PART I common practice within the particular country itself, and on experiences of best practice adopted elsewhere. As regards domestic standards, the specialized minority ombudsperson should evaluate laws currently in force from the point of view of whether they take into consideration the interests of minorities. Apart from the constitution, which would be a crucial source of domestic standards, the specialized minority ombudsperson should identify other applicable legislation and regulations. Once the ombudsperson has identified the applicable domestic standards, he/she should assess to what extent minority rights are protected. Moreover the ombudsperson should not only apply relevant international standards, but evaluate whether the state in question has incorporated relevant international standards into its domestic legislation. Insofar as existing minority protection standards are part of human rights, the starting point for the evaluation should be the compliance by states with human rights obligations, in particular, freedom from discrimination. Many European states have recently adopted legislation incorporating the EU Race Equality Directive (43/2000) that prohibits both direct and indirect discrimination. Adoption of such legislation is very useful from the minority protection point of view. Indeed, through good antidiscrimination legislation and practice, a high level of protection of minorities can be achieved. However, it should be recalled that the aim of combating discrimination is the prevention of any action that denies individuals or groups of people the equality of treatment that they may wish. The aim of protection of minorities, however, is to protect non-dominant groups that, while wishing in general for equality of treatment with the majority, wish for a measure of differential treatment in order to preserve basic characteristics which they possess and which distinguish them from the majority population. Therefore in addition to anti-discrimination legislation, there is a need for legislation that incorporates relevant international standards granting such ‘different treatment’ i.e. protecting minority rights. Normally, the examination of the implementation of standards is a more difficult task than one of mere assessment. Regarding the evaluation of the implementation of standards, the practice of the Hungarian Minority Ombudsman is a useful example. He undertook, for example in 1998, a comprehensive survey of the education of minorities with an aim to investigate whether the legal regulation of education was in harmony with the regulations defined in the Constitution and in the Act defining the rights of national and ethnic minorities. The investigation also sought to determine whether in the course of the application of the law, the rights of national and ethnic minorities were being enforced in accordance with the pertaining legal regulations. It was a separate objective within the survey to detect whether negative discrimination against minorities was being practised in the course of education. 26