on the national curriculum and regular training has been carried out for teachers and education managers in this approach. This initiative has showed very positive results and stakeholders were looking at possibilities to expand the programme to other regions. Mr Alexey Kozhemyakov, Head of the National Minorities and Antidiscrimination Department of the Council of Europe, presented on “The work of the Advisory Committee on the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities”. He first stressed that this session was important for two different reasons for the Advisory Committee: first because the Declaration had been a useful model for the drafters of the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities and second because the protection of minorities is one of the pillars of the Council of Europe. Following a brief overview of the work of the Advisory Committee, he indicated that an important aspect of its mandate was to draw more general conclusions from its country monitoring and compile them into thematic considerations of issues of particular relevance for persons belonging to national minorities. Introducing the Committee’s most recent commentary focused on linguistic rights of persons belonging to national minorities which was adopted in May 2012, he finally stressed that the main challenge for international institutions is to secure the achievements in their field and ensure that the established standards are maintained. Mr Heiner Bielefeldt, Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief, presented on “The Rights of Religious Minorities” highlighting that increasing attention is being paid to religious minorities within the minority rights discussion and that the same can also be said from the opposite angle. This had led him to devote his next thematic report to the Human Rights Council to the situation of religious minorities and their freedom of religion or belief. The report would address abuses in various regions of the world, perpetrated by States or non-States actors, and quite often a combination of both, in particular human rights violations perpetrated by non-State actors often in a climate of impunity which he identified as one of the main challenges. Given the number and gravity of human rights violations, he emphasized the need for a concerted action to safeguard the rights of persons belonging to religious minorities, stressing that their rights should consistently be interpreted from a human rights perspective, that the term “religious minority” should be broadly construed to cover also internal minorities and that special attention should be given to women belonging to religious minorities. Among his recommendations, he underlined the need for infrastructural efforts for religious minorities to be able to build up a suitable infrastructure and the importance of promoting inter-religious communication. Discussion The following issues were raised during the first segment of the discussion under Item IV: - The importance of the legal framework, including of a strong Constitution providing for the legal basis for promoting and protecting fundamental human rights and freedoms, including minority rights; - The need to incorporate all legally binding international human rights instruments into domestic laws; 8