For their part, national minorities should ensure that their demands are reasonable. They should give due consideration to such legitimate factors as their own numerical strength, their demographic density in any given region (or regions), as well as their capacity to contribute to the durability of these services and facilities over time. THE SPIRIT OF INTERNATIONAL INSTRUMENTS Over the years there has been an evolution in the manner in which the rights of minorities have been formulated in international standards. Such passive formulae as "...persons belonging to minorities shall not be denied the right..." as expressed in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (1966) have given way to a more positive, proactive approach such as "... States will protect the ethnic, cultural, linguistic and religious identity of national minorities..." as contained in the Document of the Copenhagen Meeting of the Conference on the Human Dimension of the CSCE (1990). This progressive change of approach would indicate that a restrictive or minimalistic interpretation of the instruments is not in line with the spirit in which they have been formulated. In addition, the level of access must be established in conformity with the underlying principles of equality and non-discrimination as these are formulated in articles 1 of The Charter of the United Nations and in article 2 of The Universal Declaration of Human Rights and as reiterated in most international instruments. Consideration must also be given to the conditions specific to each State. MEASURES AND RESOURCES OSCE States are encouraged to approach the issue of minority rights in a proactive manner, i.e. in the spirit of paragraph 31 of the Copenhagen Document which encourages them to adopt special measures to ensure full equality for members of national minorities. In this same sense, paragraph 33 of the Copenhagen Document requires States to protect the ethnic, cultural, linguistic and religious identity of national minorities living in their territory and to create conditions for the promotion of that identity. The Hague Recommendations - October 1996 11