A/HRC/21/53 an enrichment of the State's cultural identity and to promote its preservation”, to “provide indigenous peoples with conditions allowing for a sustainable economic and social development compatible with their cultural characteristics” and to “ensure that indigenous communities can exercise their rights to practise and revitalize their cultural traditions and customs and to preserve and to practise their languages.”11 It has expressed specific concern about prohibitions on the use of indigenous peoples’ languages. 12 13. The Convention on the Rights of the Child states that indigenous children shall not be denied the right to enjoy their culture, to profess and practise their own religion or to use their language. In its general comment No. 11 on indigenous children, the Committee on the Rights of the Child recognizes that special measures may be needed to enable indigenous children to enjoy their cultural rights, including positive action on the part of the State; the significance of the collectivity to indigenous children’s enjoyment of their cultures; and the need to include indigenous peoples in decisions about the best interests of indigenous children, noting the need for cultural sensitivity. 13 14. Cultures and languages are an integral part of the mandate of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). UNESCO has a number of instruments especially relevant to cultures and languages, as well as a broader policy of encouraging indigenous peoples’ self-determined cultural development and work in relation to endangered languages. The 2001 UNESCO Universal Declaration on Cultural Diversity includes specific references to cultural diversity, cultural rights and indigenous peoples. 14 Accordingly, under article 5, All persons have therefore the right to express themselves and to create and disseminate their work in the language of their choice, and particularly in their mother tongue; all persons are entitled to quality education and training that fully respect their cultural identity; and all persons have the right to participate in the cultural life of their choice and conduct their own cultural practices, subject to respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. 15. The UNESCO Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage (2003) recognizes that “communities, in particular indigenous communities, groups and, in some cases, individuals, play an important role in the production, safeguarding, maintenance and re-creation of intangible cultural heritage.” The UNESCO Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions (2005) includes references to indigenous peoples and requires that States parties endeavour to create an environment which encourages groups to “create, produce, disseminate, distribute and have access to their own cultural expressions, paying due attention to the special circumstances and needs of women as well as various social groups, including persons belonging to minorities and indigenous peoples.” 16. Other international standards reinforce the importance of rights to cultures and languages and can be of relevance to indigenous peoples, including the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National, Ethnic, Religious or Linguistic Minorities, the European Charter for Regional and Minority Languages, the ASEAN Declaration on Cultural Heritage and various policy documents of the international and regional system. 11 12 13 14 Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, general recommendation No. 23 (1997) on indigenous peoples. For example, CERD/C/304/Add.113. Committee on the Rights of the Child, general comment No. 11 (2009). 41 ILM 57 (2001). 5