A/HRC/2/2 A/HRC/Sub.1/58/36 page 42 2006/11. The rights of persons belonging to national or ethnic, religious and linguistic minorities The Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights, Taking note of the report of the Working Group on Minorities on its twelfth session (A/HRC/Sub.1/58/19), Welcoming the increasing participation of minority representatives in sessions of the Working Group, Expressing appreciation for the active participation of the independent expert on minority issues at the twelfth session of the Working Group, Concerned about the continued violations of minority rights in all parts of the world, 1. Emphasizes the need to ensure adequate consideration of minority rights issues within the Human Rights Council and calls for the continuation of the Working Group on Minorities or a similar expert body to ensure the provision of specialized advice on minority rights issues to the Council, preferably through its subsidiary bodies in the future; 2. Recommends that such a future mechanism be convened intersessionally and for a duration of at least five working days, and recommends that the mechanism ensure access to and participation by minority representatives from all regions of the world and serve as a forum for dialogue and mutual understanding on minority rights issues; 3. Stresses the historical opportunity that the establishment of the mandate of the independent expert on minority issues and its ongoing interaction with the Working Group represent in advancing the promotion and protection of the rights of minorities, in particular in the area of follow-up and thematic expertise where the complementarity with the open forum provided by the Working Group is of crucial relevance; 4. Notes with appreciation the proposal made by the independent expert to study and, when appropriate, take initiatives on the specific minority situations brought to the attention of the Working Group by minority representatives and Governments during its twelfth session; 5. Endorses the request of the Working Group and the independent expert for a two-year programme of work, which includes a series of regional seminars, one of them on the situation of Afro-descendants in the Americas, on integration of minority considerations resulting in diversity in security, policing and criminal justice as a follow-up to the study discussed during the twelfth session of the Working Group (E/CN.4/Sub.2/AC.5/2006/WP.1), as well as the preparation of three thematic studies to be followed by thematic seminars on positive country experiences on self-government for minorities; on ways and means of strengthening the application of the Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities; and on double discrimination against women belonging to minorities;