Guidelines on the use of Minority Languages in the Broadcast Media ICCPR States Parties are obliged to ensure the effective enjoyment of the rights of minorities and to take such positive measures as may be necessary in order to protect the rights of members of minority groups to enjoy and develop their culture and language. The U.N. Declaration on Minorities states in Article 4(1) that “States shall take measures where required” to ensure that persons belonging to national minorities effectively exercise their human rights. The Framework Convention states in Article 6(1) that Parties shall “promote mutual respect and understanding and co-operation” among persons, “irrespective of linguistic identity”, through, inter alia, the media. The European Language Charter states in Article 7(1)(c) that the Parties agree on “the need for resolute action to promote regional or minority languages in order to safeguard them”. Under Article 10(3) of the ECTT, States Parties “undertake to look together for the most appropriate instruments and procedures to support, without discrimination between broadcasters, the activity and development of European production, particularly in countries with a low audiovisual production capacity or restricted language area”. More specifically, Article 11(1)(a, b and c) of the European Language Charter requires the State to create, encourage or facilitate radio or television channels or programming in regional or minority languages. Moreover, Article 11(1)(d) of the European Language Charter requires States Parties “to encourage and/or facilitate the production and distribution of audio and audiovisual works in regional or minority languages”. Likewise, international instruments point explicitly to the need to provide meaningful access to minority language broadcasting. The Framework Convention, for example, provides in Article 9(4) that: “In the framework of their legal systems, the Parties shall adopt adequate measures in order to facilitate access to the media for persons belonging to national minorities”. Article 9(1) forbids discrimination against persons belonging to national minorities in their access to the media. The European Language Charter obliges States Parties in Article 12(1)(a) to “foster the different means of access to works produced in [regional or minority] languages”. 15) The requirements that States, when providing meaningful access to minority language broadcasting, take into account the numerical size, concentration and distribution as well as needs and interests of persons belonging to national minorities, are intended to assist States in implementing effective equality of access. The European Language Charter, in Article 11(1), states that policy towards the media should be designed, inter alia, “according to the situation of each language”. Recommendation 9 of the Oslo Recommendations regarding the Linguistic Rights of National Minorities states more specifically 23