developing programs to encourage greater participation of minorities in the political process. Over 500 individuals were accredited from all categories to participate in this second session of the Forum, including more than 80 minority political actors and special guests, delegates from over 45 States as well as representatives of some 95 NGOs.

Discussions

To help focus the discussions during the two days of the Forum and ensure that they would be highly inter-active, each agenda item started with presentations made by minority actors or specialists before the Forum would hear interventions from participants, based on a sign-up sheet. The focus of discussions was broadly based around the following three core elements: identification of challenges and problems facing minorities and States; identification of good practices in relation to minorities and political participation; and consideration of opportunities, initiatives and solutions.

A background document on “Minorities and Effective Political Participation” and a set of draft recommendations had been made available to all Forum participants, and formed the basis for the discussions. Both documents are available on this website.

Forum Reports

Human Rights Council resolution 6/15 requests the Chairperson to prepare “a summary of the discussion of the Forum, to be made available to all participants of the Forum”. The summary of the 2009 session of the Forum is posted on this website.

The same resolution invites the independent expert on minority issues “to include in her report thematic recommendations of the Forum (…) for consideration by the Human Rights Council”. The Recommendations from the 2009 session of the Forum will be presented by the independent expert to the Human Rights Council at its 13 th regular session in March 2010. They will also be posted on the Forum's website.