A/HRC/4/9/Add.2 page 7 (paid to the State), and findings of violations can be made public. The ETA does not have authority, for example, to require a violating employer to hire a person who has been discriminated against, or to impose punitive damages. It is the stated desire of the ETA to achieve friendly settlements between parties. B. International standards 17. In 1995 Hungary ratified two key documents of the Council of Europe regarding minority protection: the Framework Convention on the Protection of National Minorities, and the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. Hungary has ratified the 1961 European Social Charter and several of its protocols, but it has not yet agreed to be bound by the Revised European Social Charter of 1996 and has also not ratified the additional protocol making possible collective complaints under the Charter mechanism. This is of particular concern, given the serious problems faced by the Roma minority in a number of Charter areas. 18. Of particular relevance to minorities, Hungary has ratified the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, and the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women. Hungary is obligated to report on a regular basis to the relevant monitoring bodies, and has a good record of reporting. III. THE GENERAL SITUATION OF MINORITIES AND FUNCTIONING OF THE SYSTEM OF MINORITY SELF-GOVERNMENT 19. According to data of the Hungarian Central Statistical Office, the social indicators of 12 out of the 13 officially recognized minority communities (Armenian, Bulgarian, Croatian, German, Greek, Polish, Romanian, Ruthenian, Serbian, Slovak, Slovenian and Ukrainian) are similar to those of the majority population. The Government considers therefore that, from a socio-economic viewpoint, the effective integration of these 12 minorities in Hungary is complete. 20. With regard to the preservation and promotion of cultural and language identity, the system of minority self-government provides minorities with finance to achieve a high degree of cultural autonomy in some cases. Meetings between the Independent Expert and Presidents of the Slovak and Croatian minority self-governments, together with a visit to a German minority community, demonstrated that the system offers significant benefits for some minorities in the development of cultural institutions and services, and the teaching and preservation of minority languages. 21. Funding based on a tender system has provided essential grants to assist in establishing such facilities as libraries, museums and heritage centres, theatres, research and educational institutions, and media and publishing outlets, and to engage in activities of a cultural nature, for example youth camps and exhibitions. Problems have been encountered due to the high level of financial and administrative dependence of local self-governments upon the national “parent” bodies, and an inadequate basis for allocation of funds, leaving some unable to function effectively. However, recent amendments to the funding system should allow a budget allocation for all local minority self-governments based on a number of established criteria.