A/HRC/FMI/2014/2 III. Legal framework 9. In the preamble to the Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities, the General Assembly of the United Nations states that “… the promotion and protection of the rights of persons belonging to national or ethnic, religious and linguistic minorities contribute to the political and social stability of States in which they live” and that “… the constant promotion and realization of the rights of persons belonging to national or ethnic, religious and linguistic minorities, as an integral part of the development of society as a whole and within a democratic framework based on the rule of law, would contribute to the strengthening of friendship and cooperation among peoples and States”. In the Declaration itself, the Assembly established in article 1.1 that States “shall protect the existence and the national or ethnic, cultural, religious and linguistic identity of minorities within their respective territories and shall encourage conditions for the promotion of that identity”. 10. The Commentary to the Declaration3 states that “the protection of the existence of minorities includes their physical existence, their continued existence on the territories on which they live and their continued access to the material resources required to continue their existence on those territories. The minorities shall neither be physically excluded from the territory nor be excluded from access to the resources required for their livelihood. The right to existence in its physical sense is sustained by the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide… Forced population transfers intended to move persons belonging to minorities away from the territory on which they live, or with that effect, would constitute serious breaches of contemporary international standards, including the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. But protection of their existence goes beyond the duty not to destroy or deliberately weaken minority groups. It also requires respect for and protection of their religious and cultural heritage, essential to their group identity, including buildings and sites such as libraries, churches, mosques, temples and synagogues”. 11. The United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (1948) recognizes that “genocide is an international crime, which entails the national and international responsibility of individual persons and states”. Article 2 of the Convention recognizes that genocide means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such: (a) killing members of the group; (b) causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; (c) deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; (d) imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group; and (e) forcibly transferring children of the group to another group. 12. In 2004, the Secretary-General established the mandate of the Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide. The principal objective of the Special Adviser is to alert the Secretary-General and, through him, the Security Council, to situations that, if not prevented or halted, might lead to genocide. The mandate of the Special Adviser also includes providing recommendations on how to prevent or halt genocide, as well as action to take to protect vulnerable populations. The Office of the Special Adviser also attempts to identify a range of potential threats to minority populations at an early stage and to make recommendations for mitigating the risk of escalation. These often include recommendations on measures that would build State resilience to atrocity crimes and promote inclusion and constructive management of diversity. 3 E/CN.4/Sub.2/AC.5/2005/2. 5