The two-day online Asia-Pacific Regional Forum is scheduled to begin in Geneva on Tuesday with a focus on building stronger protection mechanisms for minorities in the region.

The Forum marks the 30th anniversary of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities.

UN Special Rapporteur on minority issues Fernand de Varennes is scheduled to convene the Regional Forum in collaboration with the Tom Lantos Institute.

“Review-Rethink-Reform is the theme of this year’s Regional Forum. The time has come to reflect on the challenges facing minorities in Asia and the Pacific, the extent their situation has evolved in the last 30 years, and what is needed to build stronger rights protection mechanisms for minorities,” de Varennes said.

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The Regional Forum will bring together 152 representatives from 25 countries, UN and regional organisations, academics, civil society groups specializing in minority issues and representatives of minorities from different parts of Asia and the Pacific.

Speakers will include Shigeru Aoyagi, Director of the UNESCO Bangkok, Ambassador Nassima Baghli, Permanent Observer of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation to the United Nations Office and other international organizations in Geneva, Cynthia Veliko, Regional Representative of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in South-East Asia, and Stefano Sensi, Deputy Regional Representative of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in the Pacific.

The Regional Forum for Asia and the Pacific is the second of four regional fora convened by the UN expert in 2022.

Discussions will inform the work and recommendations of the 15th session of the UN Forum on Minority Issues which will take place in Geneva in December 2022.