A/79/169 20. When examining national or subnational institutional arrangements and their impact on the right of persons belonging to minorities to participate effectively to decision-making processes, the purposes of minority rights to participation – as underlined above – need to be borne in mind at all times. Institutional arrangements should be examined with respect to how they help persons belonging to minorities “to enjoy their own culture, to profess and practice their own religion, and to use their own language, in private and in public, freely and without interference or any form of discrimination”, 26 as well as with respect to how they allow minority effective participation “in cultural, religious, social, economic and public life”, 27 so that they contribute to the recognition and appreciation of diversity within society at the State level. There is a need to be aware that these two dimensions do not necessarily reinforce each other. For example, institutional arrangements promoting auto nomous processes of decision-making by minority groups on matters of their concern may lead to persons belonging to minorities being isolated from societal choices at the national level. Quota systems or reserved seats in national elections may produce the same negative effects. Therefore, each institutional arrangement will always be examined under both angles. Institutional arrangements regarding minority rights may therefore be compared using the two scales shown in the figure below. Figure Two scales for measuring the fitness of institutional arrangements 21. The Special Rapporteur understands that such a comparison may seem to be of limited practical value, given that each State has its own institutional system as a direct consequence of the right to self-determination, which leads to States having very different political, economic, social and cultural arrangements, according to their own sovereign preferences. 28 Furthermore, the Special Rapporteur is naturally mindful that it would be contradictory to advocate one specific type of State organization in order to promote diversity within and between societies, as it would be both a __________________ 26 27 28 10/20 General Assembly resolution 47/135, annex, art. 2, para. 1. Ibid., para. 2. For more on this aspect, see A/HRC/55/51, para. 26. 24-13136