Annex I 161 Representatives of persons belonging to minorities should be involved beginning at the initial stages of decision-making. Experience has shown that it is of little use to involve them only at the final stages where there is very little room for compromise. Minorities should be involved at the local, national and international levels in the formulation, adoption, implementation and monitoring of standards and policies affecting them. 39. In 1991, the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe held a Meeting of Experts on National Minorities in Geneva. The States there assembled noted approaches used with positive results in some of the participating States. These included advisory and decision‑making bodies ‑ in particular with regard to education, culture and religion ‑ on which minorities were represented. Also mentioned were assemblies for national minority affairs, local and autonomous administration, as well as autonomy on a territorial basis, including the existence of consultative, legislative and executive bodies chosen through free and periodic elections. Reference was further made to forms of self-administration by a national minority of aspects concerning its identity in situations where autonomy on a territorial basis did not apply, and decentralized or local forms of government.9 40. In early May 1999, a group of independent experts met in Lund, Sweden, to draw up a set of recommendations on the effective participation of national minorities in public life. The recommendations are built upon fundamental principles and rules of international law, such as respect for human dignity, equal rights and non-discrimination, as they affect the rights of national minorities to participate in public life and to enjoy other political rights.10 At its fifth session, at the end of May 1999, the Working Group on Minorities adopted a set of recommendations on the same topic.11 41. The following commentary draws extensively on these recommendations. The purpose is not to set out only the minimum rights under article 2.3 of persons belonging to minorities, but also to provide a list of good practices which may be of use to Governments and minorities in finding appropriate solutions to issues confronting them. 42. Effective participation provides channels for consultation between and among minorities and Governments. It can serve as a means of dispute resolution and sustain diversity as a condition for the dynamic stability of a society. The number of persons belonging to minorities is by definition too small for them to determine the outcome of decisions in majoritarian democracy. They must as a minimum have the right to have their opinions heard and fully taken into account before decisions which concern them are adopted. A wide range of constitutional and political measures are used around the world to provide access for minorities to decision‑making. 43. The variety in the composition, needs and aspirations of different types of minority groups requires identification and adoption of the most appropriate ways to create conditions for effective participation in each case. The mechanisms chosen have to take into account whether the persons belonging to the minority in question live dispersed or in compactly settled groups, whether the minority is small or large, or an old or a new minority. Religious minorities may also require different types or contexts of participation than ethnic or national minorities. It should be noted, however, that in some cases religion and ethnicity coincide. Report of the CSCE Meeting of Experts on National Minorities, Geneva, 19 July 1991, Part IV. See also the second progress report of Special Rapporteur A. Eide on possible ways and means of facilitating the peaceful and constructive solution of problems involving minorities (E/CN.4/Sub.2/1992/37), paragraphs 122-155. 9 The Lund recommendations can be found on the website of the OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities, www.osce.org/hcnm/documents/lund.htm. 10 Report of the Working Group on Minorities on its fifth session (E/CN.4/Sub.2/1999/21), paragraphs 81-88. 11