PART THREE: PROTECTING MINORITY RIGHTS (f) Refraining from the forced assimilation of persons belonging to minorities through, inter alia, the prohibition of education in or the teaching of the mother tongue of minorities; (g) Creating a safe and enabling environment for civil society representatives working on the human rights of persons belonging to minorities in language matters and monitoring the implementation of States’ obligations towards ensuring access to, education in and the teaching of minority languages; (h) Promoting access of persons belonging to minorities to administrative, legal and health services by considering offering them also in minority languages; (i) Ensuring that education is provided in sign language for the deaf community where this is practicable; (j) Developing and financing programmes for the development and training of minority language teachers, and promoting such programmes among minority communities; PART THREE (k) Allocating the resources necessary to promote access to education in and the teaching of minority languages; (l) Ensuring that educational curricula do not include materials that stereotype minorities, including women and girls belonging to minorities, on the basis of their ethnicity or their gender; (m) Taking all measures necessary to ensure access to minority language education and teaching for women and girls of minority communities, where applicable, considering the multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination, marginalization and exclusion to which they are often subjected because of their gender and minority status.1078 Issues surrounding the language rights of minorities have proven sufficiently complex that the High Commissioner on National Minorities of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe has provided particular guidance on aspects of these issues.1079 Throughout this and other guidance, the High Commissioner stresses the importance of the following elements in achieving good governance and promoting integration: • recognizing, protecting, and promoting the identity of persons belonging to minorities • allowing minorities the opportunity to participate effectively in public life, including the political decision-making processes • providing minorities with access to a fair share of public goods, including economic opportunity • sensitivity to the linguistic and educational needs of minorities, which are closely connected with the right of each individual to develop his/her identity.1080 V. GENUINE AND EFFECTIVE MINORITY PARTICIPATION AND THE BAN ON DISCRIMINATION Article 2 of the Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities sets out obligations and requirements regarding minority participation. These include, at article 2 (2), that “persons belonging to minorities have the right to participate effectively in cultural, religious, social, 1078 Human Rights Council resolution 43/8, para. 6. 1079 High Commissioner on National Minorities of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, “The Hague recommendations regarding the education rights of national minorities & explanatory note” (The Hague, 1996) (www.osce.org/hcnm/haguerecommendations); “The Oslo recommendations regarding the linguistic rights of national minorities & explanatory note” (The Hague, 1998) (www.osce.org/hcnm/oslo-recommendations); and, in a move towards stressing both minority rights protection and minority access to mainstream goods, services and inclusion, The Ljubljana Guidelines on Integration of Diverse Societies. 1080 High Commissioner on National Minorities of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, “Pamphlet No. 9 of the UN Guide for Minorities” (2001), p. 10. Available at www.ohchr.org/Documents/Publications/GuideMinorities9en.pdf. 159