The Forum on Minority Issues is a platform for promoting dialogue and cooperation on issues related to national or ethnic, religious and linguistic minorities, as well as thematic contributions and expertise to the work of the Special Rapporteur on minority issues. It meets annually for two working days, and its 16th session has been held in Geneva on 30th November and 1st December 2023.
The Forum had four areas of discussion: Challenges to Inclusion and Equality: barriers to the social and economic participation of persons belonging to minority groups; Socio-Economic Empowerment; Legal and Structural Approaches to More Inclusive Societies; and Protection and promotion of the rights of persons belonging to minority groups towards cohesive societies.
For a society to be cohesive, diversity, which is too often presented as a problem, must be considered a valuable element, and for this to be the case, it is necessary prioritize inclusion and effective participation, and to guarantee equal opportunities through effective anti-discrimination.
Sine Qua Non participated in this year’s edition both with its own intervention and encouraging and accompanying some CSOs. On its speech, on the first session, SQN focused on the support to the former SR’s proposal of a new legally binding instrument to further protect the rights of minorities and to prevent States from breaching their obligations towards them. This new treaty, SQN considered, is especially required at a time of growing active violent conflict around the world, growing support for far-right movements and ultra-liberal authoritarianism, and a growing global trend to curtail existing human rights and democracy.
SQN added that this new treaty would provide an opportunity to broaden the definition of minority to include and thus protect more realities.
Know more
The Forum on Minority Issues
https://www.ohchr.org/en/hrc-subsidiary-bodies/minority-issues-forum
The 16th session of the Forum
https://www.ohchr.org/en/events/forums/2022/fifteenth-session-forum-minority-issues
December 2023