I am delighted that this publication, Promoting and Protecting Minority Rights: A Guide for Minority Rights Advocates, comes before you as we celebrate the twentieth anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities. This anniversary gives us the opportunity to look back on the 20 years of promoting the Declaration and use that experience to plan and strategize for the future, to decide how best to bring this Declaration further to the fore of human rights discussions taking place all over the world and discuss its implementation. It is our hope that the Guide will be a true vade mecum, assisting civil society to engage even more effectively in this important and immense task. Whether we are talking about democracy-building following the uprisings in North Africa and the Middle East or ensuring human rights in the context of the global economic downturn; about sustainable development in the context of the 2012 United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (“Rio+20”) or about guaranteeing effective participation of minorities, including minority women and girls, in all spheres of life, worldwide; minority issues need to maintain their rightful place on the agendas of decision makers. In this anniversary year, my Office is increasing its engagement on minority rights even further. We are organizing a series of subregional and regional events to address most topical minority issues and we pursue a range of awareness-raising activities. We are taking the lead in the formation and coordination of the United Nations Network on Racial Discrimination and Protection of Minorities, a new platform aiming to enhance cooperation and dialogue on minorities across the United Nations system. All this is in addition to already established work on minority rights, which includes field-presence engagement on minority issues, capacity-building for minority rights activists through the Minorities Fellowship Programme, supporting the mandate of the Independent Expert on minority issues and the annual Forum on Minority Issues. Please visit our website to make sure you have all the latest information on these activities.