A/CONF.189/PC.1/7 page 5 is not just a superimposition or ordinary addition of offences. The combination of the two offences creates a new, more serious offence which, while of varying intensity, is by its very nature a separate concept. 7. Because of their specific characteristics, these situations, which can be referred to as the aggravated intersection or meeting points of race and religion, require a legal analysis (chap. I) and a factual approach based on the way in which such discrimination is practised (chap. II), before the solutions and recommendations that seem to us appropriate to these meeting points are considered (chap. III). I. LEGAL ASPECTS OF AGGRAVATED DISCRIMINATION 8. The law seems to offer separate protection against the two types of discrimination. This study will initially aim to show that, even from a legal viewpoint, racial discrimination and religious discrimination overlap, sometimes to a large extent; religious identity is an integral part of racial identity and vice versa. The concept of minority, in particular, makes it possible to bring the two together and consequently put the problem into context (sect. A). It will then highlight the shortcomings of existing texts and mechanisms and identify in these texts a possible legal basis for racial discrimination aggravated by religious discrimination. We will essentially be dealing with universally applicable international instruments (sect. B), and will then consider regional instruments (sect. C).6 A. Context 9. A person who is a victim of discrimination based on religion or belief - within the meaning of articles 1 and 2 of the Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Intolerance and of Discrimination Based on Religion or Belief of 25 November 1981 - may be subjected to aggravated discrimination if he or she belongs to a readily identifiable group of people. 10. Many cases of discrimination, in which only the person’s religion or belief is targeted, are beyond the scope of this study.7 It is only when the person concerned is ethnically different from the majority or from other minorities or ethnic or religious groups or from ethnic groups of the same minority that he or she can claim aggravated racial discrimination.8 11. It must be acknowledged, however, that the distinctions in this area are not as straightforward as they might appear at first glance. Some religions belong to a particular category in which worship, practices, rites, beliefs or even the written and spoken language developed for religious purposes are an essential element of their identity and, sometimes, their ethnicity [Eide, E/CN.4/Sub.2/1992/37, para. 93].9 12. Consequently, the concept of the minority is, at least essentially, the cardinal point, or the node where race and religion intersect. This means that aggravated discrimination will necessarily be discrimination against a person belonging, if not to a minority, then at least to an identifiable group of people [Robert, 1994].10 However, there still appear to be some difficulties in defining minorities, particularly religious minorities, despite the fact that the latter were historically the first to be concerned by the protection of minorities and, more generally, human rights.