Human Rights Council, 7th Session (Item 3)

7th Session, 12th March 2008

Joint statement by Minority Rights Group International, the International Movement Against all forms of Discrimination and Racism, Pax Romana, the Lutheran World Federation, the Anti-Racism Information Service and the Islamic Human Rights Commission

Thank you Mr. President. I speak on behalf of Minority Rights Group International, the International Movement Against all forms of Discrimination and Racism, Pax Romana, the Lutheran World Federation, the Anti-Racism Information Service and the Islamic Human Rights Commission.

We warmly welcome the valuable report of the Independent Expert on Minority Issues, Ms Gay McDougall and we thank her for her tireless work.

The discriminatory denial or deprivation of citizenship is a serious problem affecting minority communities in all regions of the world. We welcome the contribution made by the report of the Independent Expert to understanding of the issue. In particular we welcome the balanced way the report points out positive developments in many States and all regions as well as noting areas where more improvement is required. We believe this is a very constructive way of addressing specific and potentially sensitive situations.

We welcome the wide engagement of states with the Independent Expert including the number of states who responded to her questionnaire on citizenship issues and the broad spectrum of countries which have invited her to visit their country.

We welcome the resolution of the 6^th Session of the Council which established a new Forum on Minority Issues and the important role the Independent Expert will play in guiding the work of the new Forum. We look forward to engaging with the Independent Expert in this new Forum.

We strongly support the continuation of the mandate of the Independent Expert and would like to ask her a question: How does she see the development of her mandate over the coming years?

Finally, we would reiterate that the mandate of the Independent Expert on Minority Issues is vitally important to some of the most marginalized communities around the world and we thank her for her excellent work.

Thank you Mr. President.