A/HRC/43/47 National Minorities refers to implementation (of education in a minority language) “without prejudice to the learning of the official language or the teaching in this language”. 66. Put differently, whatever model or approach is in place in relation to the use of a minority language as a medium of instruction, children must always have an opportunity to effectively learn the official or majority language where they live. IV. Focus on awareness-raising and the visibility of minorities and their human rights A working definition of the concept of a minority for the mandate of the Special Rapporteur 67. The Special Rapporteur’s 2019 annual report to the General Assembly in October 2019 (A/74/160) addressed the need for a working definition of the concept of a minority in order to: (a) Comply with the Special Rapporteur’s mandate; (b) Clarify the meaning of the concept in order to avoid controversies and contradictions, within and outside the United Nations, which weaken the full and effective realization of the rights of minorities; (c) Clarify the concept according to international law, including the jurisprudence of the Human Rights Committee and the applicable principles under the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties. 68. As part of his mandate, the Special Rapporteur must raise awareness and work for the full and effective realization of the rights of persons belonging to minorities. This includes clarifying key concepts such as who can claim to be a minority under the United Nations system. The absence of consistency in understanding who is a minority is a recurring stumbling block to the full and effective realization of the rights of minorities. Different United Nations entities may contradict one another because they consider different groups of persons as constituting a minority and diverge from the practices in other entities. Some States Members of the United Nations hesitate to engage on matters relating to minorities since they do not know who is a minority and what that entails. In other States, there may even be the assumption that the absence of a definition means it is left to each State to determine freely who is or is not a minority. In most of these situations, the uncertainty leads to restrictive approaches: in many situations, persons are deemed to be “undeserving” because they are not “traditional” minorities, not citizens or not sufficiently “dominated”. The end result is that some minorities are excluded because they are not the “right kind” of minority according to different parties. 69. It is for this reason the Special Rapporteur has opted for a working definition that conforms with the general rule of treaty interpretation and the ordinary meaning of the word “minority” in its “context and in the light of its object and purpose” in the absence of a clearly intended special meaning, 19 as well as a working definition that is consistent with the Human Rights Committee’s own views and interpretation of article 27 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.20 70. The Special Rapporteur, as part of his mandate to promote the full and effective realization of the human rights of minorities, will therefore be using and promoting the following concept of a minority, both within the United Nations and in carrying out his activities: an ethnic, religious or linguistic minority is any group of persons that constitutes less than half of the population in the entire territory of a State whose members share common characteristics of culture, religion or language, or a combination of any of these. A 19 20 14 Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, art. 31. General comment No. 23 (1994) on the rights of minorities.