A/HRC/16/29 II. The Commentary of the Working Group on Minorities to the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities (2005) (E/CN.4/Sub.2/AC.5/2005/2) 5. The Commentary was prepared by the United Nations Working Group on Minorities to serve as a guide to the understanding and application of the Declaration. It outlines, first of all, the purposes of the Declaration, which are to promote more effective implementation of the human rights of persons belonging to minorities and more generally to contribute to the realization of the principles of the Charter of the United Nations and of the human rights instruments adopted at the universal and regional levels. 6. The Commentary provides guidance on understanding and application of the Declaration and outlines its scope through comments on individual articles. It specifies that the beneficiaries of the rights under article 27 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which inspired the Declaration, are persons belonging to “ethnic, religious or linguistic minorities” and that the Declaration on Minorities adds the criterion “national minorities”. 7. Before entering into analysis of the articles, the Commentary clarifies that, unlike European regional instruments for which “national minorities” only comprise groups composed of citizens of the State; the Declaration on Minorities has a much wider scope. As the Declaration is inspired by article 27 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the Working Group on Minorities deduces that the Declaration has at least as wide a scope as that article. Therefore, in conformity with article 2 of the Covenant, States parties are under an obligation to respect and ensure the application of article 27 to everyone within their territory and under their jurisdiction, whether the person or group of persons are citizens of their countries or not. 8. The Commentary recalls that this is also the view expressed by the Human Rights Committee in its general comment No. 23, according to which persons who are not citizens of the country in which they reside may form part of, or belong to, a minority in that country. It concludes that while citizenship as such should not be a distinguishing criterion that excludes some persons or groups from enjoying minority rights under the Declaration, other factors can be relevant in distinguishing between the rights that can be demanded by different minorities. For example, those who live compactly together in a part of the State territory may be entitled to rights regarding the use of language, and street and place names which are different from those who are dispersed, and may in some circumstances be entitled to some kind of autonomy. In the application of the Declaration the “old” minorities have stronger entitlements than the “new”. 9. Among other issues, the Commentary clarifies that the duties of the State to protect the identity of minorities and to ensure their effective participation might in some cases be best implemented by arrangements for autonomy in regard to religious, linguistic or broader cultural matters, even if the Declaration does not provide group rights to self-determination. It also explains that the autonomy can be territorial, cultural and local, and can be more or less extensive. Such autonomy can be organized and managed by associations set up by persons belonging to minorities in accordance with article 2.4 of the Declaration. 10. The Commentary analyses the articles of the Declaration one by one, providing a useful interpretation for their application. Regarding Article 1, The Commentary underlines that minority protection is based on four requirements: protection of the existence, nonexclusion, non-discrimination and non-assimilation of the groups concerned. On the protection of the existence of minorities, the Commentary specifies that it includes their physical existence, their continued existence on the territories on which they live and their 4