OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities and Director-General of the United Nations Office at Geneva organize roundtable on Promoting Conflict Prevention through the Socio-Economic Inclusion of Minorities

OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities (HCNM) Kairat Abdrakhmanov and Director-General of the United Nations Office at Geneva (UNOG) Tatiana Valovaya organized a roundtable on Promoting Conflict Prevention through the Socio-Economic Inclusion of Minorities on 15 November 2023 at the Palais des Nations in Geneva.

“Leaving no one behind is the central promise of the 2030 Agenda. This promise means that all the 17 Sustainable Development Goals should be met for everyone, including those who are the poorest, most vulnerable and furthest behind. Halfway through the 2030 Agenda, we must recognize that keeping this promise remains a distant goal for too many persons belonging to national, ethnic, religious and linguistic minorities who continue to endure discrimination, marginalization and exclusion. Furthermore, persons belonging to minority groups feel much more discriminated and excluded from society if they are stateless,” said Director-General Valovaya.

“I welcome the valuable guidance on the participation of national minorities in social and economic life published last month by the OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities. Over the last three decades, the OSCE has provided crucial expertise and support to states to secure the dignity and inclusion of minorities. You have worked to ensure respect for their language, culture, religion or belief, and for their full participation in decisions of relevance to them and their communities,” said Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights Nada Al-Nashif.

“When minority rights are firmly anchored in national legislation, including policy documents, and when they are implemented through electoral, legal, educational and regional development systems before a conflict has the opportunity to fester, then there is a good chance that a conflict might be prevented from happening. This is precisely why I encourage national authorities to invest in promoting and enabling the active participation of minorities in their country’s social and economic development:  making this a priority will support and sustain integration, peace and stability in the long term,” said High Commissioner Abdrakhmanov.

The roundtable discussed the measures and policy approaches set out in a new set of HCNM thematic Recommendations on the Effective Participation of National Minorities in Social and Economic Life in the context of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and other UN frameworks that could prevent the escalation of social and inter-ethnic tensions.

The participants discussed the challenges and reflected on how to achieve a more inclusive socio-economic-cultural balance, leaving no one behind. They paid specific attention to the socio-economic inclusion of minority youth and women.

The panel was comprised of Executive Secretary, United Nations Economic Commission for Europe Tatiana Molcean; UNHCR Deputy Director in the Division of International Protection Patrick Eba; Ambassador, Director, DCAF – Geneva Center for Security Sector Governance Nathalie Chuard; Chief, Indigenous Peoples and Minorities Section, OHCHR Hernan Vales; former UN Special Rapporteur on Minority Issues (2017-2023) Fernand de Varennes; and Associate Professor in Nationalism, European Institute of the London School of Economics and Political Science Jennifer Jackson-Preece. It was moderated by HCNM Senior Legal Adviser Elzbieta Kuzborska-Pacha.

The roundtable was organized as a follow up to an event on the Effective Participation of Minorities in Economic Life as a Strategy for Conflict Prevention, which was held on 21 November 2021 at the UN Office at Geneva. It also marks one of a series of events organized throughout 2023 to mark the 30th anniversary since the institution of the OSCE HCNM began operations in The Hague in 1993.