A/51/542/Add.1 English Page 12 belonging to religious communities and charitable institutions within its district. According to information provided, Act No. 3345/1920 provided that the members of that committee were to be chosen through elections held within the Muslim community. This provision was abolished under the dictatorship and replaced by a procedure, which is still in force, for appointing the members of the committee. 49. The Muslim minority of Thrace is once again divided over the legislation concerning the waqfs; the arguments put forward on each side correspond to those put forward in the context of the legislation concerning the muftis. The disagreements also have practical implications for the Muslim minority in the religious field (see chap. II). (c) Legislation concerning education 50. In addition to the provisions of the Treaty of Lausanne which provide that Thracian Muslims shall be taught their own language and the Islamic religion, the Greek Government adopted a new law in October 1995. The provisions of the new law aim at upgrading the quality of the education afforded to Muslim Greek citizens in order to make it equal to that of all other Greek citizens. More precisely, economic and career incentives are offered to Christian teachers who are stationed in minority schools and at the same time efforts are made to improve the qualifications of Muslim teachers. Furthermore, English language courses are being introduced at the primary school level, and physical education will henceforth be taught by graduates of the Physical Education Teachers Training College. 51. Article 2 of the new law constitutes the keystone of this effort. Under this article, Muslim high school graduates are afforded preferential terms of admission to universities and technical institutes (affirmative action) as was the case before for other classes of Greek citizens (children of immigrants and repatriates). A quota and special examinations for admission to universities have been fixed in order to raise the educational level of the minority and to facilitate its integration in the social fabric of the country. C. Other legal questions 52. It will be noted that Greece has not ratified the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. The Covenant is particularly important since article 18 guarantees the promotion and protection of freedom of religion and belief, which are also protected by the basic case-law of the United Nations Human Rights Committee. The Greek Government is said to have initiated a project for the ratification of the Covenant. According to the non-governmental representatives, difficulties have emerged, in particular with regard to the articles concerning minorities. The Ministry of Justice stated that the Commission responsible for administration and decentralization had expressed a favourable opinion concerning ratification and that the subsequent stages of the procedure were pending. 53. Another point to be emphasized is the establishment of a commission for revision of the Constitution. The constitutional provisions concerning /...