A/75/211 States or the possession of a special status under domestic law. The three adjectives used to delineate who are beneficiaries as members of a minority under article 27 of the Covenant do not however comprehensively cover the categories of minorities at the United Nations. Different instruments have slight variations: the Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities adds the term “national minorities” to the three in article 27 of the Covenant, whereas in the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Convention against Discrimination in Education, the three terms are replaced entirely with the term of “national minority”. 8 A number of European treaties also privilege the term national minorities and do not refer separately to ethnic, religious or linguistic minorities, 9 whereas the Arab Charter on Human Rights adopts an approach closer to United Nations instruments, although limited to ethnic or religious minorities. 10 23. Those inconsistencies, controversies and contradictions and the ambiguity around the categories of beneficiaries have not provided “flexibility” but rather have opened the door to restrictive interpretations, allowing for the exclusion of “unpopular” minorities. The end result has occasionally contributed to ambivalence, unease or uncertainty in the responses or support of Member States to the mandate and activities on minority issues. Instead of providing an inclusive, flexible and open approach, the absence of a common understanding as to what constitutes a minority has led to barriers and even resistance as to who can lay claims to minority protection. The only way to rectify those barriers is to provide greater clarity and certainty, as indicated by the Special Rapporteur in his 2017 statement to the General Assembly. 24. In preparation for the present study, the Special Rapporteur invited United Nations’ mechanisms and other stakeholders to provide submissions. Many submissions contained valuable information on national practices in relation to the protection of minorities. Others described issues and concerns where the human rights of specific minorities were not being fully implemented. However, only a small number commented directly on the significance of the four specific categories of beneficiaries. Nevertheless, those that did offer comments provided insights and highlighted issues that were helpful in better understanding and outlining the importance of a clearer description of the four categories. 25. The large number of responses from intergovernmental, minority, civil society and other organizations have confirmed the timeliness and relevance of trying to offer greater clarity and certainty as to the significance and scope of the four categories of minorities (national or ethnic, religious and linguistic minorities) for the purposes of the mandate of the Special Rapporteur. B. Historical contextualization 26. Minority in its most ordinary meaning refers to the smaller part or to a number forming less than half of the whole, or a group distinguished from a more numerous majority. Put in even simpler terms, a minority is not the majority – based on a distinguishing factor within a totality. In the United Nations system, the distinction __________________ 8 9 10 20-09835 Article 17(d) and 30 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child and article 5(c) of the Convention against Discrimination in Education refer specifically to minorities. While the latte r only mentions national minorities, the former refers to “ethnic, religious or linguistic minorities or persons of indigenous origin”. In particular the Council of Europe Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities and the European Charter on Regional and Minority languages. Article 37 of the Arab Charter on Human Rights stipulates that minorities “shall not be deprived of their right to enjoy their own culture or follow their own religious teachings ”. 7/20