FUEN at Ninth UN Forum on Minority Issues: “Minorities in Humanitarian Crisis”

The 9th session of the Forum on Minority Issues took place from 24-25 November 2016, under the theme “Minorities in situations of humanitarian crisis”.

FUEN, represented by legal advisor Frank de Boer, and a number of representatives of FUEN member organisations, such as the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People and the Federation of Western Thrace Turks (ABTTF) also participated in the Forum. ABTTF international relations director Melek Kırmacı Arık addressed the increase in hate-based attacks on the Turkish minority during the humanitarian and economic crisis in Greece. 

The Forum brought together minority representatives from across the world,  to open up a dialogue with other groups, United Nations member states and the UN Human Rights Council. The Forum addressed issues such as the lack of effective mechanisms to ensure the protection of minorities and the multifaceted forms of discrimination experienced by minority communities in humanitarian crisis situations. It was divided into 5 main themes related to the protection of the rights of minorities in crisis response and prevention, based on a set of draft recommendations prepared by the Special Rapporteur, inspired by her latest report to the UN General Assembly. 

Through personal testimonies and expert reports, the state representatives and NGOs at the Forum were made aware of cases in which minority communities are disproportionally affected by complex and long standing conflicts. As the Draft Recommendations of the ninth session state: ‘minorities may suffer harsher consequences of conflict or disasters because of a pre-existing precarious social and economic position, the areas or regions in which they live, or their restricted access to basic good and services because of direct or indirect discrimination by state institutions’.

More information:
Recommendations on Minorities in Situations of Humanitarian Crises
Report of the Special Rapporteur on Minority Issues, Rita Izsák-Ndiaye