Priorities for the work of the Independent Expert and the twentieth anniversary of the Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities 2012, para. 34
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The independent expert considers the work undertaken by the mandate to highlight the situation of minorities in the context of the Millennium Development Goals to be highly important as the international community approaches the 2015 deadline for achieving the Goals. She considers that efforts by States to ensure that the Goals are met for the poorest and most disadvantaged communities, frequently including minority groups, should be intensified including via interventions targeted at particular minority communities. Millions of persons belonging to minorities globally, including, for example, people of African descent, Roma, Dalits and others, are at risk of being left behind by initiatives that fail to benefit them due to discrimination, lack of adequate attention to their unique circumstances of poverty, or neglect.