A/75/211 “traditional” or “autochthonous” ethnic minorities, or ethnic minorities made up of nationals. While national minorities were associated with a particular subset of ethnic minorities, not all ethnic minorities were necessarily national minorities. 63. In many submissions, minorities were explicitly or implicitly viewed as involving distinct levels of rights holders: a broad, first level of rights for minorities in general; followed at the next level by more specific rights, for example relating to education and political participation, for longer-established, historical “national minorities”; and even further-reaching rights for indigenous peoples, for example relating to internal self-determination. Indeed, as indicated in the historical contextualization, it seems partially for this reason that some State delegates claimed that only “national minorities” should be entitled to education in their own language. 64. There is another legacy from the period before the Second World War that needs to be taken into account when seeking to more clearly delineate the contours of what is an ethnic minority. In order to avoid racist misconceptions of race and racial superiority, as well as theories that postulate the existence of separate human races, the term “race”, which initially at that time was often used as equating to “ethnic origin”, began in later periods to be presented in United Nations documents as a kind of “supercategory”, or portmanteau term that included individuals of different origins, such as ancestry, descent, origin or lineage, and not quite immutable cultural characteristics, such as language. 65. This can be seen in the connections made in early United Nations ins truments between ethnicity and race: racial discrimination, as defined in article 1 of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, refers to race, colour, descent or national or ethnic origin, while the earlier United Nations Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination elaborates on the category slightly differently, as involving differences based on race, colour or ethnic origin. The Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, in its general recommendation XXIV, also specified that the treaty relates to all persons who belong to different races, national or ethnic groups or to indigenous peoples. 24 66. Non-United Nations documents also confirm the close association between the two: the Inter-American Convention against Racism, Racial Discrimination and Related Forms of Intolerance, in its article 1.1, clarifies that the concept of racial discrimination, in addition to race, includes colour, lineage or national or ethnic origin, whereas European documents on racial discrimination, such as the European Union Race Equality Directive, addresses ‘racial or ethnic origin’ equality, and recognizes how this is of particular relevance for minorities. Furthermore, the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance general policy recommendation No. 7, on national legislation to combat racism and racial intolerance, refers to differential treatment on the basis of race, colour, language, religion, nationality or national or ethnic origin. 67. It should also be recalled that, in very early discussions on what would become article 27 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, as well as other United Nations documents, the word “race” was initially used in lieu of “ethnic” minorities. 68. Once again, while no absolute consensus exists among experts, State practices or submissions to the Special Rapporteur, 25 the following description can be extracted __________________ 24 25 20-09835 See HRI/GEN/1/Rev.9 (Vol. II), General recommendation XXIV concerning article 1 of the Convention, para. 1. For a comprehensive description of these categories, see Lilla Farkas, The meaning of racial or ethnic origin in EU law: between stereotypes and identities (European Commission, Luxembourg, 2017). 17/20