These policies and practices in many ways reflect also the basic principles and provisions of the Declaration. The international standards provide an important base-line and clear guidance, but ultimately it is the national governments who are responsible for ensuring compliance as a minimum, and good practice standards as a matter of wise policy. HCNM has consistently recommended to OSCE participating States what is also explicit in the Declaration: minority rights protection should be spelled out in domestic law and the institutions, dedicated bodies and mechanisms for their implementation should be established. Comprehensive and specific minority rights legislation is necessary so all aspects and areas of life are covered, but the particular solution to how this is best done in a particular case is clearly dependent on context and requires the elaboration of a workable solution, with the ownership of the authorities and all stakeholders in the State concerned. But even when legislation and institutions are in place, systematic implementation will not take place unless these are coupled with well' formulated policies and programmes, with due attention to the national and sub-national level and elaborated in a participatory and pluralistic process directly involving minorities in all their heterogeneity. , The HCNM provides specific assistance and recommendation to OSCE participating States based on the situation at hand, often providing both detailed recommendations regarding draft legislation and policies, as well as facilitating dialogue and encouraging participation by minorities in such decisions. This accumulated experience has led to a series of thematic recommendations aiming to provide practical guidance to states, but also intended to be used by other actors, including civil society. The earlier recommendations elaborate on principles that are also included in the Declaration, and are firmly grounded in the rights framework, while specific content on what this entails and examples of how to ensure the respect for these rights stem from experience on the ground. The Hague, Oslo and Lund recommendations on education, language and effective participation in public affairs respectively, remain at the heart of HCNM country-specific work and the issues are still part of the core of minority rights, as the Declaration also indicates, and the topics of the Minority Forums confirm. In addition, recommendations in the field of broadcast media, policing in multiethnic societies and regarding minority issues in inter-state relations were most recently complemented with the Ljubljana Guidelines for the Integration of Diverse Societies, in November this year. All these recommendations, like the Declaration and the reminder by the distinguished experts closely familiar with its drafting present here, stress the fundamental importance of engaging both majority and minority representatives in the protection of the rights of minorities and in promoting constructive intercultural relations. Continued cooperation internationally, both multilaterally and bilaterally and using the available international expertise is a prime and available asset in order to learn from each others' good and less good practices and a tool for finding appropriate and equitable solutions to the diverse range of situations where