The role and activities of national institutional mechanisms in promoting and protecting minority rights 2012, para. 16
Paragraph
Paragraph text
Institutions mandated to address minority issues can increase minority rights awareness among minority communities and the wider society. They are valuable central sources of information on legislation, policies and programmes and acts that foster discrimination. They can provide advisory services on specific concerns, such as education, employment and housing, and facilitate consultations and debates in which minorities participate. A national institutional framework facilitates legislative and policy development and the design, implementation and monitoring of minority-related programmes. Affirmative action measures that address long-standing discrimination and inequality are often necessary and require institutional attention to specific minority issues or groups. Institutions can conduct studies and social surveys and gather and analyse disaggregated data so as to justify, implement and monitor such measures.