A/69/266
I. Introduction
1.
The Human Rights Council, in resolution 25/5, decided to extend the mandate of
the current mandate holder on minority issues as a Special Rapporteur on minority
issues and requested the Special Rapporteur, inter alia, to promote the implementation
of the Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious
and Linguistic Minorities, including through consultations with Governments, taking
into account existing international standards and national legislation concerning
minorities. A summary of the recent activities of the Special Rapporteur can be found
in her annual report to the Human Rights Council (A/HRC/25/56).
II. Preventing and addressing violence and atrocities
against minorities
2.
Minorities may experience violence owing to such factors as their numerical
size; their non-dominant social, economic and political position; their distinct
ethnicity, culture, religion or language; social stigma; and the suspicion and
prejudice with which they are often viewed by the majority. Minorities are
frequently poorly equipped to defend themselves and their rights and poorly
protected against violence by government actors which may not include members of
minorities. The legislative and institutional environments are frequently inadequate
and do not provide legal and practical protection against attack or the possibility of
redress and appropriate penalties.
3.
Violence against minorities throughout the world demonstrates that action is
required in all regions to protect minorities at risk. In many cases violence is
committed with impunity, which can fuel further violence. The present report seeks
to identify some of the major causes of violence against minorities and to consider
actions that should be taken by States and other actors to prevent and appropriately
address violence and to ensure that it does not persist or escalate. The historical and
ongoing cases of violence referred to are not exhaustive, yet they demonstrate the
wide range of situations in which violence against minorities occurs in different
regions and the extent to which challenges re main.
4.
The Holocaust was one of the clearest examples of large-scale, mass atrocities
committed against minority groups. Jewish communities, Roma and Sinti, Jehovah’s
Witnesses, homosexuals and others fell victim to Nazi propaganda and systematic
genocide. The Rwandan genocide is also a clear example of mass atrocities
perpetrated against a minority and one where, despite warnings, the international
community failed to act. Around 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus were killed. The
International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda determined that the killings constituted
genocide. In 1995, the worst massacre of civilians in Europe since the Second World
War took place in Srebrenica, where some 8,000 Muslim men and boys were killed by
Bosnian Serb forces. The Secretary-General acknowledged the failure of the
international community to prevent what was recognized as genocide (see A/54/549).
5.
Many other incidents of targeted violence against minorities have been
addressed in reports and statements by United Nations bodies and mechanisms. In
2002, Muslims in Gujarat, India, were targeted following a fire on a train in which
58 Hindus died. In the report of the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or
arbitrary executions who visited India in 2012, the Government acknowledged over
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