A/HRC/7/23/Add.2 page 25 minority students, both those of immigrant heritage and those from Gypsy/Traveller communities. Special measures should be adopted to guarantee the right to education in mainstream schools for children of Gypsy/Traveller families. Steps should be taken to protect the right of those children to not be segregated into schools or classes for the learning impaired when there is no evidence of need. Inclusion of minority women 91. Women from the various minority groups in France face complex issues and specific challenges. In addition to discrimination in the fields of education, employment and housing, they are often confronted with specific challenges relating to family matters when their immigration status is tied to that of their husband. Divorce proceedings in foreign courts of certain countries can create problems for the realization of rights that they might have under French law. These special concerns require targeted attention and dedicated resources within relevant ministries and local and regional authorities. 92. The full and effective participation of minority women must be seen as an essential component of Government and civil society efforts to address their issues. The establishment of an advisory body to HALDE on minority women’s issues should be considered as a means of gaining the views and experiences of minority women and assisting in the planning, design, implementation and evaluation of policies in order to address their specific issues and concerns. Promotion of language, religion and cultural rights 93. The independent expert supports calls for France to ratify the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages, which provides valuable guidance to all European States in their treatment of such issues, and for the preservation and promotion of the rich cultural and language heritage of each State. The Government of France should support the use of regional and minority languages as a medium of instruction in the early years of public primary education for students who so request. 94. The independent expert supports the conclusions and recommendations which the Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief stated in her report on her visit to France in 2005, namely, that Law 2004-228 of 15 March 2004 on “laïcité” and the wearing of conspicuous religious symbols in public schools “constitutes a limitation of the right to manifest a religion or a belief […] and has mainly affected certain religious minorities, and notably, people of a Muslim background”. The independent expert supports the Special Rapporteur’s recommendation that the Government should closely monitor the way that education institutions are implementing the law and adopt a flexible implementation of the law which would accommodate schoolchildren for whom the display of religious symbols constitutes an essential and freely chosen element of their faith.