Establishing and maintaining unimpeded and peaceful contacts across frontiers with people lawfully residing in other States, with whom they share a common national or ethnic origin, a cultural heritage or a religious belief, is a fundamental right of persons belonging to minorities. This fundamental minority right is stipulated in the UN Declaration on Minorities (Article 2(5)), in the CSCE Copenhagen Document (paragraph 32 (4)), and in the FCNM (Article 17 (1)). This Recommendation therefore concerns an individual right and States should refrain from interfering with it except in situations where there is a substantiated overriding security risk. Multilateral and bilateral instruments and mechanisms for transfrontier co-operation among States are dealt with in Section IV of the Recommendations. III. Benefits accorded by states to persons belonging to national minorities abroad 9. States may extend benefits to persons residing abroad, taking into account the aforementioned principles. Such benefits may include, inter alia, cultural and educational opportunities, travel benefits, work permits and facilitated access to visas. They should be granted on a non-discriminatory basis. The State of residence should not obstruct the receipt or enjoyment of such benefits, which are consistent with international law and the principles underlying these Recommendations. States may have an interest in supporting persons residing abroad, including by according benefits to them. According to the 2001 “Report on the Preferential Treatment of Minorities by their Kin-State” adopted by the European Commission for Democracy Through Law (hereinafter: “Venice Commission Report” - CDLINF (2001) 19), the possibility for States to adopt unilateral measures on the protection of “kin-minorities”, irrespective of whether they live in neighbouring or in other countries, is conditional on respect for the following principles: a) the territorial sovereignty of States; b) pacta sunt servanda; c) friendly relations amongst States, and d) the respect of human rights and fundamental freedoms, in particular the prohibition of discrimination. The mere fact that the beneficiaries of this kind of support are foreigners does not constitute an infringement of the principle of territorial sovereignty of other States. The same report acknowledges that a State can legitimately issue laws or regulations concerning citizens of other countries without seeking the prior consent of 16 Recommendations on National Minorities in Inter-State Relations