A/HRC/19/21 Programme of Action. A declaration, entitled “United against racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance”, was adopted by the Assembly by consensus,1 in which States acknowledged that countless human beings continue to be victims of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance, and called upon all stakeholders to intensify their efforts to eliminate these scourges. 2. Indigenous and minority issues 39. My Office continued to promote the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and to support the work of the Expert Mechanism and the Special Rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples. OHCHR conducted its global indigenous fellowship programme for 26 fellows, and hosted a regional fellowship in Southern Africa and a national fellowship in the Russian Federation. The Office continued to manage the United Nations Voluntary Fund for Indigenous Populations. 40. The United Nations Indigenous Peoples Partnership was launched on 20 May 2011. OHCHR co-chairs the Board on behalf of participating United Nations organizations. In October 2011, the Partnership approved six country programmes (Bolivia (Plurinational State of), Cameroon, the Central African Republic, Congo, Nepal and Nicaragua) and a regional programme for South-east Asia. 41. We also promoted the Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities and other human rights standards relevant to minority issues, supported the annual session of the Forum on Minority Issues, and organized in May the fourth Expert Consultation on Effective Practices in Policing and Minority Communities, in Bangkok. A regional conference on minority participation was held in Kyrgyzstan in July. 42. My Office delivered training on minority rights for United Nations staff members in Asia and the Pacific, and its Minority Fellowship Programme brought nine English- and Arabic-speaking minority rights advocates to Geneva. OHCHR convened the seventh meeting of the Inter-Agency Group on Minorities. In December, OHCHR launched a report on access to justice for victims of caste-based discrimination in Nepal and conducted a consultation with United Nations country teams from the South Asia region on work- and descent-based discrimination. Gender equality and women’s human rights 3. 43. On 10 June, I opened the annual full-day discussion of the Human Rights Council on women’s rights and presented a summary report of an expert workshop that focused on identifying challenges, good practices and opportunities on the elimination of violence against women (A/HRC/17/22) and a report on good practices and remaining gaps in the prevention of violence against women (A/HRC/17/23). 44. My Office contributed to the strategic planning process of the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN-Women) and prepared a joint work plan for submission to the Commission on the Status of Women and the Human Rights Council at its nineteenth session. In September, I submitted a report to the Council on effective practices in adopting a human rights-based approach to eliminate preventable maternal mortality and morbidity (A/HRC/18/27). 45. In September, OHCHR adopted its Gender Equality Policy and is currently developing a gender equality strategic plan. To implement the policy and strategy, 1 8 General Assembly resolution 66/3.