A/HRC/46/57
I. Introduction
1.
The mandate of the Special Rapporteur on minority issues was established by the
Commission on Human Rights in its resolution 2005/79 of 21 April 2005, and subsequently
extended by the Human Rights Council in successive resolutions.
2.
The current Special Rapporteur, Fernand de Varennes, was appointed by the Human
Rights Council in June 2017 and assumed his functions on 1 August 2017. The mandate was
extended in 2020 for a three-year period by the Council in its resolution 43/8.
3.
The Special Rapporteur is honoured to be entrusted with the mandate and thanks the
Human Rights Council for its trust in him. He also wishes to thank the Office of the United
Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) for its support in the
implementation of the mandate.
II. Activities of the Special Rapporteur
4.
The Special Rapporteur wishes to draw the attention of the Human Rights Council to
the mandate’s web page, where general information is provided on the activities associated
with the mandate, including communications, press statements, public appearances, country
visits and thematic reports.1 An overview of the activities of the mandate holder between 1
January and 1 July 2020 is provided in the report presented to the General Assembly at its
seventy-fifth session (A/75/211).
5.
The Special Rapporteur has continued to focus on increasing the visibility and raising
awareness of minority issues – particularly related to his thematic priorities (statelessness;
education, language and the human rights of minorities; hate speech targeting minorities in
social media; and the prevention of ethnic conflicts) – among United Nations institutions and
Member States, and more generally among the general public and other regional and
international organizations. He has also focused on new approaches in order to improve the
accessibility of activities under the mandate such as the Forum on Minority Issues.
6.
This work has included two main initiatives:
(a)
In cooperation with the Tom Lantos Institute and numerous regional minority
and human rights organizations, consolidating, the continued organization of regional forums
each year on the same themes as the Forum on Minority Issues;
(b)
Clarifying, for the purposes of the mandate, a working definition of the concept
of a minority, and the significance and scope of the four categories of minorities recognized
in United Nations instruments (national or ethnic, religious and linguistic minorities).
7.
The Special Rapporteur has signalled as a priority the thirtieth anniversary of the
adoption of the Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic,
Religious and Linguistic Minorities, expected to be marked in 2022 with a high-level event
during the seventy-seventh session of the General Assembly in New York and associated
activities.
A.
Country visit
8.
The Special Rapporteur looks forward to continuing dialogue with Cameroon, India,
Jordan, Kenya, Nepal, the Russian Federation, South Africa, South Sudan, the Syrian Arab
Republic, Timor-Leste, the United States of America and Vanuatu, to which he has made
requests to visit. He is appreciative to the Government of Paraguay, which has indicated its
willingness for the Special Rapporteur to conduct a visit in 2021.
9.
In his visits, the Special Rapporteur focuses on the importance of addressing
discrimination, exclusion and other violations of human rights involving particularly
vulnerable minorities, such as the Bidoon, Dalits and Roma, and doubly or even triply
1
2
www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/Minorities/SRMinorities/Pages/SRminorityissuesIndex.aspx.