A/79/169 the dominant group and minority groups are complex or tense, it is important to have confidence-building practices between the different communities. Including persons belonging to minorities in the implementation of legislation or policies to whose design and/or content they have effectively contributed appears to the Special Rapporteur a necessary component of effective participation. Such inclusion of persons belonging to minorities in implementing institutions could easily be achieved through quota mechanisms. XII. Conclusions and recommendations 37. Substantial minority rights are defined at the State or sub-State level, as recognized in article 2, paragraph 3, of the Declaration on the Rights of Persons belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities. The present report shows that the most effective way in which persons belonging to a minority can be effectively associated with the definition of the normative content of their minority rights is through forms of territorial or sectoral autonomy at the sub-State level. 38. Institutional design starts at the constitutional level. States should therefore, and wherever possible, strive to define their population in an inclusive manner, either through a constitutional provision explicitly referring to minority communities or through an inclusive formula which cannot be interpreted as excluding persons belonging to a minority from the national polity. Any definition which leads to the deprivation of the human rights of part of the resident population is prohibited at all times. 39. The Special Rapporteur stresses that a definition of the State’s population which includes minority communities, explicitly or implicitly, would not only grant symbolic, legal and institutional recognition to persons belonging to minorities as a specific component of the national polity but would also lead to better implementation of minority rights. For example, judges, when deciding on claims related to minority rights, would have to interpret legal provisions in accordance with such a definition. In that respect, the Special Rapporteur encourages States to organize specific awareness-raising programmes on the specificities of non-discrimination with a view to the full enjoyment of their rights by persons belonging to minorities. The Special Rapporteur hereby indicates his willingness to contribute to the elaboration of such programmes. 40. The Special Rapporteur emphasizes that participative mechanisms allowing persons belonging to ethnic or national, religious or linguistic minorities on matters of their direct concern should not be detrimental to the capacity of these persons to contribute to decision-making processes on issues concerning society as a whole. 41. The Special Rapporteur therefore calls upon States to envisage institutional designs promoting the inclusion of persons belonging to minorities, by allowing them to effectively participate in decisions on matters of direct concern to them, as well as to contribute, as persons belonging to a minority, to addressing issues relevant for society as a whole. These mechanisms should relate to both decisionmaking and implementation processes. They should help to build trust between different national or ethnic, religious and linguistic communities. Specific confidence-building measures around these arrangements should be envisaged. 42. In order to allow a degree of self-rule in specific fields of competence of particular relevance to minorities, such as education or culture, the Special Rapporteur recommends that the allocation of competencies between different 24-13136 19/20