Annex I 155 identity. The human rights set out in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights must at all times be respected in the process, including the principle of non-discrimination between individuals. The State is obliged to respect and ensure to every person within its territory and subject to its jurisdiction, without discrimination on any ground, including race, ethnicity, religion or national origin, the rights contained in the instruments to which that State is a party. 5. It is in the light of these purposes and principles that the articles of the Declaration on Minorities must be interpreted. III.  INTERPRETATION OF AND COMMENTS ON THE TITLE AND THE INDIVIDUAL ARTICLES THE TITLE AND SCOPE OF THE DECLARATION Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities 6. The beneficiaries of the rights under article 27 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which has inspired the Declaration, are persons belonging to “ethnic, religious or linguistic minorities”. The Declaration on Minorities adds the term “national minorities”. That addition does not extend the overall scope of application beyond the groups already covered by article 27. There is hardly any national minority, however defined, that is not also an ethnic or linguistic minority. A relevant question, however, would be whether the title indicates that the Declaration covers four different categories of minorities, whose rights have somewhat different content and strength. Persons belonging to groups defined solely as religious minorities might be held to have only those special minority rights which relate to the profession and practice of their religion. Persons belonging to groups solely defined as linguistic minorities might similarly be held to have only those special minority rights which are related to education and use of their language. Persons who belong to groups defined as ethnic would have more extensive rights relating to the preservation and development of other aspects of their culture also, since ethnicity is generally defined by a broad conception of culture, including a way of life. The category of national minority would then have still stronger rights relating not only to their culture but to the preservation and development of their national identity. 7. The Declaration does not, in its substantive provisions, make such distinctions. This does not exclude the possibility that the needs of the different categories of minorities could be taken into account in the interpretation and application of the various provisions. 8. Regional European instruments on minority rights use only the concept “national minorities” and do not refer to “ethnic, religious or linguistic minorities”. The most important among them are the instruments and documents of the Council of Europe5 and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.6 When applying those instruments it is important to define “national minority”, but the same problem does not arise for the United Nations Declaration on Minorities: even if a group is held not to constitute a national minority, it can still be an ethnic, religious or linguistic minority and therefore be covered by the Declaration. 9. This can be important in several respects. In relation to the European regional instruments, some States argue that “national minorities” only comprise groups composed of citizens of the State. Even if that is accepted (at present it is a matter of some controversy), it would not apply to The Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities, adopted by the Council of Europe in 1994. 5 Most important are the Helsinki Final Act of 1975 and the Document of the Copenhagen Meeting of the Conference on the Human Dimension of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe, 1990, section IV, paragraphs 30 to 40. 6