A/HRC/20/26/Add.2 the procedural aspects of registration. It also specified that the exemplary list is no longer applicable and is therefore to be considered void. 37. The Independent Expert regards the above-mentioned circular as a positive step, but regrets that it is not enforced. She received a number of testimonies that parents are still denied the right to freely choose and register the names of their children. It would appear that the list of approved Arabic names is still in circulation and continues to be applied by Civil Status officers. Moreover, another list with prohibited names is also used to deny parents the freedom to register their preferred names for their offspring. In most cases, applicants do not receive any written official refusal to register their child’s name. In addition, the Independent Expert learned that this practice exists not only inside Morocco but is also applied abroad in embassies. The Independent Expert is therefore concerned that insufficient efforts have been made to ensure that duty bearers at the local level are aware of the instructions contained in circular No. D-3220. 38. The Independent Expert is of the view that such practices infringe cultural rights, in particular the rights of all persons to freely identify with one or several communities and to enjoy and manifest their own culture, as well as linguistic rights. She recalls in this regard general comment No. 21 of the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights on the right to take part in cultural life, stressing that “participation covers in particular the right of everyone – alone, or in association with others or as a community – to act freely, to choose his or her own identity, to identify or not with one or several communities or to change that choice, (…) to engage in one’s own cultural practices and to express oneself in the language of one’s choice.22 The rights of the child, as set out in articles 7 and 8 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, are also jeopardized by this situation. The Independent Expert also draws the attention of the Government to the recommendation made by the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination in 2010 on that issue. 23 2. Names of public places and institutions 39. During her mission, the Independent Expert was concerned to learn that non-Arabic names of public places had been replaced with Arabic names For instance, Ministry of Education correspondence No. 01/201024 on new names for regional educational institutions specifically instructs the replacement of the Amazigh names of a number of schools with Arabic names. Such directives impinge upon the cultural rights of individuals and communities, in particular their right to participate in cultural life and to enjoy and have access to cultural heritage, as well as their linguistic rights. 40. In this regard, the Independent Expert recalls that the right of access to and enjoyment of cultural heritage includes the right of individuals and communities to, inter alia, know, understand, enter, visit, make use of, maintain, exchange and develop cultural heritage, as well as to benefit from the cultural heritage and the creation of others. States should therefore ensure access to the cultural heritage of one’s own communities, as well as that of others.25 Cultural heritage should be understood to also include the history of communities, their outstanding figures and their linguistic heritage. 22 23 24 25 10 E/C.12/GC/21, para. 15 (a). CERD/C/MAR/CO/17-18, para. 12. Correspondence No. 01/2010 on new names of educational establishments, based on the names of major figures and symbols of the national movement of resistance and liberation, Ministry of National Education, Tiznit, 14 January 2010. A/HRC/17/38, paras. 79 and 80 (j).