A/CONF.189/PC.1/7 page 17 56. The Declaration of 25 November 1981 should be understood in the same spirit, but conversely, i.e. religion as encompassing race. It is true that the terms “intolerance and discrimination based on religion or belief” are defined exclusively on the basis of religious considerations (see art.2, para.2); unlike the instruments relating to racial discrimination analysed above, where race is interpreted largely from a twofold standpoint, as covering both ethnicity (which itself is defined using parameters that include religion) and religion as such. Nevertheless, many of the Declaration’s provisions refer to instruments where the intersection between the two types of discrimination may be inferred (preambular paragraphs 1, 2 and 7, article 3). Preambular paragraph 6 even establishes a causal link between religious freedom and the elimination of racial discrimination when it states, “...freedom of religion and belief should also contribute [...] to the elimination [...] of racial discrimination”. 57. The Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities of 18 December 1992 represents an important step with regard to protection of minorities [Bokatola, 1993].72 Article 1, paragraph 1 stipulates that “States shall protect the existence and the national or ethnic, cultural, religious and linguistic identity of minorities within their respective territories and shall encourage conditions for the promotion of that identity”. In reality, the Declaration is aimed essentially at the individual rights that persons belonging to minorities should enjoy. Nearly all of the Declaration’s provisions are intended for such persons, rather than minorities as such. In addition, the division between “national or ethnic, religious and linguistic minorities” is ill-founded and does not always correspond to the distribution of minorities throughout the world. A national minority may also have ethnic and/or religious specificities different from those of the majority or of other minorities.73 58. On the whole, although aggravated discrimination has not been provided for and is in no way given special or priority treatment, it has to be acknowledged that, because nearly all the specific instruments speak explicitly of the overlap between race and religion, in particular race as encompassing religion, discrimination against a person or minority group on religious grounds may be characterized as racial discrimination.74 Similarly, a discriminatory measure or xenophobic practice based on religion or belief, in the meaning of the 1981 Declaration, may be aimed at the group’s identity and/or its ethnic integrity. (b) Implicit recognition 59. Since the United Nations came into being, an impressive number of treaties and other instruments have been adopted to protect, either a specific category of individuals, property of particular importance, or even certain fields, against various forms of discrimination. It is difficult to provide a detailed analysis of all these instruments in the framework of our study. Thus, we shall examine only those provisions which relate to the overlap between race and religion. International Labour Organization 60. In the field of employment, several instruments have been adopted. Examples are the ILO Conventions. The discrimination provisions have been modelled after the Charter of the United Nations and the 1948 Universal Declaration, i.e. the different types of discrimination are generally treated separately.