A/CONF.189/PC.1/7 page 42 12 “Proposals concerning a definition of the term ‘minority’” (E/CN.4/Sub.2/1985/31), 14 May 1985, para. 181: “A group of citizens of a State, constituting a numerical minority and in a non-dominant position in that State, endowed with ethnic, religious or linguistic characteristics …”. 13 “Any group of persons residing in a sovereign State, representing less than half of the population of the national society, whose members share characteristics of an ethnic, religious or linguistic nature which distinguish them from the rest of the population.” 14 Yacoub, op. cit., p. 123. The author puts a figure on minorities’ numerical strength (less than half of the population) and adds the criterion of residence in the territory of the State. 15 Advisory opinion of 31 July 1930, “The Greco-Bulgarian ‘communities’” (Series B, No. 17, p. 21). The PCIJ has a broad concept of minority that also covers minorities whose members do not have the nationality of the State. See “Treatment of Polish nationals and other persons of Polish origin or speech in the Danzig territory”, advisory opinion of 4 February 1932 (Series A/B, No. 44, p. 39). On the other hand, the PCIJ refers to the number criterion in another case, that of the abolition of private schools in Albania (advisory opinion of 6 April 1935, Series A/B, No. 64, p. 17), where the minority is distinguished from the “majority” by the characteristics already mentioned. 16 For a comprehensive study of the issue of the definition of minorities, see Oldrich Andrysek, “Report on the definition of minorities”, The Netherlands Institute of Human Rights, SIM Special, No. 8, 1989. 17 The Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities, which was adopted by the Council of Europe on 10 November 1994 and entered into force on 1 February 1998, contains no definition of the concept of national minority because it was impossible to produce one that met with the approval of all States members of the Council of Europe. 18 Article 27 of the Covenant; article 1, paragraph 1, of the Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities of 18 December 1992; article 2, paragraph 1, of the draft Convention for the Protection of Minorities adopted by the European Commission for Democracy through Law of 8 February 1991. For the definition of a minority in the latter instrument, see Giorgio Malinverni “Le projet de Convention pour la protection des minorités élaboré par la Commission européenne pour la démocratie par le droit”, Revue universelle des droits de l’homme, 24 July 1991, No. 5, p. 162. 19 The latter criterion has been used by the Human Rights Committee to recognize the specific rights of an indigenous minority of Indians in Canada under article 27 of the Covenant; see the report of the Human Rights Committee, vol. II (A/45/40). See also “Les inégalités historiques et certains faits (prospection de pétrole et de gaz) plus récents menaçant le mode de vie et la culture de la bande du Lac Lubican violant les droits des minorités (article 27: affaire Lubicon c. Canada)”, Revue universelle des droits de l’homme, 28 March 1991, No. 3, paras. 2.2 and 33, pp. 69-70.